More on the garden.

My small garden has changed a lot in the less-than-two-years that I've lived here.

It was a fully grassed yard when I moved in.  The neighbour's yards were cleverly set up, to drain into mine and the dogs quickly destroyed the grass with their pee, and their tearing about on the always-wet, lawn.

A truckload of topsoil helped me raise the ground level in pivotal locations to alter the poor drainage pattern.  Digging the hole for the pond gave me more soil, which led to the creation of my raised vegetable garden under the edge of the deck.

The above two shots are before and after shots, looking up the yard.

In planning the layout, I noted the dog's running routes, and then added stepping stones to lessen the damage.  I added a rock garden, and curved a path to direct them away from an area they were tearing up.

The look of an "over grown" garden appeals to me.  Perhaps some dormant memories of an early childhood spent in England, are waking, as I work on my garden.

The side garden, hostas on left, roses on right.

Little "rooms" are forming: the "woodland garden", the "shed garden", the "pond garden", and the "upper garden" each with its own personality.

In setting things up, I considered dog play.  I bounce the ball off the shed roof and it bounces into the "evergreen garden", where Trey is allowed to retrieve it.  But, if it bounces into the pond garden, then Trey must sit and wait for me to retrieve it for him.  When it does splash into the pond, it quite startles the frogs that now live there.

One of the six frogs that now inhabit our pond.

I love spending days messing about in my garden, but I'm not a great planner.  I've made paths, changed them, re-set stones, changed borders and even changed path's directions   I've collected heavy rocks, made a dry river bed, then unmade it a month later.  I've put flowers in one place one day,  and moved them the next day.  

Can't wait to get back out into the garden tomorrow.

A damp walk on the boardwalk

Wendy and I went for a walk around the boardwalk in today's incessant rain.

We weren't the only bedraggled critters out in the rain.

The caterpillars, which have been invading the boardwalk in great numbers, 

don't have warm homes like us, in which to seek shelter.

They go about their normal business, just in a slightly, damper state than usual.

 Resilient little critters.

To have a closer look, click on an image, and click again.

Pink on the line...

I noticed something lovely when I hung my pink sheets 

on the line yesterday.

Shadows.

Lovely shadows of my flowers.

Today.

Drove Kait to work in Halifax for 8 a.m., then took Buffy and Sooki to Point Pleasant Park for a walk.  The weather was pretty uncertain.  Windy, overcast, chilly and threatening rain.

Uncertain skies over the "Northwest Arm" at  PPP today.

Watched as a cruise ship was carefully guided into the harbour.

The winds were very strong.  One tug pushed from the rear, and a second from the far side, keeping the huge ship from being driven onto the shore of McNab's Island.  The small boat on the left, is the "Pilot" boat.  The pilot boat met this ship far out in the harbour, there the pilot transferred onto the incoming ship, to ensure its safe trip into the harbour.

We wandered into the park interior, where we found blackberries ripe for the picking.  Happily, my pockets always contain plastic "poop" bags, so I put one into service as a berry bag.  'course, many blackberries never made it into the bag.  :-)

I was glad, as time passed, to see that the weather was getting better.  Though it was still cool, the sun was coming out more often, and the winds were dying down.   After a couple of hours of walking, we drove uptown in the car.  Near the Citadel, I stumbled across a temporary refugee camp, set up by the folk from MÉDECINS SANS FRONTIÈRES (MSF) (known in English as Doctors Without Borders).

I stopped to see what it was about.  It was fascinating and deserves to be talked about in greater detail.

From there I trotted over to the CBC office, to pick up two free tickets for next Monday's taping of  "This Hour Has 22 Minutes".

After taking the dogs to where Kait works as a groomer, I headed to Saint Matthew's Church, for the first "Lunch Bunch" choir session since last June.  There, I was greeted once more, by the late Jack Layton's last message to us.

The choir is not a church choir, but a choir that happens to meet in a church.  We sing all sorts of marvellous songs.  Singing, brings me great joy, and I look forward to it, every week.

After choir, I visited a lovely used bookstore, and browsed my brains out, then had a coffee and a veggie samosa, while I read the paper.

Drove us all home, took Wendy for a run, had dinner, and worked on this Blog.

Today was a good day.

I feel so lucky.

Dogs + water = fun

Saying that Wendy and Trey love water, may be a tad of an understatement.

They're insane for water.

I love seeing their joy as the chase sticks or balls into the ocean.

"Where'd it go ?  Where'd it go ?"

"I dunno know.  It was here a minute ago."

"GOT IT !"

All that glitters ...

Yesterday, Amy-Lynn and I decided we'd explore Cow Bay around noon, as it was low tide.  So it's sorta ironic that we spent much of our time together, pacing around a gravel parking lot within sound, but not within sight of the ocean.

Amy-Lynn scouring the lot.

We tried to leave, we really did.  But the parking lot kept drawing us back.  Once, we even got in the car, and I started to drive, but then Amy-Lynn called out "STOP !  There's one!"  And out she hopped.

There's something wonderful about hanging out with a friend, doing something you both enjoy.  Something that perhaps others might not understand.

Me, looking, looking, looking.

I often explain why I didn't finish a task by saying, "I saw something shiny", meaning I'm easily distracted.  As Amy-Lynn and I trudged back and forth across the parking lot, we were looking for REAL shiny things.

And we found them.

Here's just part of our haul.

Pyrite.

We know it's not really gold, but Pyrite is so lovely and shiny.

Even better, I spent some quality time hanging out with a friend, and as we all know, a good friend is worth her weight in gold.

Hang on ! Hang on !

I'd almost forgotten these images.   They were taken on the day that Lynne and I drove to Digby to look for whales.   Lynne was driving. and for once I was in the passenger seat. We were on the "circumferential" highway doing around 85 kph when I noticed a passenger on the outside of my window hanging on for dear life.

The wind was blowing his antennae backwards.   We were amazed that he was able to hang on at that speed.

Our admiration turned to awe, when he started for move himself forward, sideways along the window !

After watching his efforts for several minutes, we decided to pull over, and put him into some grass by the road.

What an amazing little guy !

A Wanderer off course.

McCormack's Boardwalk, next to Fisherman's Cove, is a  popular spot for locals to go for a walk here in Eastern Passage. No two walks are the same as fog and tides roll in and out, and the seasons change.   One thing is always the same -- it's a lovely walk.

But the other day, I saw something I'd never seen before.  It was a boat.

A boat.  Not that there aren't lots of boats in the Cove, but most of them aren't stranded on a sandbar.

"The Wanderer" had been stranded there through several tide cycles.

Not sure how it got there.  I guess it would be an understatement to guess that someone miscalculated.

Boy, her keel was buried pretty deep in the sand.

The next day she was gone.

I love it when cool, surprising things happen.

A different shopping experience ...

Friends Amy and Mickie, took me to COSTCO yesterday,  (insert squeal with delight here).  In case you don't know, COSTCO is a "box store" to end all "box stores".

If you want it -- they'll probably have it.

Looking for a TV ?  

Looking for something soft and cozy to wrap yourself in, whilst reclining on the couch
watching mindless junk on that TV  you just bought ?

No home is complete without  a robotic vacuum.




How about a chair that bring out the inner stenographer in all of us ?

A bathtub ?   Really ?

Or you can get a ridiculously powerful mirror that makes your pores look
 like craters on the moon.

The variety is dazzling, groceries, clothes, medicine, electronics, toilets, linens, bedding, makeup, pet food, car tires -- heck there's even an optometrist on site who will sell you cheapo glasses.

But not everyone can shop at COSTCO.  You've got to be a member, and my wonderful friends surprised me, by buying me my very own membership.

All that remained was for me to get the mandatory mug shot,

and learn the secret handshake.