From my Garden.

The last of my Hyacinth bushes. I love

the lightness of these from the garden.

I have another 2 bushes that are a deep

cranberry color. Love those too. Sweet!

~ Chy

Budding Garden.

My lavender on the left is turning green slowly.

And the bleeding heart on the right is healthy.

Tiny pink flowers in memory of all our baby girls.

New growth around the little bushes we planted.

Blue flowers in memory of our sweet baby boys.

They remind me of tiny grapes in a bouquet.

More growth that will soon be part of the bigger

garden. It's so amazing each year as green appears.

Buds that are so tiny it's almost too hard to see them.

But they're there and soon this little bush will be full.

Every time I come home from our centre, I love to

go out to the front veranda and walk down the path

in our front garden to see what is popping up as our

landscape starts to bud and bloom. Soon the beds

will be full of color and scent. The 2 things that are

slow to come up are my lavender and the hostas. I

do seem some green so that is always a relief to find

signs that they weathered our harsh Winters. Yes!

~ Chy

Daisies.

 Waiting for the snow to melt again, so that the
little daisies in our garden will soon pop up in the sun!

~ Chy

Pussy Willows.

Every weekend, we try so hard to not be busy, to have at least our Sunday as a true day of rest. But each week, we start to work on little projects or take the extra time to finish up things that need our attention. We do have time for rest and relaxing. But we still "sneak" tasks in and cross them off my list. This morning, as we worked awy in the garage to tidy it for Spring and break down the cardboard to take over to the recycling station, it struck me that maybe there are several reasons we do this each week. Not the cardboard, but the tasks! Maybe we recognize how short life is and that we only have so many Sundays in our lives. With grief all around us and a number of family members who have died young, perhaps we wish to fill every moment with work, tasks, fun and relaxation, so we have no regrets. Or maybe we just enjoy making our space look clean and tidy. Or maybe it's a distraction from life's worries. Or maybe a way to give back to the community. What ever the true reason, it's time to stop being hard on ourselves each weekend. We always feel sooo good after getting things off the list, so my guess is the idea that the day needs to be only full of rest and relaxation is not for us. For now, we'll instead embrace the idea of doing what we need and want to do, then rewarding ourselves with the nicest Sunday dinner, or an afternoon nap, or time to work on our art. I'm sure we'll figure it out but for now, no more beating ourselves up during and after working on our task list. I'd rather spend the time and energy on completing tasks, then looking around and not liking what I see around me! 

Last night, after a busy day of visiting an event, shopping for groceries, stopping at a 2nd store for fresh fruit and veggies, and a final stop to pick up some dinner, we settled in to watch the hockey game. I find it so stressful, especially now that we are heading in to the final games before the playoffs. So when I get stressed, I find things to keep busy. I ended up re~organizing our task cart, took all the new packs of paper out of the box and stacked them up neatly, took everything off the kitchen counters and wiped down every surface, unpacked the new towels for the half bath, and finally did a quick vacuum. By then, we were well on to a win and I could relax and watch the last bit. Then upstairs to bed.

Today, we did sleep in a bit, then got up to shower, make the bed, clean up the garage and loaded up all the cardboard we've collected since Christmas. Our County provides 2 huge recycling bins each month for 1 week, so timing is crucial. After dropping all the cardboard off, we did a little drive, marvelling at the snow that was deep yesterday and virtually all gone today. Home to sweep the garage, and then we cut down some pussy willows from the garden. I can't believe how big they are! Never had them this size before. I took a moment to decide where to display them and then settled on the dining room. They may move in time but for today, here they are. I love that we finally have a sign that Spring is finally on it's way. All week, we're supposed to have super warm days. The geese have returned, the buds are starting to appear and the ditches are full of water from the melting snow. Soon, our landscape will be green.

All for now. I'm off to work on our tasks!

~ Chy

A Bouquet.

 Clipping Hydrangea blooms for inside

the house. I love bringing outside in!

~ Chy

Fall Foliage.

Our plants are still looking great in the

Secret Garden. We still have some green

poking thru and members of a sweet little

gardening board I'm on have shared that

they've observed new blooms in their

gardens. I think our plants are confused!

~ Chy

Last Planting.

We've added to our garden once more.

I love buying plants from our local

greenhouse in August and September

when they put their perennials on sale!

~ Chy

 

My Bleeding Heart.

Each year, I have a moment of panic

when my Bleeding Heart looks like

it will never bloom. And then magically,

it comes to life and we end up with this

amazing bush in our front garden. A

favorite, in memory of our loved ones

and such beautiful color for the cottage.

I might add a second one next Spring.

~ Chy

Fall Garden.

It's only August and usually by now the

leaves on our trees in the forest are all

turning yellow, orange and red very fast.

So far, this year, we are still surrounded

by green. Not sure why but happy that

we have a bit more Summer around us.

My flowers are starting to fade though.

I'm sure they will stop growing very soon.

~ Chy

Pretty Summer Blooms.

I truly love this time of year when all the

local greenhouses start to put perennials

and trees on sale. Found these beautiful

and very colorful Hydrangea's at 68% off.

I can't wait to get them planted and hope

they will take well. Pretty blooms next year!

~ Chy

The Green Door.

by artist Joe Gilronan.

I love fairy houses and have been gathering

miniatures to create a little spot in our garden.

Now I just need to figure out which area to

use. Two acres of forest means there are a lot

of options for this project. I chose this artist's

work for inspiration as I LOVE the green door!

Do you have a fairy house in your garden?

~ Chy

August Garden.

We're about half way thru the Summer and I'm loving how lovely our garden has grown this year. Each year, we try to add more perennials, with the idea in time that we'll have just a few pots, but mostly a garden that grows itself. We're almost there! Still working on what will be the back gardens and the sides as well. Last year was the rock patio and the front. This year is this the side paths that will also be rock and then we can start to fill in with dirt, plants and cedar chips. One day, it will be all done. Or will it be? I've had many gardeners tell me it's never, ever quite done. Plants do well one year, and not well the next, some need to be moved and replaced. I can see that now. We moved our Delpheniums from a spot that did well last year, but this year, they are taller and we needed to find a spot where they could be better supported. So we put them where our old Clematis was, as it didn't come back this year and the arbor is there to hold up the stems. So far, they seem to be doing okay with the move. Finally starting to feel like a gardener! It's taken a long time but I'm there now. Honored.

How did your garden do this Summer?

~ Chy

Favorite Pinks.

My favorite pink flowers in the moment.

Next to my roses of course! Soft and

vibrant, they move in the breeze with new

buds popping up each day. Love them!

~ Chy