Kate smudges in earth, paint and life

I hadn’t planned to make any changes to my blog until later in spring, but then I decided that there’s no time like the present. It also struck me that I will soon be outdoors and not wanting to spend the time revamping my blog instead of posting photographs of flowers in bloom.

I felt a need for a blog colour change. At the same time, I am hoping, with Typepad, that I will not encounter quite the level of frustration that I did with formatting posts in Blogger.

Somehow I was able to copy all of my posts over to this new blog, with the exception of my last three posts. While you can still comment on these posts, unfortunately, it isn’t possible to click on the individual commenter’s address. I think my ‘going-by-the-seat-of-my-pants luck’ didn’t hold for the formatting of these three posts. I’m still rather amazed that I was able to get the rest of the posts changed over without any screaming … I did have a few too many hot cross buns, but hopefully I’ll be getting more exercise

I  hope everyone has a wonderful Easter weekend … I’m hoping for some good chocolate!! 

Today I felt my head clearing for the first time in days. I thought that I’d beat my son’s flu, but no such luck.
Hopefully I’ll remember how this felt and get a flu shot next autumn.
Since I was in such a good routine of walking the dog for longer
stretches and going to the gym before this, I hope I can pick up where
I left off. If only it was as easy to get into, as it is to get out of,
shape.

I spent much of the past few days dreaming about trees in
leaf (without tent caterpillars), flowers of every colour in bloom (no
bugs) and walking down the garden path in sandals. Just enjoying the
Amaryllis (above) was enough to take me off into my rosy world of reverie.

What
I love above dreaming of my garden, is that the flowers are always
brilliantly coloured and somehow blooming all at the same time.

This
afternoon, I was out in the back garden checking to make sure the
garage wasn’t flooded. The temperature rose farther above freezing than
predicted, so the snow was melting quickly.

Since
I was by the garage, I had a look at the stenciled garage wall. It was
so good to see that it has emerged from the winter unscathed. I was
almost afraid to look in case the protective coating had cracked or
discoloured or somehow the stenciling had all disappeared. Thankfully,
it looks just as it did before the snow arrived.

You can see a
corner of the wall in the above photograph with Lytton, the dog. Hope
springs eternal with him. He was sure I’d let him out to romp in the
back alley. He doesn’t understand the meaning of the word, ‘later’.
There’s no finer a master of the dejected look than Lytton.

When
we toured the front garden, I had a moment of sheer happiness when I
saw one of my favourite flowers, Dianthus superbus, had emerged from
the snow – the first green of the year in this garden.

Then my
son arrived home with news that he had passed the written part of his
learner’s driving permit. It is hard to get my head around the idea of
my son with a driver’s permit, especially when earlier I was recalling
how he loved repeating flower names almost as soon as he had learned to
speak.

Reveries and memories … and my wall survived.

Yesterday the second stalk of my Amaryllis finally opened – and just in time for the monthly Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day. Carol of May Dreams Gardens initiated this monthly sharing of what is blooming in gardens around the world.

Since there is still much snow in my garden, I won’t be sharing garden photographs any time soon. Instead, I’ll show you what is blooming in my house. (not much, as you can see!)

Even though I blew and blew on the buds looking about to burst open on my birthday Orchid (above), they didn’t cooperate. No doubt they’ll be in bloom for next month’s bloom day. That is, if I don’t forget to water the plant!

This
winter, I have been amazed at how well the Bougainvillea over-wintered
in my front east-facing window. When the bracts and some of the leaves
started falling a few months ago, I thought this spelled the deathknell
of the Bougainvillea.

Then one day, I noticed some new growth, some of it pink.
Since then, the Bougainvillea has grown amazingly – the longer hours of
sunlight seem to be spurring it on. The little white flower in the
midst of the pink bracts is the actual flower. So, I can say that my
Bougainvillea is blooming. It is pretty exciting to think that
Bougainvillea can be kept alive during the winter months here. For us
northern gardeners, it is a beautiful plant to help ease the long dark
days of winter.

After a long and snow-filled winter, the weather did a little flip and warmed considerably.  Yesterday, for the first time in four months, the river rock path in my back garden was visible.

Further along the path, a few sprigs of Paxistima canbyi, the evergreen Ratstripper plant, were showing through. I love this plant and wrote about it last year here.

So
far, there are no dirt patches peeking through. By the end of the week,
I’m hoping most of the snow will have melted. Today is chillier and the
puddles are iced over, but tomorrow should be warmer.

With my son flu stricken this week, I have been catching up on some knitting.
Two scarves are finished – the blue and the orange ones pictured here.
They were fun to knit since I was using two different kinds of yarn –
mohair and wool. If you watched me knit, you’d know that knitting with
two different strands of yarn is a bit of a comedy. My dog seems to
have the knack of getting tied up in the wool so I spend more time
untangling him than I do knitting. The third scarf pictured at right,
is the one that I’m knitting today. I can’t seem to stop knitting
scarves!

If anyone is wondering how my worms doing, I have to
say they are eating more food than I thought they would. I am reading a
delightful book by Amy Stewart, The Earth Moved: On the Remarkable Achievements of Earthworms. I have to agree that earthworms make remarkably good pets.

Living in Regina Saskatchewan Canada since 2001. I grew up here and then lived in Ottawa for 16 years, before returning home.

I like to get my hands covered in dirt and feel the sun beating down on
my face. On occasion, I’ve been known to jump into the river right
along with my dog. I’ll forever be a prairie girl. Read my blog and
you’ll understand what that means….

My interests include:

• Benoît my son and Lytton our dog
• gardening
• playing violin/mandolin
• drinking IfIwine
• painting
• stenciling
• walking
• reading
• knitting scarves

My favourite authors:

• Virginia Woolf
• Laurie Colwin
• Elizabeth Spencer
• Michael Pollan
• Marion Engel
• Margaret Atwood
• Ivan Turgenev
• Mavis Gallant
• Fay Weldon (not all that partial to her latest Spa Decameron)
• Carol Shields
• Audrey Thomas
• Katherine Govier
• Nikolai Gogol
• Alice Munro
• Katherine Mansfield
• Helen Humphreys
• Flannery O’Connor
• Elizabeth Bowen
• Margaret Laurence
• Elizabeth Gilbert
• Françoise Sagan
• Tom Perrotta
• Masha Hamilton
• Mary Brodsky
• Michael Pollan

Yesterday, I was tagged by Cate at Beyond the Fields We Know to participate in a book meme.

Quite a long while ago, I was also tagged for the same meme by Teeni at Vaguetarian Tearoom. It’s a fun and easy meme. Here are the rules:

1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages).
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people.

The book sitting on the top of the pile of books next to my chair is How to Draw Plants: The Techniques of Botanical Illustration, by Keith West. Here goes:

The translucent effect is achieved by the method used in adding bluish highlights to the ivy leaf. A gradated wash was applied tailing off in the outer lobes, and allowed to dry before the brighter green of translucence …

If anyone reading this feels like joining in this meme challenge, please do so!

All weekend long, I have waited eagerly for the arrival of my worms. This afternoon, they arrived, buried amid fresh bedding and dirt (see above). It was exciting to see them in action. I have done much reading on vermi-composting and I am looking forward to getting my vermi-composting operation underway.

Despite all my best efforts, I find it difficult, in winter, to keep a path open to my composting bin outdoors. This way, with the worms, I can compost year round in the house.

Worm castings are supposed to be wonderful for the garden and indoor plants. No doubt I’ll be giving periodic updates — my excitement level is too high not to be wanting to talk about my worms.

I’ve always loved earthworms – for a story of my son and his worm families, click here.

This weekend I also attended another watercolour workshop at the Regina Plant Conservatory. The picture (above) of the Primrose is from there. I am currently working on a painting of some purple tulips. Let’s hope it works out. I am hoping to spend more time at the Conservatory this week. Tulips, Hyacinths, Daffodils, Orchids, Kalanchoes and Amaryllis are blooming in abundance. With a blustery, cold day, I don’t think I could find a better place to spend time!

Happy week to everyone! Spring’s nearly here …

With a light dusting of snow, the park and the river looked especially magical this morning. Somehow I can appreciate it all the more, knowing this warmer weather is supposed to last for a stretch. (-4c without any wind is quite bearable).

I’ve never really spent much time thinking about the many nuances of white … I love how the snow-covered branches looked against the snowy ground. (pictured above)

There was so much quiet beauty surrounding me today. When the wind is blowing, as it often does on the prairies, these moments are rare.

I love the willows and the way their seed-ladened branches arch over the frozen river. (pictured here)

Lytton, the big, brown dog (pictured below), romped about in his usual enthusiastic manner. I think he’s trying to perfect his version of a snow angel. This is where he thrives. Today, he was far more interested in following scents than in playing with the few other dogs we encountered.

I have started going for more frequent and longer walks now and am glad to be back at the gym. Inexplicably, my regular gym days ended around last April, right around the time that I began poking about in my dirt patch. Between gardening and blogging, my trips to the gym went by the wayside.

It felt good to be back – important, too, because I need to build up my strength for gardening and fight against the effects of ankylosing spondylitis. The thing with any form of inflammatory arthritis is that it causes fatigue and pain – and who really wants to exercise when a big chair and a hot-water bottle look far more appealing?

It’s finding a balance I can live with. We all have challenges in our lives and learning how to live well despite them is what seems to me the important thing.

Let the beauty of what you love,
be what you do — Rumi —

Sitting quietly and covered in snow, my garden bench waits patiently for spring’s arrival.

In the living room window, the Bougainvillea thinks it is already spring – new leaves and colourful bracts appear daily.

One of these days, the Bougainvillea reminds the bench, you’ll feel the warmth of the sunshine too.

I have spent many hours sitting on this bench in both my Ottawa and now Regina gardens. Every few years, I re-stencil the morning glories that grace the bench. Some things are priceless.

And somehow, my bougainvillea is thriving on the Canadian prairies …

Last Saturday, Nina from Nature Remains gave me an award and it truly did make my day. If you haven’t checked out Nina’s blog, I nudge you in that direction. It is well worth a visit.

There are many bloggers that make my day regularly and certainly deserve this award. I would give all of my daily blog reads this award, but today I was thinking of my blogging friends from the northern regions of Canada.

While we southern Canadians do our share of complaining about the winter weather, it is nothing in comparison to what the gardeners who live in the north of our country endure. Yet each of them spends far more time documenting the sheer beauty of their landscapes than they do griping about the hardships of long, cold winters.

Gardenista, of Northern Exposure Gardening lives in Saskatchewan too, but far north of me. I am in awe of her ability to garden in zone one and grow an incredible garden. Checking out her blog is always a treat. Gardenista starts an array of interesting plants and has some cool orchids that I like seeing on her blog.

Granny Fiddler, of Granny Fiddler – North of Sanity, is another fiddle-playing gardener. She always cheers me with her posts and her humour. With her new camera, I am expecting more photographs of the incredible sunrises over northern Alberta. Granny Fiddler also participates in The Created Wor(l)d, a collective writing blog I also belong to.

Diane, of Alberta Postcards – Conspire to Inspire, writes posts on a variety of subjects, many of which highlight the beauty of her northern Albertan neighbourhood. Her photographs are well worth taking a look at. Diane recently returned from a trip to Victoria, British Columbia, and has some good photographs on her blog about her travels.

Cicero Sings also lives far north and west of me, in Cariboo country. Cicero blogs daily and documents much of the natural world around her. Her photographs show the grandeur of the Canadian north and make me wish that I could take a walk in her neck of the woods too. Cicero and I are part of the Sit-Spot Challenge, which has been more of a challenge than I realised. Check it out here.

Have a good weekend, everyone. I’m planning to knit, melt some beeswax and work on a short story. I’ll get back to blog reading next week … see you then!

One year ago today, I created a blog on a whim and wrote my first blog post. Little did I know then, that I was stepping into such a wonderful community of bloggers the world over. I had no idea how much it would change my life – in so many good ways.

How can I even begin to put into words my appreciation for those who have stopped by here and who have opened their blogs to me? Each person has made my little corner of the world a better place.

I have been awed by the kindnesses of people who’ve written encouraging words, when they were most needed.

I have been challenged – often – to rethink my way of viewing things. I have travelled the world over through photographs and words and have encountered many new delights.

I have also learned much on subjects previously undiscovered and, at the same time, I have uncovered new passions (mostly for tropical flowers).

I have laughed uproariously at reading humourous posts and comments. I have had moments of sadness – wishing that, in some way, I could do something to ease another’s sadness.

I have learned not to take myself too seriously. In life, I think that is one of the most important lessons to be learned – just me saying that of course.

I can’t quite picture what the next year of blogging will be like. The only thing I do know is that it will be different and I imagine, it will be just as exciting.

Without further ado, here’s the text of my first blog post, Beginning Smudges, 20 February 2007.

Lately the word, smudges, has intrigued me. It has an earthy ring to it and evokes all sorts of cool images. Blurring images and ideas and watching their transformation into something entirely different holds a certain fascination for me.

Maybe this has something to do with my recent foray into watercolour painting. Every time I sit down and mix paints, I feel as if I’ve entered an incredible world of magic. I’m drawn more and more to blurring objects with water or colour. Mostly I marvel at my newfound ability to create all sorts of shades of different colours by the simple combination of blue, red or yellow.

Smudges remind me, too, of my garden and the sheer joy of digging and playing in the dirt. At the end of a long gardening day, I love seeing all the smears of dirt that I’ve managed to collect.

And mostly, I love closing my eyes at this time of year and picturing my garden on a spring evening with the flower colours all smudged together.