Southwest / Canyonlands Photos

We just returned Sunday from a dream tour of the Southwest US, with hundreds of wonderful photos and memories, and plans to return again soon. My only regret is that we took only the one week the kids had for Spring Break, so it was aggressive to cover the 1500 miles and numerous National Parks and Monuments which we knew we couldn't miss. Most of these were ones my husband and I had visited 13 years ago, when I was first pregnant, and we had our final fling - a 3 week driving trip from Vancouver BC, camping in our tent (many places without running water) and staying in modest motels. This time, with the kids, we stayed in Holiday Inns and Best Westerns, which was good, since it was still quite chilly and even snowy in some of the locations.

This is a collage of many of the beautiful locations we visited:

We flew into Las Vegas, staying two nights at the gorgeous Venetian, catching their haunting and powerful Phantom of the Opera show - I highly recommend it.  I haven't downloaded the photos from the small camera yet, but we also visited the Siegfried and Roy Secret Garden (with tigers, lions, panthers, etc) and Dolphin Habitat, and spent a lot of time gazing at the amazing painted ceilings at The Venetian.  We didn't end up riding one of the gondolas through the canals, since we were not persistent enough to insist on reservations (we only phoned the hotel in advance, and also asked at the registration desk, but we should have also checked with the Concierge, who should have been able to help us with that).  They had a beautiful outdoor pool with fountain and hot tubs, but it was still quite chilly, and miles away from our room (even though we could see it out our window), so we didn't make it.  Another time.

From there, we visited the Hoover Dam and the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.  The Grand Canyon was still in snow.

It's hard to believe that this huge canyon could be carved out by a small river.  Looks more like the result of an earthquake, splitting such a huge crack in the earth.

The next day we were in Canyon de Chelly in Arizona, and took a Jeep tour with a Navajo guide, Bobby, who grew up in the canyon, and still lives there today.  The Canyon is quite amazing.  Not as wide as the Grand Canyon, but the sheer vertical walls are breathtaking, with their red rock, the streaks of minerals down the sides, and the remains of Anasazi dwellings tucked into the sides of the cliff.  Not to mention the many petroglyphs and pictographs of the Anasazi, Hopi and Navajo peoples.

Having seen the Anasazi cliff dwellings from below, the next day we were in Mesa Verde in Colorado, where we were able to tour inside one of the many cliff dwellings there, even climbing down a wooden ladder into an underground kiva (round religious / social meeting room).  We visited the Spruce Tree House, which was easy to access, and the only dwelling open so early in the year.  The Cliff Palace, which we viewed from the cliff above, was even larger.

Note the multi-story dwellings in the photo on the top left.  I found that fascinating.  And these people were definitely small, to fit into such small spaces.

From Mesa Verde, we drove to Arches National Park in Utah, arriving in the late afternoon, with a few hours before the sunset.  It is an amazing place, with natural arches and rock formations, which can be accessed quite easily on foot.  Note my husband and 2 kids in the photo on the top left, and bottom - those are fun photos.

Of course, the most recognizable arch in the park, is the Delicate Arch:

The next morning, we spent more time in Arches NP, and then headed to my favourite from the previous trip, the Goblin Valley State Park in Utah.  Being a State Park, this one doesn't seem to get enough recognition.  We could find very little mention of it anywhere in the tourism information, including the internet, but it is a must-see for anyone in the area (near Hanksville, UT), especially anyone with kids.  This park is a wonderland of little goblins and mushrooms and other weird little shapes which can be climbed on and between, and our kids spent most of the visit playing hide-and-seek with their daddy (see the 3 in the bottom photo), while I pursued them with the camera.  The middle photo I will name "Ostracized" - poor little goblin!

The following day, we visited Bryce Canyon in Utah.  It was snowing in the morning, and we started out on a hike into the canyon, but it was too slippery and dangerous.  So we visited some of the viewpoints, but the visibility was limited.  We let the kids take a break from the sightseeing, and enjoy the indoor pool before dinner.  We visited Bryce Canyon again the next morning, before we drove back to Las Vegas, and were able to get some wonderful views into the snowy canyon.  Sadly, the road to some of the further viewpoints was still closed.  So we'll need to go back again, to see those, and to be able to hike down into the canyon between those hoodoos and other rock formations.

Once I emerge from the unpacking and laundry (we arrived late Sunday night, and went to work Monday morning), I hope to transfer the photos from the other camera, and may post a few more photos and comments.

What's Bloomin' in March?

I am a few days late for the March Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, but I hope Carol of May Dreams Gardens will forgive my tagging along, once the rain finally cleared, and I had a chance to search the garden for blooms.

I was happy to see a few signs of Spring.  The weather is still very cold, for March, and the snow line is very low in the local mountains.  Every year I have a crocus or two emerge from this corner of my garden, and I love the contrast of the cheery yellow against the dreariness of the fallen gunnera leaves:

This Winter Aconite (Eranthis) is smaller than I remember buying it last year, but it was delightful to find this tiny bloom peeking from my native/shade garden:

These mini irises are so cheery surrounding my granite bench.  I hope they will naturalize and fill the area:

This emerging sedum is not a bloom, but the little rosettes almost look like blooms:

My Missouri currant (Ribes odoratum) is not quite in bloom yet.  I wonder if it will tease me again this year with loads of flowers but next to no fruit?

I noticed today that the flowers of the male Skimmia are actually quite pretty, and dainty:

Although I originally bought the males to keep the females in berry:

The winter pink in this little sedum is so colourful, contrasting with the golden thyme, that it looks a bit like a bloom.  In the summer, the sedum will be silver blue:

I love my Petasites frigidus, but I find the flowers which emerge before the leaves a bit creepy looking.  When they get tall enough, I will cut them down, otherwise they will send seeds (which have little umbrellas like dandelion seeds) flying everywhere.

I hope Carol will forgive me - not only late, but also showing off my non-blooms, too.

Looking at other garden bloggers blooms, I am longing even more for Spring to arrive at last. All the best to everyone in their gardens this year!

Another Plum Tree!

It was not a surprise, but it was wonderful that I could convince my husband and the kids to go pick up another plum tree this afternoon.  I had my "landscaper" (who cuts my lawn, and does the occasional projects for me around the yard) dig a big hole just before Winter hit.  But his idea of digging was to clear the layer of grass and soil, and leave a shallow "hole" of our near-undiggable clay.  I suppose he would have used the excuse that he didn't want to leave a hole for the Winter.

It was me who came along after that, and actually dug and loosened up about 12" of the clay, and laid a load of grass clippings on top, to provide some organic material, before the Winter hit.  Today, it was my husband who climbed in and dug a real proper hole.

It seems the grass clippings had some effect, since there were lots of worms in the top foot or so, which actually resembled something like soil.  He removed that to the side of the hole.  Below that it was grey clay.  Thick, mucky, and non-draining.  My husband removed a few wheelbarrows full of clay (dumping them just outside our fence, in the "abyss"), and mixed back the top layer of soil, with two large bags of planting soil (100 l or 4 cu ft each).  I also poured in bonemeal.  We had enough to plant the tree, but could use a couple more bags, to fill it up to the surface properly.

Enough about the dirt.  What type of plum did we plant?  It was a tough decision.  I already have an Italian plum which is very tasty and sweet even when a bit firm.  It has started to bear a good amount of fruit these past two years, for fresh eating.  I wanted another plum which would also be good for eating, but also for making juice.

I phoned Triple Tree Nursery in Maple Ridge, where I have bought nearly all our fruit trees, and asked about their plum varieties.  Their European plums included the Italian, Yellow Egg, Damson (not really for fresh eating), Toka and Superior.  Their Japanese plums included Santa Rosa, Beauty, Shiro (Yellow), Methley and Satsuma.  For flavour, Shiro and Methley were recommended.

Since then I read up on the various plum varieties, and the ones which emerged as the top choices were:

Methley (Japanese) - Red skin with dark red juicy flesh, early bearing, self-fertile, mild and sweet flavour, attractive and vigorous tree.
Green Gage (European) - Flavour was described as "exquisite", and my mom remembers her uncle (?) having this plum tree, green colour even when ripe.
Satsuma (Japanese) - Red with deep red flesh, semi freestone, good flavour.

I was really intrigued by the Green Gage, and might have tried it, except perhaps for some random notes on the internet from people who had bought some and were looking for recipes for them.  It made me wonder, if they are so exquisitely flavoured, why would they not simply eat them, and not be looking for recipes?  Not to mention, the photos of them really didn't do much for me.

So in the end, I decided on the Methley, for the dark colour (I like that in a plum, and it would be great for the juice!), hopefully the flavour, that it is an early bearer, and I hear that the Japanese trees tend to bear their first crop at an earlier age than the Europeans.  The Methley trees available at Triple Tree (they are bare root, not potted up yet, so a great time to buy them!) looked pretty good, too.  So the Methley joins our collection of one dozen young fruit trees.

The photo is courtesy of Marshalls Seed Co in the UK.  In a couple of years, I hope to be sharing my own photos.  :-)

Winter's Last Stand

As Spring gently advances on our land, Winter has taken its last stand, surging forward with its final battle cry, sending a flurry of massive snowflakes, covering the land with some 6" of snow.  Followed by rain, and hail, and bitter cold.  At last (or so I hope), it relents, and has gone silent.

The snow was actually very pretty, falling quite steadily from Saturday evening until Sunday morning. Before it got wet and fell (that's the kind of snow we usually have in Vancouver), it hung softly and silently in the trees, for some pretty Winter scenes.

Yesterday evening, before night fell, I carried my kitchen compost to the big bins at the top of the yard.  I took some photos of the crocuses, battered by the cold and snow, laying surrounded by a thin layer of snow.  I think it would have some pretty good photos, but I accidentally had the "blank" card from my laptop in the camera, and I guess the silly thing tried to store the photos on it, but unsuccessfully.  At least I can't seem to find them.

I'm hoping this is the last bit of Winter here, and sent only so that we will appreciate Spring even more when it comes and stays.

Virtual Wildflower Garden

Can't wait until Spring?  Tired of snow?

My sister sent me a link via email, to grow my own flower garden.  It's fun and easy, just drag your mouse where you want your flowers to grow.  Click refresh to start another flower garden.  Here's one of mine.  Isn't it pretty?:

Wonderful Gardening Day

Today was an amazing gardening day.  On Thursday, it snowed lightly, then yesterday and today, we have had amazing weather - crisp but sunny, and clear blue skies.  Since my son is sick with a cold, we kept him home from soccer at noon today, and I went out in the garden instead, wearing a tank top and shorts, to get as much Vitamin D as possible.  I'm sure I'm terribly deficient, and have also had a sore throat and cough the past couple of days.

First I managed to squeeze in one hour, since my husband offered to make lunch.  Then in the afternoon, he wanted to enjoy the weather by going for a walk in the park, but I begged him to let me stay home in the garden instead.  So he ended up taking my daughter for a bicycle ride, while my son spent 2 hours in the garden.  I pulled lots of weeds, removed old flower stalks, trimmed back my grape vines to visible growth buds, and fought for a long time with the butterfly bush.  My son was a great help to me.  I chopped and pulled large branches down (it is over 10' tall), and he chopped up the branches for me.  I keep many of the straight segments of the branches I cut down.  That's what I used to build the fairy house years ago, for the fairy garden (photo on right from last summer), and I'm sure I'll find lots of uses for them in the garden, staking plants, etc.

It was not windy, so warm enough to continue to work in my tank top and shorts in the afternoon, as long as I stayed in the sun.  In the shady spots, there was still a light covering of snow on the ground.  By 4PM, it started to get windy and cooler, so I finally gave up.  It was only after I got inside that I realized how exhausted I was, and was glad that I had finally come inside.  But I think those hours to relax and soak up sun has already helped.  I am tired tonight, but my throat is no longer sore.

I feel sorry for my friends and neighbours who think of gardening as a chore.  Or my husband, who thinks that when the weather is nice, he needs to go away somewhere else.  When I am in my garden, working hard, it is one of the few times that I am completely at peace.  There is lots to do, but if I can't finish it all today (ha ha!), then it will patiently wait for me.  I often think of tunes or amuse myself with what I would like to blog about, but my head is not racing with problems from work, or other issues.  Even when I am trying to sleep, I am not at peace in that same way.  I often wake up in the morning trying to solve problems, or making notes to myself of all the "to do's" I need to accomplish.  If there is gardening in heaven, for sure I'll be there.

I have been trying out my Cobrahead Weeder and Cultivator recently, and have been very impressed with it.  I would like to say more about it some time, but it's getting too late.  I'll visit my husband at the TV for a bit, and then go to bed.

GBBD February 2011

The rain finally subsided this morning, so I was able to run to the top of the yard to dump my kitchen compost bin.  As I stepped outside, I realized it was Garden Blogger's Bloom Day hosted by Carol at May Dreams Gardens.  So I returned and took the camera with me.

The crocuses (does anyone say "croci"?) under the Fuyu Persimmon would be blooming if there were any sun to speak of.  But not this overcast morning.

I did find one mini iris blooming next to my granite garden bench.

At this point in the season, there are plenty of hopeful signs of new growth, but the garden "bones" of bare tree branches, evergreen bushes and the occasional garden decoration, dominate the garden view.  I like the shadow these decorations cast on the fence (on a sunnier morning a couple of weeks ago).

One evening last week, the setting sun lit up my contorted shrub (the name is not coming to me at the moment) in the front yard.  Although the photo doesn't fully capture the golden glow I saw, it conveys some of the magic of that moment.

Here's to dreaming of Spring!

Fun with Fabric Paints

My daughter's friends at school all have food nicknames this year.  My daughter's a cookie. One tough cookie.

One of her friends is a cupcake.  An evil cupcake.

Another friend is a brownie.  A super brownie.

I designed (drawing on some ideas I found on the internet - or outright borrowing the first one from David and Goliath - I hope they forgive me, in exchange for a link to their site, where they have some really cute T-shirts) and created all three shirts tonight, with puffy (dimensional) fabric paint I bought at Michaels. 

They may take a couple of days to dry, and then the threesome can wear their shirts to school.  It will be a fun surprise for her friends.  Oh, and the whites of the eyes are made with glow-in-the-dark paint, so that will be an extra surprise for them.

Birthday Season and Stick Bugs

Today was my son's birthday party with his friends from school, and the end of "birthday season" in our house.  I have discovered the joy of making cakes instead of buying them, so today I had fun decorating his, except that I couldn't find my icing decorating set, so instead ended up improvising with a plastic bug cut on the end, and holding one of the icing tips I did find against it, but it was a real messy job, with icing spilling out on all sides onto my hands.  You wouldn't know it, though, by looking at the cake.  I think it turned out pretty good, don't you?:

My only mistake was that I indicated that we would be done by 7:30 or 8pm, and some parents arrived at 7:30pm, and we were not done.  My husband only arrived about 7:15pm from dropping off my daughter at the church, and I had waited for him to return before opening gifts and serving cake, since I wanted his help with a few photos.  So it was a bit of a rush finishing up, with parents arriving.

In the midst of the chaos, Gary from Cinemazoo arrived (from another birthday party he was entertaining at) to buy a few of my stick bugs for his collection of bugs and creatures which he shares with kids of all ages for educational and entertainment purposes.  I was very impressed with him.  Gary is a true nature enthusiast, and a very patient and kind person.  He graciously gave me some eggs of a leaf insect, which I will be thrilled to add to my stick bug "collection".  He also took the trouble to go back to his van and bring in some huge hissing cockroaches, which I enjoyed holding (the birthday kids all backed away and couldn't be convinced), and this giant stick bug which he preserved (wow, I would have liked to hold it while it was still alive!):

I think it would be a really cool birthday feature, to have Cinemazoo bring in their weird and wonderful creatures, and share them with the kids.   Tonight, one of the little sisters of one of the boys shrieked when she first saw my stick bugs, but after explaining to her that it was a "nice" gentle bug, I convinced her to hold one, and within a few minutes, she had convinced her mom that she wanted to take one home with her, which she did.  I was thrilled to see her transformed from her initial terror, to proudly clutching the little box with her new bug "pet".  What a night!

Stream of Dreams Mural

In September, the kids and I painted wooden fish for a Stream of Dreams mural, during the World Rivers Day celebration in Burnaby, BC.

We were told to watch for our fish to be displayed on a fence in the park in the near future.  But we didn't return to the Fraser Foreshore Park.  At least, not until this weekend, when we went for a walk on the beautiful clear Sunday afternoon, and discovered our fish, in a Stream of Dreams mural.  We were happy to find our fish swimming happily in the stream:

For more photos of this particular mural, see this page, or to learn more about the Stream of Dreams, see their website.

Insect Art - Painted Stick

On our trip to Otter Lake this summer, we found a stick which had insect tunnels all over it (under the bark, which had peeled off).  I brought it home, intending to paint it in contrasting colours to bring out the funky patterns the insects had carved.  I finally found the time this past week.  I think it turned out pretty neat.

I originally planned to paint in red (for the tunnels), and finish in contrasting black, but as I started painting the red, I came up with the idea of painting in red and yellow stripes, evocative of a poisonous snake, which the shape of the stick suggested.  So that's what I did, making sure to get deep into all the tunnels:

However, at this point, the tunnels were not very evident:

Until the black was painted on (brushing a light coat of black using the side or heel of the brush, so as to avoid filling the tunnels):

I am pleased with the final results, although I am not sure where to display it.  For now, I have it sitting beside a large wooden eagle head carving and stone salmon carving, both of which we bought from real (successful) artists.  So there is a sort of loosely west coast nature theme to it, even if it doesn't look like any of our local snakes.

If I get any compliments, I'll give most of the credit to the insects, for creating their patterns in the first place.  All I did was recognize and highlight it for them, so their artwork would be enjoyed.

Rattie Boys Introduction

Our latest pet rat, Archie, is about 3 to 4 weeks old, and is now beginning to show that he is a male.  This is good news, since our poor boy Bear (who we hoped was a girl when we bought him 6 months ago) has been without a companion, and going crazy not being able to visit the 2 girls in the cage next door to him.

I decided that I would let the boys sniff each other through the bars of the cage, and when it seemed friendly, I opened the door and let them sniff each other directly.  Archie fearlessly jumped into Bear's cage, and that was that.  We watched them for some time, and the interactions have been friendly, and unlike the girls (who still tousle often, ending with Sam on top, and Jen squeaking at her), the boys chased and sniffed each other.  In fact, our dear gentle giant Bear seemed a bit afraid of little Archie buzzing about and climbing on his tail.  Often, Bear retreated to the top of his food dish, watching Archie from above.

So I secured the second platform which we picked up at the dollar store.  The original cage was designed for birds, thus the vertical bars and lack of accessories.  We borrowed the ladder from the girls' cage, since they easily climb or jump up to their platform without it.

Bear seemed very interested in this new lower platform.  Archie was interested in everything, it was all new to him.  He figured out how to climb the vertical bars in no time, checking out the lower and Bear's upper platforms with no problem, not even bothering to use the ladder we provided.

It looks like a successful introduction.  Just in case Archie needs a place to retreat, we added a small tunnel which he can fit through but Bear can't.  But I don't think that will be necessary.

Here is a short video clip of the boys exploring together.  We are very happy for Bear that he finally has a friend to play with.