Pause and Enjoy

More than a week since my last post. Oh my. My sister-in-law emailed me today to ask if everything was okay as I hadn't posted in a week and she reads my blog on her lunch hour. Nice to know I'm missed. ♥

Yes, everything's okay but where did the time go? Bits and pieces:  getting used to back-to-school routines, dentist appointment for me (yuck), insomnia (yuck again), weeding the garden (I will win!), some new prints for my shop (here's one...I really like how it turned out).

And then there were new photos of some items for my shop (Christmas cards, yes already), walks with Meeko, a new painting, a visit with a wonderful friend drinking rosé slushies on the back porch (I left the rosé in the freezer too long but I plan to make this 'mistake' again), cool evenings and surprisingly hot, humid days.

Nothing all that earth shattering but the time went quickly and when I look back, I am happy with the week (maybe not the dentist and insomnia part).  Well actually if I'm being truthful, due to the dentist appointment which led to the insomnia, I saw the most beautiful crescent moon with Venus shining just to its left in the wee hours one morning. Silver linings.

Here's the painting I worked on this morning (still in progress but almost finished):

Based on these wonderful tomatoes from my garden:

Aren't they beautiful? Two of my pepper-shaped Opalka tomatoes decided that they destined for each other.

I thought of adding the heart-shaped rocks and berry and acorn pairs to the painting, but I'm liking the tomatoes on their own.

My garden is certainly showing the changing seasons. There is more green, some brown, less blooms. I like this time of year in the garden:  less boisterous, more subtle.

Picea abies 'nidiformis' - Bird nest spruce with dew drops

Grass and other weeds in the backyard with dew drops.

The garden is still beautiful and has about a month and a half before it goes to sleep. I was glad I spent all of the time weeding in the front yard. It looks so much better. Now I need to spend a day or two weeding in the back or maybe not. The weeds look pretty nice with the dew drops on them.

Meeko adores this time of year too. He enjoys walking on the days with cooler temperatures and just loves the smells in the air. When he goes out the back door, he pauses and sticks his nose straight up as if to drink in the lovely smells of the changing seasons. He spent hours lying beside me while I weeded in the garden, enjoying our companionship and the changing seasons. We should all take moments to pause and enjoy too. ♥

Berry Bandit

We have a number of serviceberry (amelanchier) shrubs and trees in our yard. They are lovely plants with four seasons of interest (spring flowers, early summer berries, pretty autumn colour and an elegant winter silhouette). The berries are like a blueberry but even better (according to me). As much as I love them, it is a race against the birds to eat any.  One of my favourite Canadian garden writers, Lois Hole, wrote of the 'bird tax' you need to pay when you grow any berry-laden plant in your yard. So true.

There is a large serviceberry in front of our living room window and it's hosted a bit of a who's who of our backyard birds in the past few days.  I've seen American goldfinches, house finches, cedar waxwings and many robins. I was really lucky to get a number of shots of this young robin.

The above photo kills me. Doesn't he look absolutely amazed by the feast that surrounds him, as if he doesn't quite know where to start? "Wow! Am I ever glad Mom and Dad live here."

I took the photos by removing the living room window screen and sitting on the floor. My constant companion Meeko sat beside me (of course) but was very quiet and didn't scare the robin.  My robin friend certainly provided enough poses for me to try another bird painting one of these days. I like the pose below probably the best.

Despite all of the bird banditry, we did manage to pick a few for ourselves.  I made this wonderful salad with mesclun from our square-foot garden with some serviceberries thrown in for taste and colour.  (If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter, you will have already seen the photo.)

This week has been broken up with lots of taxi driving of my two daughters who are now both officially on summer vacation, but I managed to finish one painting.  I painted one of the French breakfast radishes from our garden. I wonder if they call them that in France? It's the first time I've used handmade Twinrocker watercolour paper: both Geninne and Diana Sudyka recommended it to me. Just the deckles alone make me swoon. It was lovely to work with and this particular paper has one hot-pressed side and one cold-pressed side. Very nice paper. (Emma picked out the radish-coloured nail polish for my thumbnail.)

French breakfast radish:  Watercolour on Twinrocker paper

And I started another painting of a serviceberry branch.  The past two days, I've been painting slowly with many interruptions--to the point that the berries have been ripening in in my studio.  Note the difference in colour between the painting that I started two days ago and the the branch. The berries start out a mottled yellow-pink, kind of like an apple, and then they become red and then red-purple. I'll try and finish the painting tomorrow and then I can reward myself by eating the berries, while they are still good. :)

Serviceberry painting in progress (on Twinrocker cold-pressed paper)

June Blooms and Harvests

The weather has definitely turned summery.  It almost is summer so that's good! Chloé is officially finished exams and is on a 4-day end-of-year school trip to Tadoussac to see whales among other things. She's never been away for more than one night so it feels quite strange and the house is definitely quiet without her. Emma still has two exams to write.  It's only two weeks now until she graduates from high school.

This week, Chloé and I took Meeko for a walk where we knew there was a patch of wild strawberries growing.  We picked quite a few (Meeko too) and just in time.  The huge municipal lawn mowers appeared on the horizon just as we were getting up to leave.  There was talk of making custard tarts topped with the wild berries but, with exams, there wasn't really time to make elaborate recipes.  We ate them on cereal and mixed into yogurt instead. I particularly love their sweet smell.

Proof of my strawberry picking time (the hole was already there)

My square-foot vegetable garden is doing beautifully.  

The above photo was taken the day the vegetables were planted.  Here it is four weeks later:

Yesterday I picked some lovely French breakfast radishes and ate them. Delicious. The mesclun is beautiful right now and ready for a lovely salad tonight.

Yesterday afternoon, I thinned out the beets, swiss chard and turnips, planting the seedlings I removed in some squares I had left empty.  I also fed the tomatoes some organic fertilizer.

In our front yard, the 'Royal Wedding' Oriental poppies have just bloomed.  I showed them to Emma yesterday and she said 'You show them to me every year.' Imagine how boring I am to live with. :)

And finally, here's a photo I took this morning of some tangled shadows.  I love this.

I hope you are having a lovely weekend. Happy Father's Day to all of the dads out there!