A story "The Squirrels"

 The Squirrels

Grandma liked to feed the birds in the winter.  She had a special bird feeder with a spring-loaded perch that closed the opening to the seeds if a squirrel stepped on it.  Grandma had a long-standing war going on with the squirrels.

"Ha!"  Grandma would exclaim triumphantly when a squirrel slid down the cylindrical bird feeder and fell to the ground.

One afternoon, I decided on impulse to visit Grandma.  There she was standing in her snowy yard tossing peanuts around.  Squirrels dashed and skittered to retrieve them.

"Squirrellies, peanuts,"  Grandma called gaily.

I guess everyone has secrets.

Dried Arrangements, thoughts on growing potatoes and geraniums

 I found that peony flowers dry quite nicely and I made this arrangement using them as the main feature.  Also in this arrangement is some purple statice, white astrantia, red yarrow, grape hyacinth stems with seed pods, coral bells spent flower stems.

I have been growing some potatoes in reusable grocery bags (woven fabric ones) and having pretty good success. I really like just being able to dump the bag and find the potatoes without digging. I was thinking that next year I will place some of the bags on top of the big plastic containers I use for growing.  That way, the roots of the potato plants can go down into the soil of the container but all the potatoes will be in the bag. I could also place the bag right on the ground of a garden area.

This patch of geraniums is actually 3 plants each in a 8" pot.  I started them as cuttings in the spring - 4" cuttings dipped in rooting hormone and placed in soil.  I pinched out any flower buds until the middle of July forcing the plant to put more energy into leaves.  Now I have a lovely display of flowers blooming all at once. I will bring one of them inside before winter and repeat the process next year.

Watercolour Cloud Painting

 I challenged myself over the winter months to improve my cloud painting.  I watched several Youtube videos on it and after many attempts I felt this one was starting to get a feeling of fluffiness. 

For anyone who likes watercolour painting, I came across a competition - Women in Watercolour - which has some amazing paintings.  Many of them are photo realism but there were other styles as well. If you Google the name of the competition, you will get to the site and be able to view all the winners for this year and the last 3 years.  I like the fact that they had many prize winners - about 30 I think- and also made a slide show of the 160 honorable mentions. 

I found it encouraging to see so many wonderful paintings.  We get so much depressing news but these women are painting wonderful watercolours and bringing joy to people who see them.

Hope you are enjoying some hobbies these days.  

A Story. "Faulty Connections" and Jewelweed

 Here is another story:

Faulty Connections

Bill wasn't looking forward to his doctor's appointment, but he felt he had to share the concerns he and his wife had about his memory, his problem solving, his word finding and understanding.

"I'm having trouble with my memory," he began.

"Just normal aging, but I'll give you a short assessment."

Ten minutes later, Bill had drawn a clock, identified a camel, recited three numbers backwards, remembered five words, and completed other similar tasks.

"Perfect score, Bill."

He left the office relieved, no dementia.  Driving home, he mistakenly pressed the accelerator at the stop sign and crashed into a car.

Jewelweed is not a terribly common weed in our area but it really likes the damper areas of our property. It has juicy stems like an impatiens and grows 5-6' tall.  It's an annual but it scatters its seeds by popping its ripe seed pods which flings the seeds a fair distance.  The plants are easy to pull out as they are very shallow rooted.  It is a bit of a nuisance in the gardens but it is much better than stinging nettle which also grows here and there.  The flowers are small - less than an inch- but they are interesting if you stop and have a good look at them.

Last Day in the Robin Nest

 Yesterday morning I took this photo. I was pretty sure it would be the last one and sure enough the nest was empty this morning.  We had a thunderstorm and rain early this morning so I don't know if they fledged yesterday evening or this morning just after the rain stopped.  Anyway, no sign of the robin family but I guess they are somewhere on the property just trying to keep a low profile.  I may see them when the young birds are a little stronger.  It's been fun to share the journey with them.  It's truly remarkable to go from a little blue egg to a bird with feathers and big eyes and strong yellow beak. Life is amazing.

More Pictures of the Baby Robins

A couple of days ago, all snug in the nest early in the morning.

Last evening, I heard one of the parents call quietly. I wondered if it was encouraging the babies to leave the nest.  This morning, at least one of them is looking awake and alert. We'll see if they are still in there tomorrow.  It's looking pretty crowded.
 

A Story "Family" - and some red flowers

 Here is the second part of the story "Baby Plans".

Family

Laughing, panting, David called a stop to the soccer scrimmage with his stepson, Ben.

"Time for ice cream," Ben grinned.

"You betcha, kiddo," David returned with a big puff.

David slung his arm around Ben's shoulder as they headed for the house.  Jessica watched them from the kitchen, her heart singing as it always did when those two were together.  David couldn't have a biological child of his own, but he loved and cherished Ben as his son.

Jessica and David had debts; they rented their house; they weren't promoted.

All they had was treasure:  family and love.

This is a miniature rose.  The flower is a bit more than an inch across. I bought this at the grocery store last winter and it's doing well on the deck.  It has collected rainwater in the centre.

Flowers come in so many different shapes and sizes.  Here is some beebalm looking like it's having a bad hair day.

This dahlia is so neat and tidy.  Dramatic in its very structured way.

Probably my favourite daylily.  The lime green centre is such a good contrast to the rich red petals.

I like the glossy green leaves of this begonia. Very bright and cheerful.

Happy gardening.