Giving Thanks

Meeko was telling me that I haven't been focusing on him enough lately. True. I've been working very hard the past few weeks, both on a commissioned painting and preparations for an autumn arts and crafts show.  He has been getting less chin scratches and sofa cuddles from me. Our walks have sometimes been at a faster pace than usual (that part he doesn't really mind). Sometimes they have been later in the day than normal and he has had to work harder and harder to get my attention (sock stealing, sighing, stalking my every move, quiet but heart-wrenching crying beside me).

This is the Thanksgiving weekend in Canada. The weather is absolutely beautiful. It is a time for looking around us and giving thanks. My nephew and his girlfriend are visiting, so I was forced to stop working and pay attention to other things. I did some housecleaning this morning. As I was cleaning the kitchen table, I noticed that the chrysanthemums in the pots on the back porch weren't looking great. I went out and started deadheading them. It was methodical, soothing work and they look beautiful again. As I was looking after them, it hit me that I hadn't worked in the garden since early September. I realized that today was the first day in weeks that I haven't either been working on a painting, my Etsy shop or my show preparations. (You can see some of what I've been up to on my Instagram page.)

Meeko accompanied me outside and I gathered flowers and leaves from the garden and filled several vases. So now, autumn is outside and inside.

Our guests have arrived and Meeko is very happily entertaining them.

This weekend, I am giving thanks for being forced to slow down a little, for the beauty of nature, for my garden and its gifts, for family, friends and my sweet and patient furry boy.

When Good Plants Go Bad

When Meeko and I go on our neighbourhood walks, I spend a lot of time looking at other people's gardens. I often notice tidy clumps of black-eyed susans maybe two or three feet in height.

When I was a little girl, I loved black-eyed susans.  Black-eyed susans, cow vetch, asters, wild daisies and queen anne's lace would often end up in bouquets gathered on walks through the little ravine not far from my childhood house.

I think you would all admit that black-eyed susans are a very happy looking flower. It's really quite hard to be mad at them. But I am.

You see there's a gang of black-eyed susans that have decided to take over one end of my garden. They are actually the flowerbeds that belong to Emma and Chloé. Neither of them really took care of their garden plots this year and I refused to do it for them. The black-eyed susans figured that no one was looking and moved in, but not in a polite and delicate way. These black-eyed susans have filled out every inch of the beds and have grown to a crazy height. They are taller than me!

I asked a local model if he would mind posing in front of them to give you a sense of scale.

Somewhere in behind that adorable model (thank you Meeko) and those towering yellow hooligans are pink phlox, obedient plant and a few other plants I haven't seen in so long I've forgotten what they are.

It's clear that these black-eyed susans have world domination in mind and I'm going to have to take them out but, you know what? I'm going to wait until they've finished blooming. I don't admire their thug-like behaviour but I've got to admit that they're pretty in a vase.

And they even came in handy as a photo prop alongside an original watercolor I just listed on Etsy.

So I guess if they are using part of my garden rent-free, I'll take advantage of having them. Bouquet of black-eyed susans, anyone?

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A bit of research has determined that the flowers that have taken over my garden are probably brown-eyed susans rather than black-eyed susans although they are closely related. Brown-eyed susans tend to have smaller flowers not to mention rude behaviour. ;)