It is amazing how quickly the plants start to grow once the weather warms up. I am not sure why but it is shaping up to be a gorgeous spring in the garden with more flowers and colour than normal. In fact, bulbs which were planted and never gave us anything but leaves are surprising us with blooms this year.
and of course, the dandelions are back. I'll need to start the back breaking work of digging them out.
It was a bit of anticipation for us, after one of the worst winters we can recall with crushing cold temperatures, we were not sure what might still be living under the surface of the soil. We seemed to have skipped spring - cold - a bit of mild weather - and then full-on HOT! The garden has grown quickly. It looks like most everything has made it back except for a rose bush, a few heirloom varieties of coneflower, and the lavender took one hell of a beating.
This is where I sit and contemplate the morning most days. . .
The pond is gurgling away - sadly the resident frog did not survive the winter and his corpse, once frozen in the ice, did not survive the cat next door. On one hand . . . ewwwww, yet on the other hand I didn't have to deal with a decomposing bullfrog!
The peonies from my grandfather's garden are doing very well this year - with the heat I don't anticipate the blooms will last long.
The shade garden seems to expand a bit every year . . .
I LOVE this new type of salvia we found this year . . . it's unusual to have a red and white flower instead of the deep red you usually see. We figured it was patriotic for we Canadians . . .
This is a close up of the garden art I bought Paul for our anniversary - two birds on a wire.
Paul picked out this basket - I generally refuse to have these white baskets hanging in the garden because the white plastic is garish but we both really liked the colour combination of the two types of geraniums.
And finally. . .the nasturtiums are in full bloom - love these edible flowers!
This week's Photo Hunt theme is 'fave'. I assume that fave is a derivative of favourite so I am going with one of mine. . .
This is my favourite place to sit and unwind at the end of a long day!
This was the sky tonight after our company had left for home. Paul and I were sitting outside on the terrace, the bats were flitting about catching bugs (I hope), and the sky went purple and red. . .
If you look closely you'll see one of those bats in flight.
I knew I should NOT have gone to Art in the Park sponsored by the Oakville Art Society on Monday. Or at least gone unsupervised. Having just returned from a vacation and with a weekend away coming up in two weeks followed by another weekend away in 2 more weeks followed by ANOTHER weekend away in, yes, you guessed it . . . two more weeks the last thing I should be doing is spending money on art!
BUT...
I had received an e-mail from one of my favourite artists telling me that she would be there and she had some new paintings I might be interested in. As well, the brother of a family friend was going to be there and I had never seen his work. In a sense, I HAD to go.
Thank goodness for Visa.
Vicki was right, she did have some paintings I was interested in. I only bought one but that was enough to wreak havoc on the budget.
We really like Vicki's art - it is bright, vibrant, playful, and full of energy. She describes her art like this:
Love, life and shapes found in nature are my immediate inspiration. The whimsy and delight and colour of the natural world as expressed by The Group of Seven, Ted Harrison, and Norval Morrisseau have remained an inspiration for me since I began painting.
My paintings BURST with BOLD, VIBRANT colour , STYLIZED shapes are full of energy and joy. My black outlines create the energy the shapes describe the story and as I finish each piece I am in “awe” of having done it.
I hope to leave this world a little brighter than it was.
Well, she has certain left OUR world a whole lot brighter!
This is our latest purchase:
It isn't a great photograph but you can see the iconic Canadian image - rocks, pine trees shaped by the hard wind, and a vibrant splash ofwater.
She uses this image in most of her art. We bought this much smaller piece a few years ago:
(just tilt your head, you'll be fine. LOL).
We were surprised when we saw this piece of hers because it was NOT her usual style at all. We bought it for that reason alone.
I've been sick of the old kitchen table for some time - it was bulky, clunky, falling apart, and bright green.
In short, it needed to go.
It had served 15 good years since we brought it home, put it together ourselves, and ate many a great meal at it.
When we got our fancy new coffee table I got even more sick of the kitchen table. Problem was, who has a spare $ 4000 for a handmade table?
There was no way our table was going to be imported from China and we were NOT going to put it together ourselves.
When we were in Stratford a few weeks ago we walked into a furniture store and walked out considerably poorer. Our new table was handmade by local workers. The wood was from local trees even.There was nothing from China included with this table. It was expensive but we fund one we liked on sale so it wasn't as bad as it might have been.
Last week it was finally delivered . . .
We love it but I think Dante would rather have the old one back. :-)
Now we have a new spot at which to enjoy some wonderful meals. Better yet, it seats 6 so we can have company there instead of the more formal dining room.
Generally when we have bought furniture in the past we went for price and look. We ended up with furniture that we got bored with rather quickly and in some cases pieces that we had to put together ourselves.
When we recently decided to buy a new coffee table for the family room we decided to do things a bit differently. We wanted real wood. We wanted something that wasn't mass produced by machines. We did not want something that required assembly by us. We wanted a piece of furniture that was produced locally.
A tall order.
This was our old coffee table.
It was handmade in 1961 as a wedding gift for my parents. I guess that this makes it an antique. There is a story here - it was made by friends of my grandparents from wood that had been reclaimed from Hamilton City Hall when it was demolished back in 1960. It was historic even!
It met all of our criteria above but was just too small. It was when mom kicked over her martini at Easter because it was sitting on the floor since the table was too far from her seat that we started to think 'we need something bigger.'
Good friends suggested an independent furniture shop nearby that specializes in unique, handcrafted pieces. They warned us that it was not inexpensive.
We set out after Paul got off of work, had some lunch at a REALLY good Thai restaurant, popped into the store, and in about 30 minutes I was handing over my credit card.
Our new table was delivered last week.
Yup, a HUGE difference.
This is made from 100 % naturaly wood (nothing pressed or layered here). It was made by a small Ontario company about 2 hours from where we live. All of the component pieces are from Canada and NOTHING came from China. It is well-made - the joints are precise and nothing is held together by staples like you see in a lot of furniture today.
As I said, it was expensive but I would rather pay a more to support a local company when I can (just like I'd rather pay more for locally grown produce).
It did NOT take Dante long to make himself at home.
I think he likes it. :-)
It's no secret to those who have been reading this blog for a week or more than I enjoy travelling. Lately I have been on the road a lot for work. no matter how much you enjoy traveling there is nothing like coming home and relaxing in a big comfortable chair on the terrace with those you love . . .
It is amazing how quickly the garden is growing - especially given how dry it is - with no winter to speak of and a relatively rain-free spring we're going to be in for a rough summer if it continues. So far things are well ahead of schedule.
Last weekend Paul and I popped by mom's to help her with her garden. She decided that she was getting rid of some of her garden art - de-hoarding for the future condo move. This statue was my grandfather's and I think mom was tired of lugging it out every spring and packing it away int eh fall. We were happy to give it a home!
I am a bit out of sorts today . . . this has nothing to do with the bottle of wine Paul and I consumed yesterday or the giant bag of soil we dug, wheelbarrowed, and spread throughout the gardens (well, perhaps a bit of the latter). Instead it is the new neighbours.
I can't call them new since they have been there since last July, however the 'old' neighbours were there for 10 years so these two shall be 'new' for awhile.
The old neighbours were a bit trashy. Their daughter, an only child, was spoiled rotten and terrorized the other children on the street. They were loud. They had a hot tub and used it late at night.
They were also thoughful - Chris often cut our lawn or shovelled our driveway. Christine asked for gardening advice (sadly she didn't take it, but she asked). Alexa, well, she was the nastiest child I have ever seen, no sugar coating that.
We were a bit happy when we saw a for sale sign to up on their front yard - the late night parties in the hot tub tended to be loud and Paolo is a light sleeper.
We cheered when the hot tub got loaded up on a truck and was driven away.
The new neighbours were young. They kept to themselves. Fine, so do we.
Not long after they moved in a truck pulled up and a new hot tub was delivered.
All summer long they had LOUD parties, in, out, and around the hot tub. They frolicked naked in and around the hot tub. They tended to swear a lot when they were drinking. They drank a lot whilst enjoying the hot tub. They were loud when they are drinking.
We sleep with our window closed a whole more now than we ever did in the past.
I don't need to remind you that sound travels. We live in a neighbourhood with a lot of houses and hundreds of children. These children are now exposed to loud language the likes of which would have your grandmother running for the soap and your grandfather the belt.
Last night when Paul and I were enjoying a quiet drink on the terrace after a long day of working around in the garden, we heard the sounds of guests arriving next door. Paul looked at me and said 'it's going to be a bad night for sleeping'.
I have no idea how 8 people could possibly make such a racket. Apparently someone was celebrating her upcoming surgery which would result in 'new boobies'.
Yes, that is a direct quote.
There was considerable discussion about said boobies pre and post surgery.
It wasn't long before the entire neighbourhood knew far more about those boobies than anyone could possibly want to know.
I went to sleep at 10. I am a very deep sleeper - I once slept through someone robbing the house. Once I'm out I hear very little. Paul heard it all. Apparently they were at it until after 2 am. There was loud screaming, laughter, and swearing. Glass was broken. those boobies were discussed more than the state of the economy.
When I woke up I looked out into their back yard - it looked as if it was a tornado site. Clothing, towels, and bottles were strewn everywhere.
We started to hear sounds from next door at about 10 am. There were many complaints about sore heads. It made me sad that I had just cut the lawn on Friday because a loud lawn mower might have been good for them.
Sympathy?
Nope. None to be had from me.
Moral of the story - if you have kind neighbours who are a titch trashy - be happy! If they move you can go down the ladder rather than go up it.
Sigh