Sunday, January 27, 2013

Waiting for Spring

So, last week I went downtown to look for some swimming goggles, 'cause I swim now ... at the Y.  And right down the street ... the Ontario Seed Company, well I just couldn't help myself.  I bought some really cool tomato seeds ... Old German Heirlooms, along with some lettuce and pepper seeds ... and seeds for white birch ... I've got an idea for those!  Anyway, I realize that I never finished posting summer pictures of my garden ... despite the constant reminders ... sooooooooooo

My Garden Part 2.  July to frost.

The tomatoes and peppers really thrived under the hot summer sun.

Lots of flowers

Yellow Pear tomatoes

Just a few more days!
 One night, the moon was bright and full, we invited friends to join us around the fire.  I decided to try something ...
Full Moon
 ... taking pictures of my garden at night, using a flash.  I really liked the resulting pictures.  I planted bunching onion seeds in rows in a window box ... they don't need much space anyway and I just loved how they looked ... I am doing it again this year!

bunching onions

Beautiful

Here's a picture of Jean playing with all the pups:  Loki, Tucker, Sydney and Alf.

Summer fun with the gang!
Isn't this picture of an Iceland Poppy great.

Eye-Poppin Poppy
And then ... our garden produced huge bountiful harvests ... we ate peppers, tomatoes, cucs ... and still there was more.  I canned tomatoes and I made pickles ... and I gave some to neighbours.

Sweet Red Bell Pepper

Tomatoes and Cucs

And more tomatoes

Eggplant!
Jeans Veg Garden

More of Jean's Garden

and ... still more
Cucumber

and ... back to my garden

What a haul!
Last spring I picked a package of mixed heirloom tomato seeds, and I planted 2 ... that's all the room I had left.  One turned out to be a brandywine ... nice big juicy tomatoes ... and I just couldn't figure out the other.  I watched the little peach coloured fruit as it matured ... but not to red.  One day, I gave it a little squeeze, and almost put my thumb through the delicate flesh ... it was ripe.  What could this be ... so much like a peach, with rosy shoulders and even covered with peach-like fuzz?

What is it?
I looked it up on Goggle ... it's a Garden Peach tomato ... go figure.  It was sweet, with less acid than red tomatoes, and a little fruitier ... so many people loved this little gem ... I didn't get many of them, but I gave most away to other tomato fanciers.

Meanwhile ... Alfie went to school, and graduated TOP Dog in his class.

Taking the final exam!

Congratulations Alfie ... you're the BEST!

Oh, and while I'm on the dogs ... a funny thing happened while we we busy in the gardens.  Sydney and Alfie turned out to be huge fans of tomatoes ... and then huge thieves of tomatoes.  Take a look ...

We like tomatoes!

Gimme some tomatoes!

It's OK, I'm just looking! (for now)
The tomatoes inside the cages were safe ... and I thought that I put them there to stop the bunnies from stealing the veggies!  However, the tomatoes in the pots near the house had to be constantly watched ... eventually, I put a fence around them too! 

And I have to include something about Tucker, who really enjoyed every second on the summer ... just look at him playing ball, just so handsome!

I've got this!
and then it happened ... a killing frost ...

The end of summer ... sniff

I've been working!

Well, ain't that the truth!  I've been putting a lot of overtime ... really pushing myself!  Steve and I joined the YMCA at Christmas, so the few spare hours that I've had, I've been at the gym ... but so far I have not lost a single pound ... that just sucks!

I've also been scrapping.  Sometimes just a few minutes at a time.  Today, I'm posting 3.

Well, today is the 2nd anniversary of Ruffian's passing ... I'll always miss him.  I started this layout the day after he died ... I put it aside, there's just something about this picture of him ... it's great, isn't it.  Sometimes when I look at it, I feel like ... it's so weird ... but I feel like he's looking at me, and it makes me sad.  Well today, I finished it.


Yesterday


Snowflake detail
 Next, on the return leg of our cross-Canada vacation in 2008, we stopped in Winnipeg to visit some long lost relatives, and to visit the Forks.  The park is really beautiful, we spend an entire day wandering the trails and relaxing under lovely shade trees.

at the FORKS, Winnipeg

Shade Tree detail

Sun detail
and finally, in 2009 we vacationed in Manitoba, and we heard about Narcisse Snake Dens.  Huge numbers of Garter Snakes come here to den-up for the winter.  When they emerge in the spring they're ready to mate.  They say that you can actually hear the 'hum' from their scales as they form large knots which could contain hundreds of snakes.  Well, it was the wrong time of year, so while we saw the dens, we saw the beautiful displays of wildflowers in the meadows, we even saw the special snake fencing along the roadways ... we saw it all, but no snakes!


... but no Snakes

S is for snake
I'm expecting that I'll be working alot of OT for the next 2 months ... big project, lots of STRESS ... but I really hope to get more scrapping done. 

Thanks for looking, take care!