The Garden in the middle of June 2014

 

The Abraham Darby and the White Delphinium are at their best, taking centre stage away from the peonies,

especially the beautiful white single which Sharon gave me,

which has outdone itself this year, covered in flamboyant fragrant blooms.

 

The Iris grew tall, – first the common variety and then the specialties, – the purple, the rust and the lovely yellows (which fell prey to the wind and rain and spent the last part of their life indoors, reflected on the mirrored table.

 

 

The Columbine, the Sweet William, the Shastas, the Oriental poppies, and the potted annuals have all been a lovely prelude to the roses

and the Clematis who/which are in full fragrant bloom in the back garden and at the front garden gate.

 

Frank brought me some wonderful light long handled clippers and yesterday I pruned back all the suckers on the trees along the side garden.

A big job, but I was quite conscious of approval from ‘on high’!

I open the doors to a beautiful fresh morning, a faint chill in the air that is as sweet and clear as a June morning can be after a day of gentle rain.........you know, that lovely promise when the flowers are all drenched and happy and you know you won't have to run around with the watering hose saving all the pots from dehydration, at least for the next twenty-four hours.

Callie and I take sustenance in the first cup of morning coffee, out the back, sitting on the blue bench, happy with the new day  but averting my eyes from  the remains of the beautiful birch that the neighbour had sliced at the knees, piling all the beautiful branches against my sweet pea fence.

A tall and elegant tree, clothed in beautiful white birch bark and reminiscent of the gorgeous native costume that the lady of the house wears at First Nation celebrations....

I shake my head and say a little prayer for beauty destroyed......

This is not going to be a sunny day.  Already the clouds gather and there is the promise of more rain, but that's quite welcome in June - a sure defense against the threat of wild fires in dry forests.  The waters in the Similkameen have receded since flood time, making room for summer rains and a nice flow for the usual river rafters.....

Breakfast over I eye two very black bananas sitting in an empty fruit basket, and think about a batch of warm muffins - I think it's going to be a perfect day for baking!  Maybe a dozen scones to tuck into the freezer so I am not surprised by unexpected company and only some rice cakes to offer.....

I'm off to make the day happen......

Here is a little poem by David Rosenthal to remember the lost birch tree that brought me such pleasure when I would stop to drink in its beauty as I gardened, or snapped a picture of the blue sky against which its lovely branches were framed.

Trees need not walk the earth

for beauty or for bread;

Beauty will come to them

Where they stand.

Here among the children of the sap

is no pride of ancestry:

A birch may wear no less the morning

than an oak.

Here are no heirlooms

Save those of loveliness,

in which each tree

is kingly in its heritage of grace.

Here is but beauty's wisdom

in which all trees are wise.

Trees need not walk the earth

For beauty or for bread;

Beauty will come to them

In the rainbow -

The sunlight -

And the lilac-haunted rain;

And bread will come to them

As beauty came:

In the rainbow

in the sunlight -

in the rain.

David Rosenthal

V for Violin

ABC Wednesday

The letter is V, and what better to represent it than a beautiful VIOLIN performance.

David Garrett plays Tomaso Albinoni's  heart aching Adagio

His rendition of Bach's Air on the G String is equally touching.

thank you to Denise and Roger and all vigilant helpers at ABC Wednesday.  

Click here to see more of their offerings.

Out and about....

Sometimes the days go by slowly, - lovely, lazy, languishing.  But then along comes a week full to the brim with activities and one is not as well equipped to deal with everything with the aplomb which once greeted busy weeks.

However, I am now into a week that  at least has the first few days free, and so I have been pottering.  Out in the garden, at the kitchen table with the camera, trying to demystify the three important aspects of Exposure, -  Aperture, Shutter Speed and OAS.  For as long as I have had this wonderful camera I have been depending upon Auto, and it has not failed me, but now that I am taking a little course in photography and editing  I think it's now or never and I'm trying to be cheerful and confident about it all!

So what kept me so busy last week?

On Wednesday the Ladies of the Royal Purple celebrated their special day by taking a cake to the local Care Facility, visiting and donating a nice sum to the Similkameen branch of the Special Olympics.  Nice cake (shown here with the Honoured Royal Lady) and a bitter sweet visit with old friends who are now resident there.

Thursday I spent at the Computer, doing the Pew Bulletin for Pentecost Sunday (and musing about when it used to be Whitsuntide and we dressed all in white and were young and wore ankle socks) and preparing some posters and Table Cards for the Royal Canadian Legion and their commemoration of D Day....

In the evening I went to the Museum meeting and took the minutes.....

Friday morning I watched the D Day Commemoration from Juno Beach, and cried a little at the Last Post and the Lament.

In the afternoon I went to the church, changed the hangings to red, put out the red candles and did all the Altar Guild things, - and then I played the organ for an hour and treated myself to some wonderful music. - Bach's Air in G,  Bellanoni's sad and beautiful Adagio and then a few jazzy hymns.

And Saturday!!  What a fun day that was.....   up early to be ready at 9.30 when Margaret's daughter picked me up and we went to the Farmer's Market in Penticton.  That was a real lark, and I appreciate so much these outings with  them.  I bought some exotic bread, a wild, flaming orange and red and yellow silk scarf  (perfect for Pentecost).  We went to Tickleberries for ice cream and then home through the green woods of St. Andrews......

And yesterday, - Sunday - not a day of rest.  Early to church to finish my Altar Guild duties and play the organ, - a nice visit with a couple of sweet young ladies from Magdellan Island in Quebec who are here to work at Cathedral Lakes, which is a marvelous resort for tourists and locals alike up in the Cathedral Lakes National Park.  The road up the mountain starts just as you leave Keremeos in the west and it is an adventurous trip.

Home to make sandwiches for a baby shower for that gorgeous new great grandchild, Tanner - popped in there for an hour and then my son drove me down the valley and we went to a memorial tea for an old friend.  After we left there we went to inspect a new orcharding endeavour a friend has, bordering the USA, and on our way we stopped when we saw a small blonde bear cub that seem mournfully alone.  No mother around - Sid went home to phone the Wildlife who are wonderful about rescuing animals in distress.....

I made myself a small supper, put on a DVD about Alexander McCall Smith and the series he has written about the #1 Ladies Detective Agency in Botswana, but then I fell asleep!!!!  How could I have done that when I admire him so!!!

Well, today I am somewhat exhausted!!!!!  Got out my camera manual, but my head nodded over it.  I am reading Miriam Toews  'All my Puny Sorrows' and even it wasn't enough to keep me alert.  Thank you for listening to all my doings - writing has made me think and remember with pleasure, but now I am going to pour myself a mild and gentle ginger ale and orange brandy and watch the news,  (maybe)....

This week has a luncheon date, a BBQ and installation at the lodge, but in between times you will find me in the garden!!  In the evenings, when the Nicotiana spreads it beautiful aroma, I will be resting with my evening cocoa...you would be most welcome!

U is for Jane Urquhart

ABC Wednesday
June 4th, 2014

The letter is U, 

and I have chosen to tell you a little about Jane Urquhart, 

a brilliant Canadian Poet and Novelist.

She is one of Canada's best loved writers and was born in northern Ontario in 1949;

the author of three or four books of poetry and seven internationally acclaimed novels

for which she has won many awards,

and has been made an Officer of the Order of Canada.

If you don't know her works it would be most rewarding to GOOGLE her name!

I find that I have only read her last four novels,
A Map of Glass, The Stone Carvers, the Underpainter  and the Sanctuary Line

and so I have visited the Library online and ordered

her first three The Whirlpool, Changing Heaven, and Away.

Here is one  of her poems from the book The Little Flowers of Madame de Montespan

The sun decides to enter

from the garden

moving on the carpet

he touches all your furniture

crawls under your closet door

investigates your wardrobe

moves his arm across 

your memories

substituting light

heat and silence

he erases last year's

conversation with the stars

changes the contents of your mirrors

invents an alternative

palette for your crystal

scrapes his nails across  brocade

revealing tangled threads

like contours on a map

he polished your tables

his brilliance clings to cutlery

till spoons become large

bright incisions

all across the grain

a weight of gold and heat

he stops  burning

at the flesh of your neck

you are the only shadow in the room

It seems a pertinent poem for these first sunny days of June

For more interesting u's visit here at ABC Wednesday,

with thanks to Roger and Denise, and their hopefully ubiquitous helpers.

We grow closer to the cusp of Summer

When there's new growth bursting out all over,

everything fresh, green and flourishing,

the plants are little rockets of success

going off every time you look at them! Jacquiline  Heriteau

Before I even press the little red button to set the coffee perking in the morning

I open the back door to the sun room.

Callie runs out ahead of me

through her little cat door, 

and I open the door to the deck and look around me with delight!

Well, most mornings, - we have had a run of really pleasant weather...

warm in the daytime, cool at night, blue skies scattered with

beautiful white clouds (as I will show you)

and a great  green explosion in the garden!!!!!

Occasionally the bucket under the eaves trough is full of water,

indicating a night-time shower, and small drops

may still remain on the leaves and the blossoms.

I scurry in to turn on the coffee, to wash my face and don a robe,

and when the coffee is done we are out back for the

first cup of the day, and morning inspection.....

Oh look, the delphiniums have grown another six inches

and they tower over the newly opened peonies and iris, 

which in turn have crowded the blue flowered monarda

 and the white  bleeding heart.

Every plant is three times larger than it was last year,

and of course I should have realized this would happen 

(as they thrive on the compost)

and been more of a minimalist when I first planted this small space.

Somewhere in there the Bee Balm has reached three feet

and I see that a branch of the Mister Lincoln Rose

has snaked through the undergrowth and come up 

in the midst of a peony!!

The small Bridal Flower shrub that I bought for our 65th anniversary

has suddenly burgeoned into  a full grown bush

and will have to be moved elsewhere!!

Oh dear, oh dear - I feel Charles shaking his head

and admonishing me,  and I say in reply 'I know, love, but, but........

I will enjoy all these glorious summer flowers 

and attend to the situation in the fall.

Here are some pictures.......

and then of course, there are all the pots of annuals and veggies

which I will save for another post!!!

But here is the lovely summery sky!!!

May has been marvelous and I open my arms to June.

"Oh, that it were with me

As with the flower'

Blooming on its own tree

For butterfly and bee

Its summer morns:

That I might bloom mine hour

A rose in spite of thorns.

Oh that my work were done

As birds that soar

Rejoicing in the sun:

That when my time is run

And daylight too,

I so might rest once more

Cool with refreshing dew."

Christina Rosetti, A Summer Wish, 1880

The Trembling Aspen

ABC Wednesday
May 28th, 2014

The letter is T, for the Trembling Aspen, 

sometimes called the quaking aspen, 

but I like Trembling much better.  

The Aspen has nothing to fear and quake about, 

but much to bring on a delicate spell of trembling with delight 

- a slight breeze, a bit of sunshine to turn her lovely round leaves into golden coins!

One of my favourite trees.

In spring it has a lovely woolly catkin

In  summer it rustles a small song and shimmers in the
aspen groves as the 

 winds move through the straight white trunks.

Autumn turns the leaves golden 

and paints large gleaming expanses or colourful waterfalls in the hills

 where this deciduous tree is most at home.

These aspen (below) along the road to Penticton are more of an ecru colour (and have been photoshopped, which probably accounts for the darker colour of the trunks)

Here is a lovely young grove of trembling aspen that we passed just before we came upon 

The Columns (which trip I will tell you about soon!)

High in the hills they had not yet leafed out

but stood white and ghostly around

a small waterfall and stream.

Beautiful - they reached out and clutched at the heart!!

For more wonderful Ts do trip over here to ABC Wednesday

where Roger and Denise have some terribly trendy

or totally traditional treats for you.

Summertime

ABC Wednesday
The letter is S, which stands for.....

SUMMERTIME

in all its glory

David Garrett and accompanist

A musical celebration

would you like violin and piano

or trumpet?

for more interpretations of the letter S

click here to reach ABC Wednesday

and the postings Roger and Denise

have gathered for your pleasure.