More Stanley Street, After....

So now you've seen what can be done with a little imagination, a lot of elbow grease and a couple bucks (or three or....). and the next are the icky "before" pictures.

Stanley Street in the beginning.

We've been busy, soooo busy in these last couple of weeks! But now a respite from it all. What did you think of the little house. As you can see by these photos, it was a real wreck. But we had enough imagination to see what it could be and so here it is.

Little Dogs, woodland walks and the end of winter...

The snow is almost gone, little patches only left in the shadows of the trees, but soon even that will be gone. And the ice slowly disappearing from the soil. I've been moving a few things around as the soil has softened, made my plans for the garden and now just wait. When will my little broccoli's go out, my asparagus germinate and when will the sun shine? So many questions, and only time holds the answers. Patience grasshopper.....

We did go for a walk up a little dirt road that is used mainly by ATV traffic in the summer and snow mobiles in the winter. Some parts were a bit soft but dry enough to walk on until we came to a huge stretch of snow and mud. At that point we turned back but through it all, Max had the most wonderful time. He is the perfect dog to take on a walk. He'll run up ahead about forty feet, but is always tuned in to our whereabouts and returns immediately when called. We always keep an eye on the sky though when we go out with him, looking for eagles. What a horror that would be! If we spot one soaring high overhead, he gets scooped up immediately and then we have to listen to him crying to be put back down because he loves to run. But we love him more, enough to put up with the whining. As for Diesel, we're on the lookout for a sort of baby-sling but doggy sized so that we can take him out too. I know he isn't old or infirm but I'm telling you, he is so darn slow you would think he was both! A walk that should take half an hour normally, takes 45 minutes or more and the whole time he is hanging at the end of the leash behind you, so that it looks like you are dragging him down the street. And heaven forbid you take him onto ground rougher than the sidewalk because at the first bunch of grass or branch across the path, he is stuck like he has no idea how to deal with the difficulty. In the meantime, Max is jumping over it all like a little jack rabbit. As a matter of fact, that picture that Diesel is in, illustrates the maximum level of effort that he willingly puts out but only sometimes, maybe once a week. Notice that the activity takes place on the couch. That way if he is hit by a sudden wave of exhaustion, he can safely and comfortably collapse where he stands. So it's either a carrier of some sort for Diesel, or he'll get left home while Max gets out and we would just feel too bad. I think we're the stereotypical old people and their little spoiled dogs! How humiliating! Oh well, no excuses, we just love'em.

Spring is sprung, errr? springing!

Yes I know, it has been a while, but honestly I have excuses! Lots of them, really I do. They range from we're still renovating, to I've been working on curtains, to my favourite which is my garden calleth! Yes indeed, the snow is gone except in the woods and the melt is draining and leaving things dry enough to begin digging in some places and today is simply wonderful. I started out wearing a turtle neck, a sweatshirt and my old ski jacket and by the time I'd been out there an hour I was down to the turtle neck sweater and feeling a bit overheated. So I have been having fun, digging and moving and contemplating, not necessarily in that order of course. It is a bit daunting starting a garden on what is basically a blank slate. Especially when the "canvas" that I'm working on feels so expansive as you can see by the photos. The previous owners did nothing here except mow the grass. But in a few years, this place will look terrific.

We have a deck on the back of the house, where it is a little more private from the road. But it is mostly in the shade and we've found that as the summers are a little cooler here than in BC, we tend to spend more time sitting on the side porch. Unfortunately, this is also where we have a huge expanse of driveway right in front, and so it is going to take some work to soften it and make it more appealing. While I did plant a number of small plants around this porch last year, as well as marigolds which do wonderfully here (no slugs to raze them to the ground overnight!), I have found over the years that I arrange gardens like I arrange furniture. Try it here, then if after a while you don't quite like it there, it gets moved until finally it finds the right place to actually grow in for the next few years. Unless of course, I change my mind again. Anyway, that is what I was doing this morning, rearranging the "furniture". It doesn't look like much, but after all, it's a work in progress. Later in the summer I'll take pictures again and show you what's been accomplished.

One thing that I am going to do, is build a trellis to grow honeysuckle on just about five feet from one corner of the porch. Last year we had the ruby throated hummingbirds beginning to visit our feeders and apparently they love honeysuckle so we'll lure them to the porch in droves! At least that is the plan. Anyhow, must go and check the blueberry muffins that I made before I started this. So have a nice day and I hope you have sunshine wherever you are.

"Hey Malarek"

A beautiful day today, some snow melt so it was above freezing and felt almost summery (compared to what we are used to anyway). Summer better come soon because I just noticed that with all this winter inertia, I've put on a couple pounds. I NEED to get outside and work in my garden and the woods! I can't wait and I think that I'm finally feeling a bit of cabin fever when the end is in sight and it made me feel awfully cranky today. I admit to having to apologize to Don a couple times for that and it has weighed on my mind through the day. But tomorrow is a new day and a fresh start right.

So Don has been reading a book called "Hey Malarek" by Victor Malarek. That name might be familiar to you if you've every watched "The Fifth Estate" on tv as he is one of the program's hosts. Why did Don want to read this book you might ask. Well, you see, Victor Malarek was in the Weredalel Boys Home in Montreal at the same time that Don and his brother Bob were. He had to do a bit of searching on the internet, looking for a copy of the book, finally found one and it arrived earlier in the week. As he was reading it, it brought back all kinds of memories for him, mostly all bad, lots of sad, and as he said several times, just left him feeling wrung out from the emotional impact of it all.

Weredale Home For Boys was sort of like an orphanage except most of the kids weren't orphans. Just kids, who in the lottery of life had chanced to get stuck with families that were so disfuncional that at times they either could not, due to illness, or would not, due to choice, take care of their own kids. And if there weren't enough foster homes to go around, Weredale was where they ended up. But as bad as home might be, "the boys home" was worse. In the best of environments, children can be difficult, some violent, and often unhappy. Imagine then, a group of 160 (approximately) boys under one roof day in and day out, with only a minimal number of adults to supervise and each one bringing a load of baggage that children should not have to carry. But while this is a book about the destructive forces that impacted this group of boys in the early 60's, it's also a story about one of them who overcame a rotten start and in many ways is similar to the story of at least two others, who also overcame, Don and Bob McCabe. Despite growing up without loving, involved parents and in spite of the years in Weredale and foster homes, both Don and Bod became good husbands and good fathers as did Victor Malarek.

I haven't read the book yet myself but I will and reading it will give me a glimpse into the life that gave me the generous and loving husband that I have. I may be truly amazed and it will be interesting to say the least I think.

Signs of Spring - On My Windowsill!

The day before yesterday was lovely in Nova Scotia. Temperature 9 degrees - ABOVE zero. I'm telling you it t was amazing and wonderful. Despite the piles of dirty snow, sitting like small mountains everywhere, the warmth lifted the spirits of everyone. Coats unbuttoned, smiling faces, everyone reveling in the promise of a soon coming spring. And if you stood still and listened, you could hear the sound of water trickling and running as the sun warmed and melted it.

And on my window sill, spring is springing. I've got some miniature alliums going and some miniature irises. Not that I am in the habit of forcing bulbs normally, but I'll tell you what I tried to do here. Last year, my dear husband saw a picture of a mass of blooming flowers in a photo and went on the hunt for the best deal he could find on flowering bulbs. And he found it! Don't remember how much the cost but that isn't the point anyway. What is important is that he found 400 bulbs of all sorts. Now that is very nice, unless you don't have flower beds ready for planting them into. I've done quite a bit as far a planting things around the house, but realistically we had so many things going on last year, and the fall before, that I didn't get as much done as I wanted to.

So here I am, 400 bulbs, and really no where to plant them and minimal time to get any kind of bed ready. I couldn't even think of a place that I would have liked to put them. And it got later and later and finally we came to a moment where in all likelihood, snow would be flying any day and we picked a place.....and got them into the ground. Man it was cold! Winter wind blowing (probably bringing snow with it) and we couldn't get it done fast enough. Eventually we got most of them in and just quit although there were two packages left, the alliums and iris's. After searching the internet for suggestions on how to overwinter the remaining bulbs, and finding little that was helpful, I decided to "plant" the bulbs in rubbermaid containers in some potting soil and then tuck them into the back of the fridge. And about two weeks ago I pulled them out and scrounged around for containers that would fit on my window sill. I came up with several bread pans, filled them with fresh soil and then very gently pulled the tangled, tender roots apart and then set them into the pans. So now I've got flowers coming along and when the blooms are done, and the ground has warmed up, then I will put them out in the garden. How much better than tossing out the left over bulbs as most of the internet advice suggested. Where there is a will, there's a way. Sometimes it pays to think outside the gardening box.

Spring is on its way folks! It will be here soon hooray, hooray, hooray! My window sill today, our gardens tomorrow----well maybe not exactly tomorrow, but you know what I mean. It's coming.

Lump of Coal....

Yesterday, Don and I sat listening to a car phone salesman and I was absolutely moved to tears and left speechless!!! Paul Potts from Cardiff, England has a voice that you would never expect. Quiet, unassuming in appearance, he shared the gift of his voice that literally had the audience on it's feet in awe. I watched it again this morning before I came here, just to make sure it wasn't a strange quirk in my mood yesterday and I have to tell you that the same thing happened. As he sang Nessun Dorma, I felt my chest tighten, and the tears began to well up in my eyes and then spilled over.

This is the link ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1k08yxu57NA ) and if you have a good set of headphones, even better and listen to this rising star. He will take you to the heavens with him as he sings and leave you breathless. You just can't imagine!