Week’s End

 

A busy week, dotted here and there with joy and a little sadness.   Bittersweet, but pleasure and solace in the garden, which is a good place to start.

A typically beautiful June.  A few days of gentle rain but other long, long days of sunshine, full of roses and late spring flowers. 

and now the bee Balm and the yellow daisies speak of the beginning of summer – the coreopsis itself good for the long haul through July and August and into fall.  The Lilies form long, pregnant tubes which eventually peel into elegant pastel petals and the lovely perennial/ heritage sweetpeas that have bloomed in Finch gardens for almost a hundred years climb higher and higher on the side fence and mark this year once again with pink and white stalks.

We have a glorious summery welcome at the front gate, reflected in the SUV parked in the driveway.        

and in the back the tiger lilies brighten up a far corner at the bottom of the garden.

all is well in the garden, but I must show you the showpiece in the back, – a dahlia which is growing ever skyward and blooming above the eaves, – along with the massive pumpkin, squash and tomato plants competing with the soon to blossom sun flowers.

and the first peachy/apricot coloured raspberries that make breakfast such a treat.

Well, gardening is not the only thing I have done all week.  I baked two ‘slices’ for a funeral reception, and on Friday I acted as church sexton/verger/beadle in preparation for the memorial service and reception for a dear friend, -  and then played the organ.  Lovely music for the hymns and everybody KNEW them and SANG them – In the Garden, Beyond the Sunset and Amazing Grace!  A real treat when everybody sings! 

I was pleased but exhausted when the day was done – especially pleased as this dear friend and I shared two grandchildren who come from afar and who I don’t often see.  Wonderful hugs and conversation all around.

The day before a son and DIL from the Chilcotin  meadow country arrived at my door and besides the pleasure of their company they have knelt under my computer desk where dwells the tower, and where I can kneel but can’t get back up and have vacuumed up all the accumulation of dust that was causing my PC great distress.

AND removed a flat headed tack that had fallen into my printer and caused it such agonies in the rear tray it refused to slip the paper through to print any pictures!!!  I am eternally grateful for this as I looked on the purchase of a new printer with some horror!

Now, as the week ends, the town gets ready to celebrate Canada Day on the First of July and I have good memories of Charles and David raising the flag two years ago, and a lovely picture of Charles, coming through the side gate as we were going to the celebrations and the eagles that flew overhead..

 

 

X is for Xylophone

ABC Wednesday
June 25th, 2014
The letter is X – for Xylophone
CONCERT HALL OF THE MARIINSKY THEATRE Sunday, 14 October 2012 Valery Gergiev presents young musicians from Yugra Ragtime potpourri The Golden Age of the Xylophone ...
Enjoy!

For more exciting Xs visit here at ABC Wednesday, with thanks to Denise and Rogers and their exacting helpers…..

Bits and Pieces

Life is divided into bits and pieces that keep me busy, curious and sometimes a little overwhelmed!

I had a discussion with one of the library ladies, - most helpful, very friendly - the kind of library lady who doubles the pleasure of opening the door to that wonderful scent of paper and print and people bent over the reading tables or searching the stacks.

When we talked about obtaining up-to-date DVDs SHE said, and I listened intently, - 'just order all the 2014 issues from the Central Library and take them out as they come in'!

So I went home and opened up the Library site and was delighted with what I found, - all sorts of great books published in 2014 as well as a goodly supply of film and documentary on DVD.

I clicked here, and clicked there until I had a healthy list of orders - a VERY HEALTHY list, I must say.  In due time (about four days) they began to arrive!!  Twenty-three in the first delivery......!!

Astounded, I looked through the disks and the books, picking out the ones most delicious and tempting, and leaving the others to sit on the library shelves until the first batch had been devoured.

Did I tell you that at the same time I had downloaded Diana Gabaldon's latest book in the Outlander series on to my Kobo ?????  No?  Well, that's probably because I knew it was a foolish thing to do, - it is now 78% read.  Of the stack I brought home from the library I have watched one DVD and read part of Alexander McCall Smith's new book, 'The Forever Girl'.  I am enthralled with what is going on in the 18th century and the time travel back and forth between  the American Revolution time and the late 20th century, and Gabaldon's marvelous imagination.

Is reading and watching DVDs the only thing I have to do?  Well, not likely....

I am taking a small photography course online which requires me to follow along and submit pictures if I want to be serious about learning the ins and outs of Exposure and Aperture and ISO.

All those pots I so diligently and happily planted in May need watering at least once a day,- sometimes twice if the afternoon gets warmish....  And the climbing roses are stretching out, not only on our side of the fence but also into the neighbour's space where he has to cut his side lawn, and I know that attending to this will not only get approval from 'on high' but I felt a definite urging until the job was satisfactorily done.

And then of course there is the Church bulletin, and changing the hangings from Pentecost and Trinity to green for Ordinary Time, and family to visit (first wonderful priority)
 and music at various places.

And June is the month for farewell luncheons before we plunge into summer and pop up in September in a new year of meetings and get-togethers and renewed energies.

Sometimes I think I may just end up in Bits and Pieces before I relax completely into summer somnolence, in a comfy chair, with a stack of books, and some entertaining movies.

W is for Tom Waits

ABC Wednesday
June 18th, 2014


Tom Waits came into my life via my two younger sons who reached their wild and hairy adolescence about the same time Tom Waits started recording, and was captured into their hearts.

His raspy, gravelly voice was described by one critic thusly  “like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months and then taken outside and run over by a car”…….. but both his voice and his lyrics held great appeal for them and their generation.

A mini biography here, begins as follows……

Described as one of the last beatniks of the contemporary music, Tom Waits - in fact - had two separate careers. From 1973 (LP "Closing Time") to 1983 ("One From The Heart" soundtrack), he recorded nine LPs for Asylum Records, writing songs mainly in the manner of Tin Pan Alley, mixing them with jazz and blues. Extraordinarily, he never produced a hit, but he earned a cult following all over the world. In 1983 he signed with Island Records, and released a series of albums that stunned the music world. Beginning with "Swordfishtrombones", he introduced a whole new orchestration, which included some of the instruments invented by Harry Partch. He found a new ground for his innovations, searching in sound fields that never before were searched. This second part of his career coincided with his marriage to Kathleen Brennan, a former writer for Francis Ford Coppola (Zoetrope (1999)). His LPs "Rain Dogs" (1985), "Big Time" (soundtrack) and "The Black Rider" are today what Kurt Weill's music was once. "The Black Rider" brings music written for the show directed by Bob Wilson and staged in Germany.

Leon Redbone is about as gravelly as I enjoy, but my boys adored Waits – still do!

Here he is in younger days….

and a Sesame Street Version of 'God's Away on Business'

For more wonderful Ws whisk yourself over to ABC Wednesday, here, with thanks to Roger, Denise and workers…..

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.