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Gardens

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Photo by Andy Dawson ReidSome odds and ends from the garden…

We have recently been getting help from a couple of chaps (who were recommended to us by a good friend) with one or two of the larger tasks of which our garden was in need. Such jobs included removing five years worth of un-composted garden detritus – trimming back some over-enthusiastic trees – and (the one pictured here) trimming back a large growth of ivy that covers a dead but strategically placed tree, the which forms a most useful screen that shields our garden shed from the outside world.

As the photograph here shows – cutting back the ivy has left the whole thing looking somewhat ravaged but it will, of course, be no time at all until it has filled in again.

Our garden help – whom I shall call Gordon (for that is his name!) – advised me that we had a nest – complete with young ones – right at the top of the ivy growth, but hidden well inside it. He had left them well alone…

…as shall I – for this was no bird’s nest – but a raccoon’s! Bet you didn’t see that one coming. I did not know that raccoons made nests and certainly not so far off the ground.

Well – that certainly explains the close attention that they have been paying to our kitchen waste bin.

Anyway – here are a couple of other pretty images from the garden:

Photo by Andy Dawson Reid
What do you think this little chap is waiting for?

Photo by Andy Dawson Reid
Perhaps he has heard that the Snowbirds (the Canadian equivalent of the Red Arrow – for UK readers) are about to fly-over…

Photo by Andy Dawson ReidWoah! A bit too bloomin’ fast for me to get a decent shot. By the time you have heard them – they’re gone!

Oh well!…

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“Gardens are not made by singing ‘Oh, how beautiful,’ and sitting in the shade.”

Rudyard Kipling

I make no apologies for posting more photos of the garden. This is – after all – its very best time of the year…

Photo by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson Reid

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Should you feel inclined to glance back over the archives to this blog, paying particular attention to the entries posted at the start of May each year, you will find a pattern; one post each year (at the very least) that looks remarkably similar to that posted the year before… and the year before that…

The reason for this somewhat repetitive annual ritual is simple: each year at around this time I venture forth into the garden and am brought up short by the beauties that nature has taken it upon herself to bestow upon us – quite regardless of the fact  that – but a few weeks prior to the event – the whole thing looked a complete shambles.

All I can do each year is to exclaim – “Wow!” – and to scurry inside again to fetch a camera. I absolutely must take some photos – and absolutely must thereafter post them to this journal for the gentle readers’ delectation.

Enjoy!

Photo by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson Reid

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First cut

We really must be heading into spring, because it is time already to give our lawns their first cut of the year.

This always seems to come as bit of a rude shock (to me, anyway) particularly if the weather is not being at all spring-like. Yes – I am a very fair-weather gardener. I know that there are many others (no doubt gardening betters) who treat the whole business in the same manner that some people do fitness… the tougher and more hideous the conditions the more they seem to relish it.

Let me at it!” they cry, as late winter storms sweep in. “I can’t wait to hit the wall!

Peculiar behaviour if you ask me (and I am well aware that you did not!)

Anyway – where was I?

Ah – yes… The thing is that each day during the week I am obliged to trot up the road to our community postbox. This, naturally, entails passing by the gardens of our neighbours and – whereas the English have a fondness for hiding their gardens away behind high walls – here in Canada they like everyone to be able to gaze upon their efforts. It is as a result quite clear who has done the deed (in the lawn mowing sense) and who has not. I can let the early adopters get away with it but there comes a point at which weight of numbers makes clear the democratic will. The verdict? Time to cut the mustard (and the grass)…

Anyway – ‘tis done.

Now, of course, other and tougher questions arise. Should I lime the lawns again (yes!)? Should I fertilise (also yes) and if so with what combination of chemicals? Should I start to bag my clippings or let it mulch the lawn (not sure)? Should I take on the moss (noooooo!) or learn to love it and live with it (nods head furiously)? Should I be focusing so much on the grass when everything else in the garden is also wide awake and demanding attention (whistles a jaunty tune and pretends not to have heard the question)?

Oh well – at least it helps me to stay fit(ish)…

Roll on the summer – say I!

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“Creativity is the Blue Heron within us waiting to fly; through her imagination, all things become possible”

Nadia Janice Brown

We had an unexpected but most welcome visitor to our back garden the other day, the which we are pretty much 100% certain was a Blue Heron. Hello – Blue Heron!

Could be a male – could be a female. The main difference between them (according to the InterWebNet) is apparently one of size. You see our problem! It looked pretty big to us…

Anyway – he (or she) spent some hours sitting up in one of our fir trees. For the longest time he/she had his/her head tucked under one wing – presumably catching some well-deserved (not that we would know!) sleep – but that doesn’t make for such a good picture.

These are the photos that came out the best. Click on the images for the big – er – picture!…

 

Photo by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson Reid

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Photo by Andy Dawson Reid“Fear the vulture, and the vulture will come. Fear nothing, and you are the vulture.”

Suzy Kassem

“By the time I got to kindergarten, I was surprised to find out I was the only kid with a turkey vulture.”

Jean Craighead George

We had an unexpected visitor in our garden (yard!) today. He arrived out of nowhere in a rush and settled on top of the post that holds our weathervane – and that many mistake for a gibbet!

Appropriate – in a way, I suppose…

I was in the studio working on something and my attention was captured by the big shadow that crossed the window. I rushed upstairs to alert The Girl (who was just about to climb into a bath) so that she might also view the bird… before it had flown!

Photo by Andy Dawson ReidWe need not have worried as our visitor was clearly not in any hurry, settling itself in and busying itself preening. I imagine that it had recently frequented the Roadkill Diner and wished to rest a while so as not to suffer from indigestion.

What the heck is that thing?” – I queried the expert. For sure it was a vulture – but what sort of a vulture?

We rarely see Turkey Vultures in the garden, but if we did they would be easily recognisable by their distinctive red heads. This one – as you can see – was conspicuously lacking any sort of crimson.

Black Vultures are as rare as hens’ teeth in these parts. We did hear tell on the InterWebNet (well – The Girl did!) of just one such feathered friend that had escaped from the Raptor sanctuary in Duncan some three years back…

Could it possibly be? Could it?…

Photo by Andy Dawson ReidWe were reluctantly persuaded that it could not – and that it was almost certainly an immature Turkey Vulture – the which have not yet morphed into red-headedness. Shame!

Pretty big bu**er for a baby, though!

The other birds took a pretty dim view of the visitor and all manner of squawking arose. The little hummingbirds – those most territorial of creatures – bustled up, jaws jutting – spoiling for a fight. The vulture simply ignored them and gave its tail feathers an extra polish.

Finally the crows figured that simply making a racket was not going to get the job done, organised a drawing of straws and nominated the unlucky loser to see the intruder off the premises…

…which it duly did!

Sorry that the images are not any better, by the way. I had only my phone to hand and I had to push it to full zoom to get anything at all. Double-clicking may help to make out some detail…

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In my last post I touched on the busy nature of life right now here on the west coast of Canada. Not complaining of course – many others are way more busy than are we… but then, we are supposed to be retired(ish!).

As is ever the way when one is busy, all sorts of other stuff – and sometimes stuff that has been brewing quietly for quite a while – suddenly takes off just at the least helpful point.

Somebody has a law about this… probably somebody named Murphy – though on reflection that is more about things going wrong. In this case everything is just happening at once. Buses maybe? That is apparently called ‘bus bunching’ – or ‘clumping’ or ‘ convoying’ or ‘piggybacking’ or even ‘ platooning’… Anyway – buses lead one to think too much about the (questionable) prime minister of the UK – and no-one wants to go there!

I digress…

Here are a couple of other things that are currently in progress after extended periods of not so being:

Back in the spring of 2017 our excellent contractor set our renovation project in motion by tearing off the old rotting deck and leaking (and superfluous) sunrooms at the back of our house, before building us – over a seven week period – the splendid new deck that I look out on from here in my studio. If you want to revisit the details of that project – including the many photos that I took at the time – please do navigate your way back in the archives to May/June 2017.

At the end of that first phase of our external and internal renovation our contractor looked at us and said:

“Now all you need to do is to repaint the outside of the house”

The astute reader has already figured where this is going. Yes – more than three years later we are finally about to get the outside of the house painted! We are paying a company to do this because – though I don’t at all mind painting – I do think I am a little old to be clambering up tall ladders on steeply sloping ground. A friend that I visited whilst back in the UK last year had – shortly before that trip – taken a tumble from a ladder in his garden and badly fractured a wrist. I decided that discretion is indeed the better part…

One thing that I did need to do in preparation for the painters’ visit was to remove a large pile of garden waste that had accumulated at one point against the outside basement wall of the house. I would normally have cleared this myself during the year, but the green waste sites were closed for a number of months as a result of the pandemic and I had not got around to catching up. As I also had some other general detritus to be hauled away The Girl kindly found me a local firm who provide just such a service.

The chaps who actually do the business quickly disposed of my general waste and then made a start on the greenery. They were rapidly brought up short by the discovery that a particularly obstreperous colony of wasps had set up home in my now composting pile. Clearance was thus halted for a week whilst I called out a local pest control concern to give the irritating insects their marching orders.

It feels good to be giving lots of work to local companies in these difficult times, but it is also rather annoying when things do not run smoothly, as will be demonstrated by my other example of things that have been much delayed.

For that – however – the gentle  reader must await part two of this post…

 

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…you lose some!

My last posting celebrated our recent tenth anniversary dinner at the Deep Cove Chalet at the top end of the Saanich peninsula. Though obviously meaningful in its own right this event carried an extra significance in that it was our first meal out at a restaurant since the COVID-19 lock-down took effect in mid-March. We have somewhat lost the habit of dining out and it felt slightly surreal to be doing so again. We were glad in the circumstances that we got to dine outside on the terrace; we are still not sure how we feel about repeating the experience indoors.

In any case the evening started me thinking about all of those good things that have been lost to us all in this peculiar summer as a result of the pandemic. I am not in this instance referring to those who have tragically lost loved ones, friends or colleagues (or even of those who have themselves been ill) – our hearts go out to them all and those that we know are very much in our thoughts.

No – in this case I am thinking of the everyday things that have disappeared or been put on indefinite hold and have as such left a hole in our lives. In addition to dining out and gathering together with friends we very much miss going to the theatre and the loss of the live music scene is keenly felt; at this time of the year we would normally be enjoying the weekly music in the park series in nearby Brentwood Bay.

Travel is not so much missed – the thought of flying at the moment gives me the shivers – but the pleasures of planning the next trip are. I do, of course, also miss live sport. International cricket has recently resumed in the UK – played in empty grounds and with the players essentially quarantined for the duration of the series. Rugby has yet to restart and is sorely missed. We have still not yet seen the end of the Six Nations tournament that was so abruptly truncated in March.

As is my nature I also fell to wondering if any positives could be identified from this much disrupted period. I believe that there are. Not having to commute to work is a definite plus, as is being able to spend more time at home. We are fortunate in that we have not – as have some – gone stir-crazy as a result of a paucity of things to do. We have both been busy, busy, busy… (in my case this includes the writing of many new songs and the re-writing much of my course material for the autumn).

Some people’s gardens have had more attention than they have had for a good long while and one of my great joys has been just how much more time we have spent entertaining in our garden (in a suitably socially distanced manner, of course). In some years this wonderful garden does not seem to get enough use – what with one thing and another. This year has more than made up for any previous lack.

Of course, we have not yet arrived at the hardest part of the lock-down. At the start of it we were all in a state of some shock and just wanted to hunker down and stay out of trouble. By the time we started getting really restless again the summer was upon us and there we pleasant diversions – even if only just outside our doors. Now we are heading rapidly towards the autumn and the winter – with no relief currently in sight.

I fear that it is going to be a long, hard winter…

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High time for some more shots of things growing in our garden!…

…and possibly some other random images that I have overlooked throughout the last couple of months. Let’s see what I can find…

Photo by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson Reid

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Photo by Andy Dawson ReidI mentioned a few posts back that something indiscernible (imperceptible almost!) had shifted with regard to our COVID-19 lock-down state here at the southern end of Vancouver Island. That something (that the previously lengthy queues for our local grocery store had all but disappeared) was – though not obviously explainable – clearly an indicator that things were beginning to change.

Here are a couple of other such signs:

Each and every visit that I have paid to our local store since this all began have included an unnecessary detour – courtesy of the pandemic one-way scheme – through the pet-food aisle, the purpose of which was to enable me to pass up the cleaning aisle in a fruitless search for disinfectant wipes and disposable gloves. The expanse of barren shelving where these essentials should have been was marked by signs commanding us to limit ourselves to a single item of each. Chance would be a fine thing!…

…until this week – when suddenly there appeared an entire pallet-load of Lysol wipes! Hooray! I took my one and – public-spirited soul that I am – passed the word on to friends, rather than just shoving a couple of extra packs behind something on the top shelf in the hope that they would still be there later.

Still no gloves though…

The other sign was that – in common with other countries that are also slowly loosening restrictions – we can now ‘entertain’ a few folk from outside our immediate isolation circle – as long as we do so outside, that no-one wants to use the washroom (or is prepared to re-sanitise it when they have done so) and that we keep our distance in the approved manner.

Now – this is where having a splendid garden and a mild (for Canada) late spring climate comes into its own. We can sit around (two metres apart) drinking wine and eating take-out sushi (purchased individually) long into the evening. For this to really work at the end of May (or indeed for much of the summer) one needs that other Canadian staple – a fire basket or pit. Even at this stage open fires are banned here on the island because of the wildfire risk, but Canadian Tire (other ironmongers are available!) handily supplies propane fueled devices such as the one below… and jolly good it is too.

Well – here’s to slow progress… I hope that your neck of the woods is seeing similar – though cautious – relaxation of the restrictions.

Photo by Andy Dawson Reid

 

 

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