DOG DAYS OF SUMMER

The weather has been out of sync this year. A mild winter, late spring and now a summer where all the flowers are blooming at the same time.

This rose bush is fifty years old. When my father-in-law was going to throw it out twenty years ago, I couldn't bear to see it destroyed so we took it home and planted it. At the time the floribunda bush was thirty years old. It bloomed beautifully for fifteen years in our backyard, but about five years ago part of it died. I had to cut it right back and this year it's almost as high as it used to grow. The mint beside it seems to be competing. I've never seen the mint grow that high.

When we pulled out a dead bush in the front garden I decided to transplant the hostas that grew around it. They're thriving in the back garden alongside the phlox that is many years old and has been separated four times.

It took me four hot, sunny days to prep and paint the deck. I love the pewter gray colour, which goes so well with the gray brick. I found another wood Muskoka chair on garbage day and now have two. The plan is to paint them blue, but that might have to wait until next year. It's hard to believe it's August already. Summer flies by far too quickly. Nothing better than a glass of wine and reading a good book on a warm summer day.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

I don't usually have success with roses bushes unless they are the floribunda variety like this William Morris English Rose. I went to the garden centre last Friday with a friend and we found a few great deals. The buds were tightly hidden and by the time I got the rose bush home, one of the stems had sagged over. I opened a bag of good quality earth and planted the bush next to my tomatoes. Undaunted by the broken stem, I taped it together in the tradition of grafting stems together to create a new variety. It rained quite hard most of the night and I feared the rose bush might not survive, but by morning the buds were in full bloom.

I recall watching my mother crush egg shells and mix them with banana peels and coffee grounds for her beautiful garden. Why buy expensive fertilizer when you have the ingredients in your kitchen? I saved the egg shells from our breakfast, banana peels from my smoothie and coffee grounds and dug them into the soil near the rose's roots. The next day, the broken stem was in full bloom.

Now that the spring planting is finished, I can sit back and enjoy the fruits of my labour. All I need is a good book and a beverage.

Another Glorious Autumn

It's October 31st and Mother Nature has been hard at work coloring the landscape with golden leaves and frosty mornings. My hydrangeas began in late spring with large blue blossoms that gradually turned pink. They've dried on the bush and are a stunning display.

I would love to have this view outside my living room window. This morning, while my dog and I were on our morning walk, I smelled wood fires burning. I imaged families curled up before the hearth, sipping tea and reading the Saturday paper.





This old-fashioned poster takes me back to my childhood. We took Halloween very seriously. Our parents did not buy costumes at the store for us. We made our own from scrapes of material and were always proud of our accomplishments.

Tonight after all the little children have finished Trick-or-treating, I'll curl up before our fireplace with a drink and relax with a good book. Wishing everyone a happy and safe Halloween!

Summer's Arrival

We've had a very long, cold winter and spring here in Southern Ontario. Summer sneaked up on us gradually, but every minute of warm weather is much appreciated. Mother Nature brought too much rain in June and many of my perennial leaves have turned yellow, but the vegetable garden loved the rain. Cucumbers and tomatoes are early this season. I won't need to buy lettuce until the fall and the fresh parsley and mint taste divine in drinks and salads.

I found a wooden Muskoka chair in someone's garbage last week. All it needed was a few tweaks with a screwdriver and a coat of paint or stain, which I'll get to later this summer. My grandmother had two green Muskoka chairs in her backyard in West Toronto during the 1960s and my sister and I loved sitting in them whenever we visited her in the summer.

Some of my treasure finds last year included this birdhouse and fairy, which I carried home while walking the dog one morning. It was my dog, Little Bear, who alerted us that the birdhouse is occupied this year by a family of sparrows. The eggs have hatched and the mother sparrow is busy feeding her nestlings. I put lots of bread out for her several times a day and I love listening to the chirping chicks.

We're looking for a couple of acres of waterfront property that we can build on and retire to in about twelve to fifteen years. We already have plans for a chalet style house. Nothing big or grand, just somewhere we can hang our hats when we come indoors. A large dock is essential, no boat required, but clean lake water where we can cast a fishing line or swim.

Half the fun is searching for property and driving to rural townships to view them. If we're lucky, we'll still be looking in the fall and our travels will take us past autumn's gold and red scenery.

Summer comes and goes quickly here and I intend to enjoy every moment of her beauty.

First Day of the Year

What do I love about the first day of a new year? It’s a new beginning. A fresh start. Forget past problems and mistakes and take a new road. Read a good book by the fire. Treat yourself to eggnog and sherry. 

Take long walks with the dog and enjoy the solitude of the cold while others remain indoors. 

Cook a stew and root vegetables and inhale the heavenly scent that fills the house. 

I’m looking forward to the treats and joy that lie ahead. 

An Old-Fashioned Summer

There’s something about this summer that transports me back through the years to my childhood when the days were hot and dry, the evenings cool and the morning dew welcomed our bare toes when my sister and I went outside to feed our pet rabbits. 

This old-fashioned summer could not have been timelier after the icy, cold winter of 2013/14 that seemed to drag on forever. I told myself in the early spring, which never really arrived, that I would not complain about the usual humidity and endless days and nights of enduring a sealed house with the air-conditioner running constantly. In fact, there’s been nothing to complain about. Mother Nature has taken pity on us and blessed us with the perfect summer.

The temperatures are well under 30 degrees Celsius, the cool mornings require a light sweater while walking the dog and the nights with windows thrown open to accept a gentle breeze remind me of summers past. Ice-cream cones were a dime, no one wore sunscreen and Toronto didn’t have a baseball team.

 The summer of 2012 was the third hottest summer on record and we have come to accept the steamy Julys and Augusts of the twenty-first century. Weather disasters have tripled since the 1960s. Thunder storms, floods and tornadoes are all too common.

Do you remember, back in the day, when we lived in small houses on large lots? Now we live in large houses on small lots and our fathers and husbands complain about cutting grass. In the early 1960s, every weekend without fail, my father cut the front and back lawn of a huge lot in Willowdale and trimmed two hedges that were six-feet high on either side of the property. I used to love trailing after him, inhaling the fresh cut grass. He used a push mower—not electric or gas, which brings me to a common complaint. Summers are not as quiet as they used to be. I wish everyone would get together and mow the lawn at the same time Friday evenings, leaving the rest of the weekend a silent bliss.

My apologies, dear friends, I did say I wouldn’t complain about this summer, but I meant the weather. We no longer have the cottage in Muskoka. How I miss waking up in the sleeping porch to the smell of pine, the chatter of chipmunks and the call of loons on the lake drifting through the window screens.

Presently, the cicadas are singing, the lawn mowers are silent. I will sit outside with a book and sip iced tea and thank Mother Nature for her sweet offerings.

Let's Celebrate Earth Day

Today is Earth Day and we should all take part in creating a healthy environment for people and animals. There are several ways we can participate, not just today, but every day. 

As cities expand to accommodate larger populations, woods and forests recede. When we moved to suburban Toronto twenty-five years ago we were surrounded by farmland. The farmers would set up their stalls and sell fresh fruits and vegetables that had real flavour. Today, townhomes and shopping centres replace the farms and we eat cardboard produce that is picked too early and shipped halfway around the world. 

Recycle and try to choose produce that is not packaged in plastic containers. When I was a girl we went to the butcher for meat that was wrapped in wax-coated paper. The baker put our treats in a non-plastic box. Even ice-cream came in waxed paper containers. 

Vote for political candidates who support carbon-free renewable energy sources. Plant a tree and wildflowers that attract butterflies and endangered bees. Use mulch and good soil that prevent moisture from evaporating into the ground. Water early or late in the day and never at noon when the sun is at its peak.

Eat less meat. The grain that is grown to feed livestock in the United States alone could feed 800 million people. Choose grass-fed meat from animals that graze. Did you know that grass is the natural food source of all animals with hooves? 

Choose paperless banking and billing methods and read on-line books. I admit I prefer to hold a book in my hands, but I am trying to change. 

Earth is not our personal dumping ground. Take pride in her beauty and treat her with the respect she deserves.