Showing posts with label Garden. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Garden. Show all posts

Friday, November 11, 2016

Lest We Forget

Today is Remembrance Day in Canada.

We go to a local ceremony to remember the sacrifices made for the country we love.

Every year, Oliver and Charlotte seem to get more out of the event than they did the year before.

Walking back to the car afterwards, we paused to admire the historical neighborhood as well.


Oliver and Charlotte, watching the regiments pass by.

This was an intriguing abandoned house.  We all agreed, haunted, for sure!

A mossy late-autumn tree.

A lovely jumble in this garden.

Many houses in the neighborhood shared in the character of this home.
 


Hoping everyone else had a chance to pay their respects on this important day!


Thursday, November 6, 2014

Container Couture

I'm most definitely weeks and weeks behind all the other Pacific Northwest gardeners, but I've finally tilled our patches and planted our spring bulbs.

...and I'm beyond thrilled (don't want to say I've been 'obsessed' with these for years ever since I read this article, but...) to have in my possession the most amazing collection of dwarf irises!  I procured them at the local garden shop,  which always carries comprehensive cargo, but have never had quite this selection of rare and coveted dwarf irises.

We are small-space dwellers, and container gardeners, so these littles are the perfect fit.  In my special collection are the following petite species:
  • - danfordiae
  • - katharine hodgkin
  • - j.s. dyt
  • - cantab
  • - natasha

I'm especially excited to have the brilliant plum-hued j.s. dyt and the superbly speckled katharine hodgkin. There are many others who share my enthusiasm for these petite irises;  groupies, unite!




The beautiful Katharine Hodgkin. (source)


I'd also love to plant a fragrance garden, a mono-chromatic planter, and a colour-wheel flower pot.  Maybe next season...

So excited for these to spring forth!

Thursday, July 18, 2013

Summering on the West Coast




1.  Soundtrack of the summer.  Good Canadian girls...I run to their newest album, make sushi with it in the background...hoping to see them live at an openair concert to end our summer on a high note...

2. Am on the fence about presenting this cocktail to actual guests...1 finger Rose's Lime Cordial, topped up with a mediocre beer...I love it!!

3. My official summer barbecue side dish:  Green Onion Biscuits.  Don't forget plenty of sweet butter on top.

4. ***side note*** I cannot believe how much our children have grown since last summer!!

5.  Enjoying our potted garden.  This year, we're cultivating trailing verbena (both peach and plum coloured varieties), a pretty yellow mecardonia hybrid, fuchsia, trailing rosemary, and dainty purple alyssum.  I especially love the one yellow nasturtium that centers the collection: the seed was planted in my honour by our Oliver in Kindergarten as a mother's day present in May.    (Also, am unreasonably enamored with my new summer sandals, making a small appearance in this photo.)









(Last summer's faves)


Anyone else making new discoveries this summer?  Cocktails?  Plants?  Music? Food?



Thursday, May 23, 2013

Spring Summary

As I keep up with the pace of full-time parenting, moving around colours at the art desk, volunteering at the gallery and now also adding regular exercise to my schedule (that's right people, I'm a fairweather workout girl...),  I've had little time to reflect on the month!

But things have been more than great: we have been beneficiaries of marvelous invitations - to dinners and to short getaways -  and spending lots of time with family.  Planting and cultivating.  Cooking and eating.  Being grateful for calm waters and smiling faces.


Scenes from our marvous Mother's Day...


Hope you are all enjoying May - and all your loved ones -  too!


Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Garlands, Growth + Goodies

The week is slowly unfolding...lots of making and discovering...




1) The communal flower patch around the corner is looking promising...a welcome discovery after a rainy west-coast winter.

2) I'm cutting my way through beautifully soft felt, making this custom garland for a customer.

3) Luckily our five year old needs very little encouragement to get to school in the morning.  But he does grow tired of the same old recess snack from time to time...I made mini cornmeal raisin muffins to switch things up...I highly recommend them!

Hope you are having a very inspiring first week of April too...


Sunday, August 12, 2012

Summer 2012


My summer has been lovely so far...these highlights make the top 5 (starting top left, clockwise):

...geraniums thriving in our container garden...the "it" book d'ete enjoyed with a long-sought-after treat from a local bakery (romantic mr. hausfrau surprised me with it!)...our herb box in the lane...THE soundtrack chez moi (good enough for Christian Dior at Fashion Week?...good enough for me!)...the provencal lavender we are cultivating along the path in the lane...

These little things make me happy to be homesteading here in the woods this summer!

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Mountain Man

This week I learned something new about Mr. Hausfrau:  he wants to smell like a mountain.  Literally.

We have this very shower gel in our shower as I type.  And his cologne?  Just realized it's called "Nomad".  It seems I'm married to a wannabe mountain climbing nomad??  Marketing is fascinating ! Do your misters have strange names on their personal cleaning products too, or is this just chez moi?

Dunnoboutthis.

Anyway... I'm a few steps closer to my dream garden with these newly purchased little packets:


My obsession since visiting here

Y'all see the "guaranteed to grow" along the bottom,
right?  Will keep you posted...

If anyone has tips on growing either of these from seed, I'd love to hear your two cents!

Thursday, September 22, 2011

The Pemberton Valley

Despite our childrens' lack of appreciation of the natural beauty, my man and I were determined to make the best of our recent Whistler/ Pemberton holiday.  We decided that this was definitely a place to re-visit when C + O are older, and more able to be PATIENT!

North Arm Farm, Pemberton...lovely u-pick blueberries!

The Mile 1 burger, made of all locally sourced ingredients,
(including the potato bun...who needs fries?!)

The garden outfront of our hotel...inspiration for my own garden next year.

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Technicolour Garden

I have a small container garden.

Heather + Sweet Peas

Euphorbia

Fuscia + Aurora Peach Coleus

Verbena + Sage + Rosemary

Nonetheless, the efforts please me!  And I daresay, summer is summering in these parts...

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Studs, Stems & Spinsters

I'm trying to become more well-rounded in my knowledge of non-kid stuff in my time at home with my kids.  I'm learning new things and challenging myself to have good conversation topics at the end of the day - to know more than just O does NOT like his perogies touching his peas and C's naps are getting more regular.

What I'm learning this week:

Studs:  Kilian Wenger is Schwingerkönig

Photo: Schweizer Familie
Stems:  Tulips bloom in May in my neighborhood...two month after tulips everywhere else in the world, it seems.



Spinsters:  There ARE engaging shows on tv...just not shown here in Canada.  Thank you library!

Downton Abbey

This grab-bag of "info" is oddly making me happy.

Am working on becoming more well-rounded with chosing wines.  More on that fun soon...

Saturday, April 30, 2011

Garden Sticks

Since we spend many hours staring out our window at the rain and our patio garden planters, I thought it might be fun to further beautify the planters with homemade garden sticks.




The process was simple:

1. engage Oliver in finding the perfect stick in the forests up here at Burnaby Mountain which we did on one of our evening walks as a family. 

2. paint the sticks.














3. tie whatever ribbons and shiny bits we had lying around to the top of the painted stick.

4. plant the stick in a planter! 

I like the finished effect...there's no method to the madness...any shape/ height stick, any colour paint, any ribbon/ shiny bits placement.  Free-form projects like this are the only ones I undertake with three-and-a-half-year-old Oliver; there's no telling him what the finished product should look like... or it's not art, after all!  This is why I always make my own of whatever we're making alongside! 

Oliver loved expressing himself by making one of these.  It might be our best project to date.

Saturday, October 30, 2010

Stitches and Bunches

Since I have a young son underfoot and a new babe on the way, all my projects HAVE to be micro.  If they're not, I explode in yucky chunks of frustration.  I'm trying to set myself up with some micro projects and am perusing previous projects for inspiration.  This one hits me with it's litteral microscopic scale.  Other than turning it into a card, I'm still unsure what to use it for though...





Then, on the household front, I have to begin facing my selection for winter floral arrangements.  I'm a big fan of patching together a small storebought bunch of flowers (my goal is always under $5/bunch) with random forest clippings from around our neighborhood.   Even the smallest posie of foliage helps turn a crazy day into a better one for me!  This array at our local garden shop inspires:




Note:  these are just two ways in which I'm procrasting on "important" tasks at hand: toilets & dishes, to name a few...
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