growing...

"...Of all the wonderful things in the wonderful universe of God, nothing seems to me more surprising than the planting of a seed in the blank earth and the result thereof..."
Julie Moir Messervy

These trailing geraniums give a bright and cheery greeting to visitors at our door.

I planted this hosta around 10 years ago. It must be incredibly hardy.
I have hacked and split it with a dull spade...
(my apologies to all you expert gardeners)
and look at the results!

Thriving and multiplying!

Company was coming - the flowerpot was still empty.
I grabbed a few flowers at our general store
and this is the result...I like it.

My husband loves to plant trees. This maple is the latest.

This tree was transplanted from the woods around 16 years ago.
It has grown into a beautiful shade tree.

I am pleasantly surprised that this snowball bush
survived my over-enthusiastic pruning this spring...
I thought that I had killed it but it is blooming better than ever.
I don't know what comes over me
when I get shears or scissors in my hands...
don't ever ask me to trim your hair! :)

I added these lilies to my perennial bed last summer
They add a lovely splash of sunshiny yellow
to the green hostas and the purple and pink hues of the flox.

My husband is the manager of the vegetable garden.

We will feast well on corn and potatoes this winter - as long as the racoons don't eat all the corn. Yellow and green beans and peas are a bit spotty due to slugs and crows - we had to replant.

The carrots and beets should be ready to pick soon. The onions and cukes are also thriving. We plant a lot in order to make my husband's grandmother's delicious mustard pickle recipe - as much a staple in our family diet as meat and potatoes.

How is your garden growing?

Enjoy a garden tour - Rebecca's Yukon Garden, Violet's Garden Moments,
Jeannine and Vince's Flowers

wishful

"...If I wasn’t a human girl I think I’d like to be a bee and live among the flowers..."

Anne of Green Gables - Ch. 8
Photo Credits - Aaron Hardcourt

simple joys

The Swing

How do you like to go up in a swing,
Up in the air so blue?
Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing
Ever a child can do!

Up in the air and over the wall,
Till I can see so wide,
Rivers and trees and cattle and all
Over the countryside -

Till I look down on the garden green,
Down on the roof so brown -
Up in the air I go flying again,
Up in the air and down!

Robert Louis Stevenson

photo credit Rinda Dean

Summer reading...

A peek in my library basket...

I haven't read them - so I can't recommend them...yet!

The Akhenaten adventure /I've seen this one in the children's bookstores - I'm checking it out for my school library.

The bread book : the definitive guide to making bread by hand or machine / Mmm - the pictures are wonderful in this book - it is making me hungry just to look at them.


Chasing Redbird / My daughter and I really enjoyed her novel Bloomibility

The elephant's child looks interesting

Fair girls and grey horses : memories of a country childhood /The verdict is still out

INNUMERACY:MATHEMATICAL ILLITERACY AND ITS CONSEQUENCES The question is - Can I get my brain around this in the summertime?? It comes highly recommended so I will try.

Jane of Lantern Hill / for my daughter who hasn't read this LM Montgomery book yet. It's one of my favourites.

The light in the window / verdict is still out

Marling Hall : a novel /Angela Thirkell - sure to enjoy

NICCOLO RISING a series recommended by a friend

Nobody's child /an intriguing look at the Armenian Genocide - a YA book that my husband, daughter and I have been reading ....at the same time.

The outermost house : a year of life on the great beach of Cape Cod Amazon says - A chronicle of a solitary year spent on a Cape Cod beach. I like these type of books.

The Philadelphia story /DVD

Possession : a romance /I've heard good things about this novel by A S Byatt - it won the Booker Prize. We'll see...

The Shangri-la diet : the no hunger eat anything weight-loss plan /it's crazy and it worked for me...-15 lbs so far.

Tinker, tailor, soldier, spy / - DVD - I'm going to watch it with my DH. I hope it's good.

Art- Summer Reading - Ron Parker

HT - Thanks for the blog idea Joanne :)

Vespers

O LORD, I call to you; come quickly to me.
Hear my voice when I call to you.

May my prayer be set before you like incense;
may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice.

Ps. 141:1,2