A new path

Early morning, and the fog lies heavily above the river in the valley below. The apple blossoms were out in profusion. The air warm - bees would be sampling the blossoms along with the flowers in my garden. The dogs were content to go and roll in the grasses that were growing in the pasture beyond the rock wall  along the edge of what I term the "side yard."

  Honeysuckle, lilac, tulips - all blooming more heavily than in previous years - the scent delicious as I walked around checking to see what was out, what needed weeding and what to do next.

Some days later, these beautiful iris along with the Montana Bluets began to bloom. More colour, more of Gaia's beauty.

A couple of weeks later, Sweet William - memories of my brother Bill - who though seldom sweet was certainly flamboyant as these glorious flowers are, competing with the Siberian Iris and Oriental poppies. And oh dear - the grass needs cutting!

The garden has been lush, verdant, and definitely it's showing off - could it be that it's giving me a spring to remember?

The past  two months have been turbulent in many ways, big decisions, lots of emotion, and then some illness making it difficult for me to write, or even want to write. But many people have been very kind and emailed to say "Where are you? and are you okay?"

Thank you for those thoughtful messages. So here's what's happening: I've decided to sell this property, and this has happened. A wonderful young couple will be moving in this fall. Where I will end up I don't know, but I may start another blog - about the process of finding a place to live.

There are many reasons for this new path I'm taking, most particularly that as I get older, it's less easy to manage this two acre property - maintain it at the least and continue to upgrade the buildings. The other reason is that my family lives more than three hours away. When I moved here it took only two hours to get here, but now, with traffic increasing, and no really efficient or sensible public transportation in this country, there are no trains to one of the most popular tourist areas in the province - it takes too long to come here or for me to go to the city easily and within a decent amount of time.

I'm looking forward to a new adventure, but I do wonder how the dogs and cats will deal with it. They'e only known this property and none do well with change - that alone will be an adventure! One I'm sure that will have its hilarious moments as well as difficult ones.

So I'm enjoying the beauty in my garden this year...

...the clematis - which has never had both kinds blooming at the same time, and all the others. I'm also enjoying all the creatures around the area, the calves, the young foals, and of course the antics of my four. So until tomorrow...have a wonderful day - and hope you can enjoy the beauty of spring here in the northern hemisphere, wherever you are and the luminescence of fall in the southern.

Beauty is...

While I was wandering around with my camera the other day, taking photos of the garden and other things along the way, I looked closely at the white clematis which has bloomed so beautifully.

This one blossom stood out - with the edge of the deck as its backdrop it seemed to glow in the early morning sun, reaching its centre to the sky.

It appeared peaceful, open, fragile and luminous all at once.

A good way to end the week I thought this morning looking at gray threatening clouds and a wet deck, with a beautiful image to hold in my mind.

So for this weekend - I hope you enjoy peace and joy, that something wonderful or adventurous drops into your life for a moment or the rest of your life.

Bumblebees and what they like

Despite the weird weather North America has been having and the virus that has attacked honey bees, bumblebees seem to have been around checking out the flowers for many weeks now.

The Montana bluets or caesarea montana that grows like a wildflower in my garden attracts all kinds of attention as it flowers early and repeatedly throughout the growing season. But other spring beauties attract them as well...and I thought I'd post a few of my favourites that seem to like my garden this year.
Just flowers for today because my computer has been misbehaving once again.

Just a few blossoms to brighten your day - they certainly fill mine with joy and pleasure.

Clematis

These lovely clematis blooms opened suddenly two days ago. They amazed me with their  early blooming and their delicate beauty.

They always do - this particular vine is somehow special... opening slightly green and then becoming white. They bloom for quite a long time and I have several tender buds getting ready to pop as the heat increases.

I'm not fond of heat waves. It's going to be tough on the dogs because I'm less fond of air conditioning... however I'll hold the thought of these blooms and think spring, rather than hot summer!

and laugh!

We are so lucky to have so much, despite governments, uncertain weather, taxes and everything we can gripe about, there is lots to be happy for and feel wonderful about as well... enjoy your day1