The bald guy and the flowers...oh, and a chicken

And no, I’m not referring to that strange man who wooed me back in the day… ;-)

I’m taking a photography course right now to get more out of my DSLR. So I just had to post my favourite photo from my most excellent weekend.



Ugly photo, you say? Well yes, yes it is – but it is of a bald eagle I spotted on Saturday! So that makes it a winner in my books. Sometimes the substance outweighs the style. I have a little secret place by the river I think of as my contemplation spot. I was there in January and spotted this fellow then. I have been back almost weekly and haven’t seen him since. Well, on Saturday he was waiting for me – on the same branch of the same tree! I couldn’t get any closer to him because of the terrain (hence the horrible shot) but it was still thrilling! I think we must be buddies now – should I name him? Any suggestions?

My weekend continued with its all-around awesomeness. On Sunday I went to Dim Sum with a group of friends (my darling hubby took our little guy to his “sea turtles” swim class) and then a couple of us headed off to a garden centre to see this year’s inspiration garden. (More on this later!). Here are some photos from last year’s garden if you need a boost of green delights.

Did I shop, I hear you ask? Of course I did! Silly rabbit...

I got myself these three little primulas [I've heard they are hardy - does anyone know if that's true?]


and got my little guy an inchworm foam kneeling pad for helping me in the garden this summer and a plush chicken dressed in a frog costume tied with a ribbon under his chin – too cute!


And on the way home I stopped at a second garden centre that carries a good selection of fountains at decent prices. Not that I’m planning any more shopping…nosiree…not me….whistling as I exit this post.

Hope your week of garden dreaming is going great!

Ray, A Drop of Golden Sun

This has been a glorious week of sunshine and melting. The earth is stirring.

The sap has begun running in my white spruce trees along the back of the property. If you click on this one you can see the reflection of the blue sky in the droplet.


The birds are loving it (and when I went down to the river today it was opening up and two geese were honking - they're baaaack!)

Last year's wild purple asters are gleaming their last stand before they are replaced by this year's growth.

And best of all - the great retreat is on! I can see mulched beds and lawn! This is the first spring we have seen this thrilling sight here as it was just last summer that we had the gravel (left by previous owners) taken out of the yard and good earth and beds and sod put in. Believe me, this is so much more exciting to see.

Welcome back garden! We are going to have so much fun together this year! :-)

If You're Happy and You Know It....You Must be a Gardener!

Clayton, a Northern gardener (and genius with Clematis!) over at A Prairie Journal in Saskatchewan, has invited me to share 10 Things that Make Me Happy. Well, I couldn’t be happier to join in! This is really the time of year to turn towards the joy and light that spring brings. And I do feel its imminent arrival. As this is a gardening blog, I shall of course include among my 10 items those gardening things that bring a smile to my face.

1. First of all, I have to mention my little garden helper. He makes me smile every day. Especially when he is batting the fluffy blooms of the Little Lamb Hydrangea and laughing his gurgling, hilarious laugh.

2. My sweet hubby who makes my world go ‘round, and does the heavy lifting in the garden. (And is secretly falling in love with gardening - I just know it!)
3. My back garden, which is still in the early stages of being developed. I feel very blessed to have this space to work with as I dream of making it my ideal garden.

4. The resources to create this garden. I know I am lucky.
5. Three dear long time friends, two of whom are gardeners, and one of whom shudders at worms and all things dirt but loves that I am being creative.
6. Walks in the woods, walks snooping at other’s gardens, and walks in public gardens.


7. Visiting your gardens via your blogs. You are all soooo talented!! Yes, you!

8. The opportunity to enjoy the amazing beauty of our world.

9. The anticipation of waiting to see if the first bulbs ever that I planted in the fall will come up.
10. Of course, my plans this year for my garden. More on those later!

I won’t ask any of you to share your lists of what makes you happy; however, I look forward to the cheerfulness of your posts as spring makes her way to your garden. Thanks for the inspiration, Clayton.

Cheers to you all!

Wishing on the Sky

My wee toddler (almost three!) has a new saying. When he sees a bird he says, “There’s a bird. She’s wishing – she’s wishing on the sky.”


I think he may have gotten this idea from the enchanting picture book he so loves, Starlight Sailor, which plays off of the old poem, “Starlight, starbright, first star I see tonight…”


Well, I think the birds must have something going on with that wishing on the sky.

I wish I may, I wish I might, see a sign of spring tonight.

Ah! I see catkins emerging in the late afternoon light.

On behalf of all northern gardeners, Thank You, little birds. We are thrilled you thought of us. Best wishes to you for a wonderful spring!

the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart with me (i carry it in
my heart) i am never without it (anywhere
i go you go, my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing, my darling)

i fear no fate (for you are my fate, my sweet) i want
no world (for beautiful you are my world, my true)
and you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you


here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows
higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart (i carry it in my heart)

~e. e. cummings


Like many of us, I first discovered e. e. cummings when I was a student. One summer he was my library love. I would walk through the quiet and beautiful campus, mostly empty of students, and make my way up the sweep of lawn to the red brick library on the hill. There, I would search for everything I could find that he wrote and every biography about him. I enjoyed the black and white photographs in some of the books. One picture stayed with me. It was a picture of him and a woman, tousled and smiling, at their summer home. He had named it "Joy Farm".

I think that is so romantic.

Here's wishing we all find a little romance in our hearts this weekend ;-)