Green Wellies

Busy world

Life has never been busier and that's a good thing.  First of all, thanks to everyone who emailed to check up on me and to make sure that I hadn't fallen off the face of the earth.  I'm still here and the only thing that's kept me from writing on a regular basis has been other commitments to family, friends, doing respite and now that spring is here in all its glory, the garden.  I had my grandson here on two different occasions and we had a fabulous time together.  He talks a mile a minute, is interested in everything and loves to hang out with his nanny on the beach, wearing his own version of green wellies...

Casper, Indy and I walk the beach twice a day and lately, we've been heading out to hike some trails on those weekends when I have a foster child here for respite.  Until we decided it might be a good idea to read the map properly, one 2 kilometer hike ended up being a 5 kilometer trek...we got lost, but the birdsong, the masses of Dutchman's Breeches and the woodland sunshine made every step a delight...

The garden is coming along in leaps and bounds.  The rhubarb has become a bouquet of mass proportions and will soon be ready to be transformed into bottles of nectar...

The lovage is knee high to a donkey and I should have transplanted it last fall, as it's threatening to take over this tiny bed...

Taking inspiration from one of my flickr contacts, graygoosie, I'm in the process of making a narrow strip of the side yard between my place and the neighbour's fence into a tomato patch.  Because it's a sun trap, the weeds were prolific and it was an odd spot to get into with the weed-eater.  I dug up weeds, laid landscape carpet, covered the lot with cedar mulch, moved in an old blue bench and planted tomatoes in large pots.  It's another attempt to foil the deer.  They ate the flowering tops off of all my tomatoes last summer and I'm hoping that they won't wander into such a confined space.  Time will tell. 

The side of the house looks patchy.  It's been power-washed in preparation for a new coat of paint...

Using an old tap that my sister gave me, I fashioned a new spout for the front fountain.  The tub is from an old wringer washer, so the tap just seems to suit it better than the bamboo one I had before.  Trying to explain to the men at the hardware store the parts I needed, became a lesson in patience.  I could see it in my mind's eye, but they couldn't!  We managed to work things out in the end...

And while I garden to my heart's content, the dogs are kept busy chewing on bones.  Casper has his special technique...

Indy has his...

If all goes well tomorrow, I'm heading to as many blogs as I can to see what everyone else has been up to.  It's good to be back on board!

 

Round and round...

When I last looked, the earth was still round and the almost-full moon is lighting up the woods behind the garden.  It's not for lack of words, but more the lack of time that has kept me from posting something new.  I was back in Vancouver earlier in the month to help my niece move and to visit with family.  I've been doing respite for a foster child, doing some early spring cleaning in the closet and on the bookshelves and trying to help some friends who are going through an emotional rough patch in their lives.  I want to thank those of you who emailed to see if I was still standing.  I am.  I think I may take a bit of a break until the end of the month, so that I can gather my thoughts and make some sense out of what I write.

We had a good taste of sunshine today and not a moment too soon.  I was beginning to feel waterlogged from days and days of rain and I was worried that I might end up looking like this...

* inkognito card "Lachmowe" by Rudi Hurzlmeier

No Michelangelo, but it works for me...

I can't put that paint brush down.  Three walls in the living room were already white, but the fourth was floor to ceiling dark knotty pine boards.  It was calling to me.  I don't know why I haven't tackled it by now.  The hard part about painting any room is knowing that everything has to be moved, unplugged, vacuumed, washed and piled in places where there's very little space to begin with.  I was game.  I would stand and stare at the dining nook and watch the light bounce off the walls, so I was primed to start priming again.  Now I'm head over heels in love with a white wall.  The ancient chair, our family seat and hung flat Shaker-style, was built by my great grandfather and the two sides were the only bits left in my grandmother's attic.  It takes center stage on that wall and now I can actually see it.  James Horatio Holmes would be pleased.  This one's for you, Great Grandpa...

Painting up a storm...

Jayne and I had a fabulous time with mom, our brother, Phil and his wife Janet, when we flew to Ontario for a week.  I plan to post more about that trip soon, but when I got home, I decided to finally tackle painting the dark wood in the dining nook, to try and brighten things up and make it seem larger than it really is.  I have to keep going now...I'm walking around furniture obstacles and must get it put back into place, as it's rather confusing for the dog and cat!  They can't figure out why there's a chair on the table instead of the floor.

Here's one wall done...

   

Even the first coat of white paint is making all the difference, but I should have done the ceiling first...I think it's called planning ahead and I didn't!

An inconvenient truth...part one

I want planet earth to be here in all its glory for my grandchildren and their children and so on ad infinitum.  Two weeks ago, I watched An Inconvenient Truth and was mesmerized by the presentation that Al Gore gave in that film.  He had me sitting on the edge of my seat as he explained every graph and chart...not an easy thing to do by any stretch of the imagination. 

When I taught school, I started an ecology club and we worked hand in hand with every student and staff member to reach our goal of being a green school.  My classroom had a very active vermicomposter, every class had a large blue recycling bin with monitors sorting them each week and just before lunch each day, the custodian (hello, Greg...you wonderful, funny man) placed buckets outside each door for compost material.  We had garbage-free lunches and whatever came in lunch bags went home in lunch bags.  I never had the lights on in the classroom, unless the day was too dull and gray and I found that the students were calmer and more centered without that blaring fluorescent light shining in their eyes all day...it worked wonders for me, too!  None of these were hard to accomplish and it became a way of school life for everyone on board.  This was ten years ago and I find it amazing that there's been press coverage lately of schools that are attempting to go green.  It makes me so proud of what we did way back when.

The vermicomposter was an incredible learning tool.  We did a unit on earthworms (not on the curriculum, but important if we were going to be caring for a large bin of them) and every student had a small cubed magnifier on their desk so they could watch earthworm eggs hatch.  We'd carefully place an egg on a damp piece of paper towel in the magnifier and we soon learned that when the egg casing became transparent and we could see the tiny hair-sized baby complete with red dot heart, that hatching was about to take place.  Thrilling stuff!  Scissors hung from the side of the bin and after lunch, the students would cut up banana and apple peel to add to the mix.  Greg, our faithful custodian companion would bring us the coffee grinds from the large pot in the staff room each day and they were added, too.  Every couple of months, desks were pushed back and we'd dump the whole lot onto an old shower curtain and bag hundreds of worms and the composted "earth" to give away to anyone who wanted our black gold for their gardens and potted plants.

Recycle, reuse and reduce became the catch phrase.  Recycling monitors would scrounge any paper that hadn't been used completely and then staple sheets together for scrap paper.  We kept a container full of finely shredded construction paper to use in making our homemade paper with a blender and old screens.  Anything that shouldn't have gone into the recycling bin was returned to the appropriate classroom to deal with.

Students were encouraged to initiate changes at home and it wasn't long before families let us know of changes they were making with the three R's.  A log book was kept in the front hall and every instance of recycling, reusing or reducing went into it and once the tide turned, there was no stopping the flow of ideas.

After watching The Inconvenient Truth, my grave concern is that with so many young people isolated in bedrooms or living rooms with TV, ipods and video games, resulting in less and less hands-on contact with nature and their outdoor surroundings, how on earth are we to expect that these same children and teenagers will understand their vital role in saving our planet.  As adults, it's imperative that we encourage active participation and set a good example by doing whatever we can to include them in this process.  I know many families where this is already a way of life for them and their children play an active part...cheers to all of you.  Mother Earth is crying out and we need to hear her loud and clear.

Happy journey home, mom...

My mom is winging her way across the Atlantic tonight to England.  This will be a very special trip for her.  She arrived in Canada as a young war bride, having met my dad while he was stationed in northern England with the Canadian Air Force.  She had to leave family and friends behind and it would be almost ten years later, before she saw them again when she took my brother and me on the ocean liner Franconia to meet our British relatives for the first time.  It must have been a daunting experience to leave the comforts of home and the love of a close-knit family and find herself among strangers in the backwoods of New Brunswick, but to her great credit, she learned to quilt, can fruits and vegetables, lug water, haul wood, make jam, bake bread, cook salmon and moose meat, pick fiddleheads, shovel snow and raise two babies without running water or electricity.

Dad passed away last July and even though they made several visits to England together over the years, this will be her first solo trip.  She's stayed strong these last few months, put the family first, continued with her daily morning swims and tai chi, lunched with friends and is doing so well...she makes us proud.  Her strength has kept us going.  She's still kicking up her heels as she dances in a troupe she belongs to...they take their songs and dances to retirement homes and are booked solid. 

We are so thrilled that she decided to take the plunge and book this trip.  As she takes in the views, I hope memories of her happy childhood come flooding back and that the sights, sounds and smells of an oh, so familiar countryside will fill her mind, body and spirit.  Bon voyage, mom...may your visit be filled with laughter and may delightful adventures be waiting around each new bend in the road.   We can't wait to hear all about it.

Here she is, the little pixie sandwiched between Em and Gwen and I'm the one with my bottom sticking out, as Vi leads us in the backyard Folies Bergeres...

In a fit of giggles, I try hard not to laugh and mom's earrings dance...

And she still believes that fairies dance at the bottom of the garden!  Looking at her, it's not hard to understand why.

Not enough waking hours...

The homestead was buzzing with activity from very early Tuesday morning until Thursday afternoon.  Em, her friend Leslie with rescued Beagle, Eemers and Aethan of course, flew over on the float plane for a visit.  Aethan is up at the crack of dawn, but this is one nanny who doesn't think there's enough waking hours to spend with her grandson.  He makes me laugh and is game for the beach, the garden and even thrift shopping.  He will be three in June and it makes my head spin to think about how quickly those first few years have sailed on by.  Just look at the drawing he did of his smiling nanny with her trusty sidekick, Casper...

On Wednesday, we drove to the harbour in Gibsons so we could show Leslie Flora's Float, the houseboat home of a very enterprising woman.  Suzanne lives in the houseboat and has an attached barge that she's transformed into a magical garden space complete with shed, lattice and plants galore.  It's a testament to her ingenuity, hard work and creative vision.  Welcome to her garden, which incidentally is featured in an article called Hope Floats in this month's issue of Canadian Gardening magazine.

And here's Suzanne's houseboat patio where she can set aside her magic wand and put her feet up at the end of a long day to be lulled by the waves...

After the photo shoot, we walked to Molly's Reach, the actual restaurant featured in the old TV show, The Beachcombers.  The inside was packed, so we opted to eat outside, waited ages for our food and only just finished lunch when the heavens opened up.  Good timing on our part.  I didn't get any photos of the restaurant, but Leslie has a couple of great ones on her blog.

Flora's Float proves that wherever you hang your hat is home.  Mine is made all the merrier with visits from family, friends, dogs and the antics of Aethan who keeps me on my toes.

* My intention is to spend the weekend evenings reading blogs to play catch-up with everyone...it has something to do with not enough hours! 

Out to lunch...

I'm heading into Vancouver for a few days to look after adorable Scout for Gwen.  Casper is thrilled that he'll get to play with his canine cousin...

Before I go, take a look at what fun it is to take an ordinary picture like this...

 

...and using mosaic image generator, transforming it into a picture made up of thousands of photographs like the one below.  To get a better idea of just what this looks like, click on the boot...

 

My green wellies and I are taking the high road, but we'll be back on Wednesday.  See you soon!

Home for the holidays...

It's been four long weeks since I've seen Em and Aethan, so it was a very special holiday visit when they flew over from the Island for a couple of days to see my mom.  This was the first time they had met each other, but Aethan was soon hugging her leg every time he walked by and saying, "I love you soooo much great grandmother."  We had been referring to her as GG to make things easier for him, but even at 2 1/2, Aethan wasn't having any short-cuts and great grandmother it was.  Aethan is quite the experienced flyer now and he has no qualms about climbing aboard the float plane, with a little help from the pilot...

The sky was dark to the north, but the sunlight captured two wonderful people just before take-off...Em and sweet Aethan wearing his nanny's hat home!

Mom and I watched the plane leave the dock and blew kisses and waved like mad...you can just make them out in the window.

 

As the plane skimmed the water just before it took flight, a rainbow appeared behind it...a magical moment to cap off a wonderful magical Christmas visit...one that Aethan's great grandmother will remember for a long time...memories to last a lifetime!

* it's not easy to spot, but the rainbow is there!

Not a light bulb moment...

This is exactly how I felt today when I had SO MUCH to do and then plans got scuttled when VERY HIGH winds blew a tree down on the wires south of me and left the WHOLE neighbourhood in darkness for the WHOLE day!

* with thanks to my son who drew this picture 30 years ago...who knew then that I'd need it today!