Hello Summer!

It has been wonderfully hot for the last few days. What is even better is I have had the opportunity to enjoy them because someone else has been trained to help cover my night shift.
We were all able to enjoy the garden. See all the new things in bloom.

The tomatoes:

The peppers:

My Begonias:

and one of my Butterfly plants has started to flower!


In the last few weeks, Jackie has grown leaps and bounds.

If we can just get her to be a little less afraid of the dark and every noise imaginable, we will have this potty training in the bag!

We also found this Red Dragon Maple tree to put in the front of the house with my stump from Gaspe.


I even managed to knit a little bit on my Trickster sock!


..and bake a banana cake.

It is a bit on the heavy side. Peanut butter smeared on top goes a long way!

That's about it for now.
Happy Canada to all my Canadian friends!!
and a Happy 4th of July to my American neighbours!

Newest Member of Our Family!

Everyone meet Jackie!

She is a two month Australian Shepherd.
I had never heard of this breed before she wobbled into our home last week.
Right now she is a bit high maintenance, but we can see the difference daily as she gets used to the routine of our family.
The cats are not really sure what to make of her. Everyone however, is adjusting.
If I am unable to have human children, at least I can have fuzzy ones!

We spend a lot of time outside checking out the garden.

I do not really remember planting some of these, but I am happy they showed up in our garden.

Here is one of the Butterfly plants:


At work, I am the only person available for the night shift. This puts a cramp in much of my activities. I have managed to find a bit of time to knit. This is the progress on a slipper that someone has requested.

The yarn is phantex. I have two very large grocery bags with this newly acquired stuff. I'm trying to explore all sorts of slippers ideas. Something other than the ones that my grandmother knit. I really loved those but after 30 years I imagine there would be other patterns available yes?

Oh! I also made a strawberry pie


....and some very messy tarts:


I guess that covers everything.
I'm going to try and watch Vikings before the fuzzy child wakes up.
Have a great week everyone!

If This is not Persistence...

I was taken a little stroll around the estate today and saw these Irises:

I am always amazed at how well things bloom and flourish with little assistance from me, which is good. My work hours are making things very difficult to provide the care I would like to my little garden.

I also found a few items which I had no idea were growing or how they came about.
Do you recognize these plants?

They are all over the grass. I am going to be sorry to lose them when it is time to mow the lawn.

My herbs are also doing fantastic. I used my mint in a salad for lunch this afternoon with watermelon, feta, and olive oil.


The raspberry bush is also thriving.
I'm thinking I need to procure another...


The Begonias are also thriving.


I have also been a knitting a little bit.
I have this idea for a tunic type shirt.
This is my progress so far:


When I'm not out in the garden or cheering on the aliens, I am catching up on this show Vikings! I started to watch because I heard Gabriel Byrne played a role. I have not seen him in anything since In Treatment.

Even the theme song can cause chills.


I'm off to read a for a bit. Have a good day everyone!

The Search Continues.

I have been trying to find a certain lavender plant. It is not the bush form that you see at most garden centres. It is more in the form of s tree. I had purchased one last year but it did not survive the winter. I suspect because I failed to winterize the poor thing. The last few weeks I have been visiting a lot of garden centres, Home Depot, Jardin Serres Savrevois, etc etc etc. My next stop will be this week end at the local Wal-Mart.
My search has not been in total vain. I have found some rather interesting plants along my merry way.

This is a Patio Citrus plant.

I can bring this plant inside during the cold winter months.

Another Lily to keep the existing one company!


I found another climber.

It is a passion flower of some sort.

For my next addition to the garden I would like to find a Green Man to help the spirits of my plants.

Playing in the Dirt

About a week ago, we went to a farm called Ferme Guyon. It is like The Major Garden Centre for this area. You name it, they have it!. Without even realizing it, we had spent the entire morning in this creative idea centre.
We wandered around the nurseries, discovering all sorts of wonders.








We even found a honeysuckle plant to compliment the one that is already in our garden.






We spent a bit of time in the Butterfly conservatory and made a few friends.







We also found a few decorations to place in out garden!



After arriving home we lost no time putting things in the ground. With the weather being so sketchy, I did not want to be left with all these pots out in the rain.









The only ones not happy with the day were Napoleon and Reno who hate to miss out on all the activity.