June 21, 2012

On the First Day of Summer I....



...took some photos and spent as much time out of doors as I could manage. Our June has been a rainy one with the sunny days few and far between. We are nearing the end of a vast stretch of two in a row and I know the plants are enjoying reaching up to a sun that is free enough of cloud to reach equally down to them. Despite the rains we have growth, particularly of the lawn and weeds, and blossoms. The roses and chives have been quite happy, the heat loving basil not so much.



A rainy June is typical for this part of the country, and preferable, to me anyway, to the scorching temperatures and horrible humidity presently suffered by friends in Ontario. One such friend is pregnant and due in September. On Facebook the other day, she asked the question: "Highly pregnant + heat wave = a dress made of ice packs. C'mon wardrobe folk, anyone got one?" Several suggestions from the sublime to the ridiculous ensued and, as usual, my friend provided comedic relief for all her many connections, while on this side of the country I was serving warm soup for supper and wondering if my shorts and sundresses would see the light of day anytime soon.

As it happens, it was warm enough for shorts by late afternoon yesterday as I wandered around the garden looking for subjects. The bees were busy as, well, bees in the raspberries, which love a wet spring followed by a sunny stretch in which to ripen. I'm crossing my fingers...


What they say about roses loving garlic seems to be true, and I look forward to harvesting our little crop in July. For now, there is some new garlic available at the farmer's market which takes place in a downtown parking lot every Thursday afternoon from June through September.





When I had finished wandering around the garden taking photos, I decided to do some 'small g' gardening. Of course, being a blogger, I had to take some photos of my equipment:

The knee pad really makes weeding and planting more comfortable

This bucket fills quickly with weeds and clippings and has to be
emptied into the green waste compost at the back of the yard often.

 
When I was done my hour of weeding and trimming, I went back into the house to serve a supper of blessed leftovers. I retired early to bed with my chosen novel. I believe the bulk of my summer reading should be light and escapist, the kind of stories in which the sun shines on the Grecian pines and white sand beaches, and where the rain only happens in suitably romantic moments. This section of my bookshelf fits the bill. Guess which one I'm on? 



Happy Summer!

6 comments:

  1. Why did you pull the Aquilegia ?. And that bulb planting tool is perhaps the most useless bit of equipment EVER invented. It's one of those things that's great in theory like rubberized food thongs for a grill. Your best weeding tool is the small ladies fork, preferably with a handle that keeps your back up-right.

    And why on earth did you go to the bother of breeding four kids if you are going to do that kind of work yourself. That's heaven made busy work for when they say they are bored or look idle during the long summer. Harnessed properly you should have something in a silver-gilt by the time they've figured out they've learned to LOOK busy. It's a life lesson you'll be teaching. :-D

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    1. P.S. that chick in On should consider that her sacrifice will pay dividends once the kid hits school. It will have profound advantages by being a full year ahead of most of that intake.
      And anyway, if she hasn't figured out how to cool herself by now she deserves it.

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  2. Vince: I had no idea this post would make you so angry! Now to defend myself....I did not pull the Aquilegia. I merely cut off the seed pods in an effort to control their weed like growth next year. They really go nuts. That tool is not a bulb planter (not planting any bulbs right now anyway). It is a dandelion weeder and it has many applications beyond that for me. I have a good tool that pulls big weeds out of the grass, I can use my foot, too and It helps with the bending. The kids help out in all kinds of ways...not to worry.
    As for my friend...no comment since you've never been pregnant, and can't imagine the suffering in the heat!!!

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    1. Not in the slightest bit angry. But you need the Aquilegia to reseed if you want to keep it. Yes, it's called a perennial but it isn't really for it will die off after about three years.
      On the tool, I'm afraid I'm correct on that one. Bulb Planter, specifically a Daff/tulip planter to 'naturalize' them in lawns. There are silver ones at Kew from about 1800. I'd say they had that cheese tool in mind when they thought it up.

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  3. Looks like you had a productive day there Rebecca. I hope you got the chance to chill out a bit too after all the work!

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