Spring cleaning causes blurry vision

I am deep in spring cleaning mode, clearing cupboards, wiping down shelves, and washing curtains.

And now I have turned my attention towards the computers hard drive.  If anything around here needs a good tossing, and turfing out, this is it.

Too many blurry photos, old outdated, and “what did I see in that” type of shots, are cluttering up the precious available space. So off goes Adobe PS, and into the archives I am diving.

Problem is, these new “yes I am officially entering middle age” progressive glasses I have just got are driving me batty.  With three zones, one for close up, one for long distance, and the middle one for computer screen reading, everything is supposed to be crystal clear.

Well it mostly is, until I lean to close to the screen, as I am habitually doing lately. And then because I haven’t moved my head correctly everything goes blurry.  Or I revert to my old habit of looking over the top of my glasses, and then nothing is clear.

So I manage to delete a few photos, and then I realize that my eyes are sore, so I need to look further out the window to relax them.  After I look out the window for a few seconds my mind starts to wander to the outdoor projects that are screaming to be tackled.  Then I look around the room, and notice that it needs to be tidied.

And back to the screen I go.  It’s a vicious circle.

The glasses are great, it’s just that this spring cleaning is giving me blurry vision.

Another reason to forgo it.

Jen

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Journey to a new home

 

Occasionally you come across blog posts that stay, and tug at your heart, a sweet reminder of the diversity, and obvious joy that blogging brings to our lives. 

Kim is a amazing blogger, who lives on a farm, with a camel, yes a camel, and scores of kids.  She manages to refinish furniture, grind her own organic wheat, turn it into bread, and plant a enormous garden.

Oh, and she is one awesome photographer.

What she can do with one small, stray, colorful sock, is well... that’s the story that you can read here.  More Stray Sock Monsters at the lake.

I won the choice of my very own sock monster, on her blog, and that is how Boots the sock monster travelled to my house to meet Bootsie the cat for the first time.

Boots the sock monster’s journey to a new home, and how he spends his last day with his friends before embarking on a journey to another country is a charming tale that Kim tells with words, and her photographs. 

Take a few moments to read it on Kim’s blog, you are going to love it. She even gives instructions at the end on how to make your own sock monsters.

Boots is settling in fine here, he loves the garden, and he is having a wonderful time with Bootsie the cat. 

He is blowing kisses to his friends, Dot the pig, and Rosie the rabbit.  And still giggling over Rosie’s tattoo.

 

Jen

Last of the Lilacs

We gardeners love to see the first buds of the Lilacs as they start to open.  Breathing deep of that sweet fragrance.  If you are fortunate you will be enjoying a arm full of them as cut flowers either from your garden, or from a generous friends.  I cherish every moment that they are in bloom, and miss them when they are gone.

I have visions of our future farm, complete with a fruit orchard, and masses of lilac trees.  Every color that will grow up in the Okanagan, from white to dark purple, to picotte magenta. They will have to replace the cherries that we are used to coloring up the spring on this wet coast.

Due to the possibility of disease affecting the over 20 million dollar cherry industry, it is illegal to grow ornamental cherries up there.  And while I will miss those gorgeous blooms in the spring, I am hoping that masses of lilacs will make up for it.

So for now, I am treasuring my glimpses of the blossoms that grow down here, while looking forward to what will be blooming up there in our future.

Jen

My how big you have grown

 

 When you garden on a deck, space can be a issue.  Thankfully my deck is quite large, and I am on the ground floor.  This becomes a important issue when a tree has a unexpected growth spurt.  Well, who reads those description labels anyways, obviously not me.  I suffer from a sort of gardening denial that thinks the tree is never going to get that big, because it is in a pot. So very, very wrong, and I don’t seem to learn.

Remember the Parrotia tree saga, [Wanted, three strong men], now happily living up country, at my Sister’s farm.  It completely filled the back of that huge pickup truck. And yes it started out really small also.

The other day I was visiting the adopted home of a few of my trees, and I was shocked at how much they had grown.  One started out as a mere stick of twisted willow from a flower bouquet, was now a billowing, 10 foot tall mammoth taking up a good chunk of the yard. 

The famous crashing Katsura tree, is almost taller then the 3 story house.  Even planted in the biggest plastic pot available, this was one tree that was determined to reach beyond the second story windows at my place. And given the slightest wind it would topple down onto the patio.  It got so big that nothing could hold it upright. Not bungee cords, ropes, or bricks.

I had even given away my Viburnum Summer Snowflake, and it is much happier now in the ground.

Parting with them was hard, and I miss them, but they are so better off now reaching for the sky.

Jen

 

Slow blogging and other “stuff”

 

You might have noticed another button on the sidebar’s of my blogs, it popped up there a few days ago.  I had meant to add it, oh about a few weeks ago.  And that’s why I think that it is so perfectly suited to those of us that have the best intentions, just not enough time.

It is a slow blogging button created by another blogger called, Jennifer,[also]and she writes from her blog “Artful Greens”.  I love it by the way, the blog, the concept, and the button.

She writes to describe the slow blogging movement, similar in concept to the slow food movement.  Bloggers that post erratically, or even more rarely then that.  I try to post every few days, give or take a few days. 

And with reading so many blogs, I too am thankful for those that don’t post everyday. 

When your Google reader says you have over 200 unread posts,  well you get the picture. But I love to keep reading these bloggers, I just don’t have big chunks of time to do it.

And no, I am not cutting them loose. Don’t even mention it.

So slowly we meander back to the subject, slow blogging, and how you too can get this button on your blog, should you also subscribe to the feeling that it is all becoming just a little to hectic of a pace to keep up with.

Read her post, if you get a chance, it’s informative, and interesting. If you would like the button, she has the code available to download, along with instructions for those of us who need them.

Me, I will be catching up on my unread blogger’s posts, and thinking of a interesting post to write..in a few days time, give or take a few days.

Jen

Something is buzzing around Blu oom,

maybe it’s a new post.

And check out “the far side of the ocean, a new post.” 

On my other blog, A Sibilant Surf.

 

1001 awesome things, what more can you ask for?

 

 

 I mean really?

1001 awesome things.

Yes, totally awesome things, this is a blog that you will want to read everyday.

Truly amazing, tiny little moments that normally would pass us by in the blink of a eye.  This blogger is amazing, even awesome in how he can transform the everyday events of our lives, into memorable “oh my moments.”

Taking a view that life, the news, and the world, are already too full of bad things, he instead dwells on those fine details like a spider web backlit by sunlight.

You will love your daily dose of this blogger.

Here are a few of my “awesome things” below, and I am encouraging you to share some with the rest of us in your comments.

First: you blog readers, you honestly have no idea how much your comments, and your reading of my blog mean to me. 

A email with good news from a long time no hear from friend.  Nothing like staying in touch again.

Finding extra money in your wallet, when you didn’t have enough to begin with.

A whiff of fragrant blooms on a sunny day.  Lilac’s, or maybe roses, or even Lily of the Valley.  Scented treasures.

Coming across a totally new pair of gardening gloves from the season before. Never worn, and just for you.

Finding out that a friend has secured a good job, after a stint of unemployment. Great news.

Bootsie coming through the garden gate, with more then just food on his mind.  A kitty cuddle.

Let us know what your “awesome things” are.

Jen

 

 

Oh Twisty Baby

 

 

I’m in love, I’m in love, I’m in love!

We are gardeners, we fall in love, we fall out of love, and yes, we long for certain plants.

Sometimes it’s a unrequited love, a love that spans decades, until finally one fateful day, the two of you meet in a crowed nursery/airport,...

Wait, that’s Casablanca isn’t it?  I’ve never seen it, but that’s my version of what it’s like to have a love of a plant and so rarely meet up with a good looking specimen.  That’s specimen, as in a really beautifully shaped plant, not anything else. 

This IS a family friendly blog you know.  NO hanky panky going on here!

I must admit to being in love with more then one tree, at a time.  Shameful of me, yes I know, but I am a gardener.  We have big hearts.

I am in love with Cercis canadensis Redbud. Forest Pansy. And I have always been in love with this tree. But I have never been able to justify the cost of one, nor have I seen one suitably sized for container growing. 

But for the last few years, my heart has also longed for another. 

Yes, Cerscis canadensis covey “lavender twist.”

And OH MY, am I smitten, head over heels, dizzy, and breathless, in love.

These photos are of the only tree I have ever encountered in bloom. EVER! 

I am sure they are out there, I have just never, ever seen them for sale. 

Do you understand how I feel about this?  Deep, unrequited love. It’s a love that might be forbidden, imagine the extreme hot, and cold climate of the Okanagan, and a tree that needs lots of water.  It’s just not meant to be.

The best thing about this particular tree at the nursery?  It didn’t have a price tag.  I can dream big dreams, and fall in love with it, all because it doesn’t have a price tag.

Thank you nursery worker for forgetting to price this tree, and not popping my bubble.

It would be perfect, life would be perfect, if only..

Jen

Visit my other blog Blu oom, there’s a new post up. 

With even more lush-ious flowers for you to look at.

 

Late bloomer doubles the beauty

Everyone likes the early bloomers, especially after a long winter.  But there is much to be said for the later blooming doubles.  Whether it is tulips, or this beautiful cherry tree.

We would walk past it every spring and I was always amazed by it’s beauty, and the soft pink color, so spring like.

To me, it’s beauty is so worth the wait.

Jen

 

Check out the new posts

on Blu oom, 

and the Sibilant Surf.

I’ve been to the blues, and the beach

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Calendar photos from May and April

 

 

 

I have been posting the photos that I used for my Mom and Dad’s calendar as the months come up.  Somehow I missed April, it’s my favorite month, and it just flew by.

Above is May, I am always looking forward to seeing the Lilacs bloom.  Maybe I can blame missing a whole month on the fact that we are so early this year. 

Yes, that’s why I am behind, most certainly.

Below is April, I didn’t want to miss out on that one.  Still one of my fav’s.

 

 

Happy Spring!

Jen