Rainy days are great for weeding, because the dirt gets looser and it's easier to work the roots out of the ground. Yay!
Rainy days are great for digging worms, because the dirt gets looser and it's easier to work the worms out of the ground. Yay!
Rainy days are terrible for people who freak out about worms wriggling up with the roots of some plant and either squirming and curling away or weaving blindly after having been unexpectedly cut in half by a not-meaning-any-harm trowel because there are so many more worms than on a normal sunny weeding day. Ugh!
Rainy days are great for sitting inside, knitting. Whew.
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Cherry blossom time
On Monday it was brought to my attention that there are cherry blossoms blooming in High Park. High Park is pretty much on the other side of the city from me, but by a freak scheduling accident yesterday I found myself by midafternoon with fresh bread from the bakery for sandwiches and some friends who wanted to go see some trees and eat a picnic supper.
It wasn't a sunny day, but that didn't seem to bother all the other people who wanted to see some trees.
Seriously, the people watching was incredible. So many pretty young girls in fancy gowns or otherwise elegant attire posing with trees or rocks for their boyfriends and said boyfriends' telephoto lenses! So many high heels for the 45-minute blossom walk! So many white blouses and dresses! None of which turned up in any of my pictures. (I felt a little silly taking pictures of that when everybody else was pointing their cameras at trees.)
But the blossoms were also amazing. I've been to Washington D.C. in May so I know cherry blossoms can be spectacular, but I don't remember this sea of white where you usually see green.
Soooo maaaaany trees! 2000 apparently.
And so many blossoms.
While in the park I spotted other cool things, like evidence of bona fide Canadian beavers
orangey-yellow crocuses
and an odd dirt heap
that turned out to be a maple leaf-shaped flowerbed.
I really gotta get over to High Park more often.
It wasn't a sunny day, but that didn't seem to bother all the other people who wanted to see some trees.
Seriously, the people watching was incredible. So many pretty young girls in fancy gowns or otherwise elegant attire posing with trees or rocks for their boyfriends and said boyfriends' telephoto lenses! So many high heels for the 45-minute blossom walk! So many white blouses and dresses! None of which turned up in any of my pictures. (I felt a little silly taking pictures of that when everybody else was pointing their cameras at trees.)
But the blossoms were also amazing. I've been to Washington D.C. in May so I know cherry blossoms can be spectacular, but I don't remember this sea of white where you usually see green.
Soooo maaaaany trees! 2000 apparently.
While in the park I spotted other cool things, like evidence of bona fide Canadian beavers
orangey-yellow crocuses
and an odd dirt heap
that turned out to be a maple leaf-shaped flowerbed.
I really gotta get over to High Park more often.
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Mother
My aunt made a copy for me of an old photograph of my mum, their mum, and my aunt, found in the depths of mum's albums when we were helping to organize for her recent move:
That's mum on the left, laughing.
My grandmother died when I was just three, but I have a slight, persistent memory of being tucked in safe and happy at her side while she read from a book she'd brought me. She had such a tough life really. Lost her mother when she was just a little girl too young even for school, lost one of her children in the days before kids could be vaccinated for the scariest of diseases, lost her husband when the oldest of the surviving ones was just 16 and the Depression was still an obstacle to survival. But she's remembered for her gentleness and great sense of humour, traits she passed on in spades to the next generation.
I've been thinking today that that sums up motherhood: the need to carry on - with a good outlook where possible - no matter what else you have to carry, because other little lives have to come first. I'm glad that mum and I have both lived long enough for me to put her life first, if only in the form of packing and shifting her things.
I finished that job on Friday after about three months of work, and guess what bloomed on Saturday?
I hope you have a very happy Mother's Day today, whether you spend it with children, or mothers, or both.
That's mum on the left, laughing.
My grandmother died when I was just three, but I have a slight, persistent memory of being tucked in safe and happy at her side while she read from a book she'd brought me. She had such a tough life really. Lost her mother when she was just a little girl too young even for school, lost one of her children in the days before kids could be vaccinated for the scariest of diseases, lost her husband when the oldest of the surviving ones was just 16 and the Depression was still an obstacle to survival. But she's remembered for her gentleness and great sense of humour, traits she passed on in spades to the next generation.
I've been thinking today that that sums up motherhood: the need to carry on - with a good outlook where possible - no matter what else you have to carry, because other little lives have to come first. I'm glad that mum and I have both lived long enough for me to put her life first, if only in the form of packing and shifting her things.
I finished that job on Friday after about three months of work, and guess what bloomed on Saturday?
I hope you have a very happy Mother's Day today, whether you spend it with children, or mothers, or both.
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