Half Way To Christmas

The sky is blue the sun is shining and what enters my thoughts this morning......We are half way to Christmas.  I have less than 6 months to get my Christmas cards made, lists to make for stocking stuffers (goal is to be finished those by the end of October) have an extra person to add to the stocking stuffer list this year too, yes this is a good thing, baking to plan, Christmas Dinner to plan and gift tags to make (my kids said they would love it if I made special gift tags this year along with my cards)......oh boy the time is going to fly by fast.

So this morning after sorting my laundry and getting that going I dug out the Rubbermaid tub containing the materials for the special quilts that I started 3 years ago for my kids.  These quilts are in memory of their grandpa and it just got to hard for me to even think about back then, so I packed them away until I was ready to work on them again.  With the kids all on their own I am ready to tackle this project I started back in July 2008 shortly after my dad's passing.  I don't have to worry as much about them walking in on me working on the project and scrambling to put it away.  I took all my dad's clothes that were in good condition, removed buttons and zippers and began ripping them apart at the seems so that I could cut them into quilt squares for Grandpa Quilts.  My children always found comfort when they needed it in their grandpa along with a lot of love and support so what better way to give them a bit of their grandpa to be with them not only in their hearts but to give them comfort on days when they are sad, lonely, sick or just in need of feeling close to grandpa but with the gift of a Grandpa Quilt along with their Christmas PJ's on Christmas Eve. 

So with 6 months and counting....time to make Grandpa Quilts, gift tags and cards, make lists for stocking stuffers so I can grab things when I find them on sale......so much to do so little time left....but most importantly I can't forget to enjoy our Summer as it is only here for a short while.

Corinne~

Take Time

 This morning as I looked out the window to the south I was taken back by the beauty of the fog laying in the field.  I tried a couple of quick snapshots but wasn't happy with them, so I settled on catching a couple of shots of the dew drops on my sedge grass in my planter.  I am hoping that once I view them I will be as happy with them on the computer screen as I was on the camera screen. 

As we driving down the driveway I noticed the number of spider webs that had been spun over night.  I also noted that this seems to be a re-occurring thing with fog in the morning.  Oh how I wish I had been traveling by myself this morning to work, as I would of ran back home to grab the camera, another time.  All the way down the road I was taken in by the beauty of these magnificent webs that were spun during the night.  There were some very busy spiders last night.  There were large webs and small webs, webs that spanned over more than one plant creating giant works of silky art. 

So from my drive to work taught me one thing.....the next time I awake on a foggy morning like today's grab my camera as I am leaving the house as I am sure there will many silky webs to photograph.

Mother Nature is so generous with her art work.....so much beauty in this world of ours.....we just need time to stop and notice.  As my grandmother always told me....be sure to take time to smell the roses along the way as you never know what tomorrow will bring.



Corinne~

Finished Planting

Last night I finished up planting all my annuals into pots for the patio.  I even finished planting all my pond plants too....the pond is now officially full. By the time I was finished planting everything it was too dark to take any pictures.  Need to re-work a few of the rocks on the sides for the falls and place the "Parrot's Beak" and a couple of "Bacopas" around the water fall.  Moved the Calla Lily's to sit in front of the pond for now.  Al hung up my last two flowering baskets.  Just have to hang the basket of strawberries and move the one humming bird feeder to the front of the house.

It is a wonderful feeling knowing I am done planting up my pots.  Most of the plants are on the smaller deck in in the area around the pond, makes for a nice place to relax with coffee in the morning or a drink in the evening.

We are in for a wet rainy weekend, once the weather is nice and sunny again.  I will post some photos of my flowering baskets and of course more photos of our Little Oasis On The Prairie.



Corinne~

Stanley Cup Final - Game 7

Last night was Game 7 of the NHL Stanley Cup Final in Vancouver where the Boston Bruins vs Vancouver Canucks.  Not long into the first period Boston scores a goal and tradition in the past has shown that the team to score the first goal wins the Stanley Cup, this year was no different and the tradition continues.  I by no means follow hockey through the season or care to watch it on TV.  The only game that I ever have any interest in is the final game of the Stanley Cup and even then I don't watch it in its entirety.  When Boston got their second goal my prediction was 5:0 Boston, turns out I was 1 goal off in my prediction.  The Boston Bruins won their first Stanley Cup in 39 years, defeating the Vancouver Canucks 4-0. 

Congratulations Boston Bruins

Boston was the stronger team on the ice that is for sure....not sure where Vancouver left their A Game last night but it wasn't with them on the ice (said by a few people I know)....did things deflate for them when Boston scored their first goal, hard to say.  As a Canadian I was hoping that the Vancouver Canucks would win Game 7 and bring the Stanley Cup back to Canada.  The Stanley Cup hasn't been in Canada since 1993 when the Montreal Canadians won the Stanley Cup

This morning on the news all the talk was about the Riots in Vancouver.  Loosing a hockey game is no reason to start a Riot is it?  Well in my mind it isn't a reason, and neither is winning a game a reason to start a riot.  There are many news articles on last nights riots as well as many photographs from the nights events.  If you are interested in reading an article with photos from the National Post click HERE  How I feel about what happened can't even be put into words....a few that do come to mind are "Stunned" "Unbelievable" "Disappointed in my fellow Canadians that took part" "Ashamed" "Embarrassed" and "Disgusted" to state a few.  I would think that many of the Canuck fans that par-took in the riots are asking themselves "What was I thinking" this morning or at the very least when they have reached sobriety or the adrenaline rush has left them.

These riots are a reflection on how a handful of fans felt after the game not how a majority of the Canucks fans felt after the game.  The good out way the bad but you'll never hear about the good in situations like this.




Corinne~

Little Oasis On The Prairie ~ Part V

This past weekend my hubby and I traveled to Flin Flon, Manitoba for the weekend to celebrate a very good friend of ours 60th Birthday.   Our plan was to be able to kill 2 bird with 1 stone as the saying goes....1 to celebrate Ted's 60th Birthday and 2 get some granite and limestone rocks for our patio pond.  My hubby had very little faith that we would find any flat granite rocks....well guess what he did find some.  So last night we washed off the stones (shortly before the rain started) place a couple of the granite on one side and couple of the limestone on the other side, sat back and looked and decided that that limestone just didn't cut it.  I went in to cook supper come to see what was happening and Al had all the granite stones around the edge of the pond....wow it looked nice.  There was a small hole here and there but I could live with them till our next trip to Flin Flon.  When I come out to let Al know supper was ready he had taken the rocks from around the edge and made a water fall under the old hand pump.....WOW is all I could say at first then I was able to spit it out.....You made me my "Waterfall" it is beautiful!

The sound of the water is so much softer now with it falling off the rocks.  It is so nice and soothing.  I am looking forward to enjoying my morning coffee out by the pond this weekend.

There's gold in them there rocks, fools gold that is! Pyrite!

(Al picked up a couple of granite rocks with some quartz and Pyrite in them)

Our plan for Thursday is to re-construct the water fall to hide the board the rocks are sitting on.  I am re-planting my Calla Lilies and we have to move the rocks to get at the plants.  I am thinking that I am going to move the both the Calla Lilies somewhere along the edge of the pond.  My plan is now to build the waterfall around some small planted pots of bog loving plants.  I have to decide on my plants now and get them by Thursday so we can finish the water fall area up.  I love how the rocks hide the white hose to the pump.  I find now that I barely notice it in the water. 


Corinne~

Meagan.........

Yesterday my youngest daughter decided to come out to the farm for the night.  So we decided to do some pictures around the yard.  Once Meagan decided what to wear after a couple of changes we were off....equipped not only with my camera but a can of Off...the mosquito's were out and about too.

After the photo shoot Meagan took to playing around with a few shots.  I really like how she took all the color out except for her

 Meagan and Brody

The pictures taken in the dandelion's are my favorites.  I love how I was able to capture some of the seeds blowing as Meagan blew on the bloom of seeds.

The dandelion's seeds floating in the air makes me think that something "Magical" is in the air

 

Another of my favorites....

 Corinne~

Little Oasis On The Prairie ~ Part IV

Just a couple of quick pictures that I took the other night.  I was trying to catch the gold fish in the pond.  They sure add a nice splash of color to the pond.

I got the fish to the surface of the pond to attempt some pictures of them by fluttering my fingers in the pond. Seemed to work caught three of them in the pictures.

Because my pond is planted I don't need to feed the fish on a daily basis.  What I have been doing because I am just establishing the pond and ecosystem within it I am feeding the fish every other day.  I am working on getting them to come to the surface to me by fluttering a couple of my fingers in the water and so far it seems to be working as I do that for a minute or so and they start heading up to me to see what is happening.  This way when I feed I see exactly how much they are eating and no extra food stays in the pond.

All my purchased plants are in the pond....just need to dig the cattails and some reeds, plant them then I will call it done.  Oh and I am going to get some duck weed from the sloughs around our area too.  I noticed that my little floating plants the "Water Butterfly" are starting to propagate already, so excited. I still want to pick up a container of "Fairy Moss" for the pond as well....it is another floating type plant that looks like a fine green lacy moss on the water top that I do believe changes color in the fall.

Corinne~

Around the Yard

Yesterday evening as my hubby was mowing our lawn, all the container plants were watered I grabbed my camera and headed outside.  Lilacs are one of my favorite flowers, I love the smell of them as you walk by a lilac bush.  So over to my small lilac bush I headed to catch some shots of the flowers and hoping for a butterfly or two or even a bubble bee.  Suddenly my little eye spied a bee drinking the sweet nectar from the lilac blossoms.  So up with the camera, focus and he flies away......so disappointed as he was huge would have made a great shot...oh well...next time.

My great grandmother had the most beautiful deep dark purple lilacs at her place.  Well over the years the weeds and grasses have choked them out.  As a child I remember riding my bike down to the old homestead and picking these regal colored beauties for my grandma, and each year there seemed to be fewer and fewer of them. 

I did get lucky enough to catch a beautiful butterfly in my lens.  After the first shot when I stepped to get a more head on photo off he fluttered gracefully.

So as I was sitting on the trailer patiently waiting for the butterfly to return I was looking off into the pasture at my grandparents old Model T car (I think that is what it was).  I am going to venture into the pasture another day to get some closer shots but here is a peak at what I was looking at last evening.

I have been eying up this old car for sometime now, thinking I have to get over there and snap some photos of this piece of my families history.


Corinne~

Patio Planters

 This year we are in the midst of doing some landscaping in our yard.  Hubby rented a bobcat for a weekend, leveled out the driveway....yeah no more ruts to drive in....as well as filled in some dips in the yard.  We still have the parging to do on the house, but at  least that is doable with the yard leveled.  With all this happening I don't have my perennial garden at the front of the house at this time so all my efforts have been focused on the pond and patio planters.  I thought I would share a few photos of the planters on my deck.

This hanging basket is my favorite.  So lush and full of buds.  Garden of Dreams a local green house has the most beautiful baskets. 

 I picked up my darker pink Fuchsia basket at a different greenhouse in town and what a difference in appearance.  The flowers are beautiful in color but the basket is very sparse compared to the one from Garden of Dreams.

 If you can't tell Fuchsia's are one of my favorite summer time flowers.

Planters on the deck railing with solar lights. I think the birds on these lights look very realistic.

The Cardinal is my favorite!

Tried to catch the globe as the LED lights changed colors.  You can see a hint of the red.....which actually glows a really nice deep dark red.

I have a 2 plants in the bicycle planter that I picked up the other day plus two square planters that I have to get pictures of yet.

We also decided that we would forgo planting a garden this year with other projects on the go.  We felt it best not to spend the $$$ to buy seeds and plants and then let it get taken over by weeds. 

Corinne~

Little Oasis On The Prairie ~ Part III

Monday after work a quick stop at Wal-mart for some aquarium gravel proved to be a bit more costly as I picked up a few more plants for the deck, a bicycle planter and another set of solar lights for at my pond.  Then I was off to Petland and picked up 6 Comet Goldfish for my pond...well by the time I got home 30 minutes later one of the fish had died. So I set the bag of goldfish in the pond to acclimatize to the pond water temp.  Earlier that day I hit the garden center for a couple more pond plants. So while the fish were acclimatizing I re-potted a couple of my pond plants and placed them into the pond, all except for my water iris which needs to sit on a brick or something as it can't be completely submerged under the water. 

Last night as evening was changing to night and I still had a bit of light I snapped off these few pictures.  Wow the plants sure make a difference in the look of the pond.

If you click on the above photo for a larger version....see if you can find the gold fish.

 

The plant sitting on the ledge in the bag is my water Iris.  Debating on picking up another one of these for that corner.  Have a couple of ideas in mind what do there just not sure which way to go yet.

I love the antique look of the bike planter I have sitting off to the side of the pond. 

I really like how the rope lights light up the water and give a nice soft glow to everything.

The 5 Solar Dragon Flies twinkle randomly.  They remind me of little fireflies at night.  My plan is once I have my cattails in the pond in that corner I will have the dragon flies peeking our of the rushes.

The more time I spend out at my pond, the more I am not sure if my Angel spitter suits the area.  With the antique water pump and now the bicycle planter that looks like an antique bicycle I think I will have to set the spitter up in its own bowl. 

Corinne~

Little Oasis On The Prairie ~ Part I I

Friday after work was spent picking up pond plants from this greenhouse then this one. I picked up 6 plants for our pond - 1 water lily, 1 Oxygenator - Mare's Tale, 2 Marginal plants - Pitcher Plant and Corkscrew Rush and a couple of different floating plants...Water Hyacinth and container of small plants that look like a 4 leaf clover...think they are referred to as a water butterfly. Unfortunately I had to keep these plants in the house over the weekend as there was a risk of frost all weekend and it worked better as Al was working on things for the pond and the plants might have been in the way.

Marginal Plants

Corkscrew Rush....I really like the uniqueness to this plant

Pitcher Plant....love the colors

Floating Plants

Submerged Plants

So after discussions about how we were going to build a waterfall for the pond to hide the pump we concluded that we don't have the space to do a waterfall that way we would like.  Suddenly the light bulb comes on above my hubby and he says we'll turn that old hand water pump into a fountain.  So off he went Saturday morning to convert this pump into a fountain.  My grandma's dream has finally come true....this pump was in my grandma's flower garden for many years...she had it placed strategically above the bird bath that she had in the garden.  I can remember her telling my grandpa that he should rig up the garden hose to the pump somehow so that it would like water was being pumped out.

Here is the finished product in the pond.....I really like how it looks....a little bit of my grandmother's spirit went into our pond.

A close up of my Garden Angel......

So we concluded our work on the pond Saturday with the addition of some rocks to the bottom of the pond.  The rope lights that Al added to the underneath ledge look really nice at night...they reflect into the water giving a nice glow.  Not sure where the spitter's final spot will be on the edge yet....that corner is where I plan to plant some bull rushes. We have a slough in our field where I will dig a few plants for that corner.

Tonight I will put my plants in the pond...and pick up a few gold fish to add to the habitat.


Corinne~

Reflections

Wow where are the days going....they seem to be going by faster and faster.  One could say we live a faster life style as adults than we did as children, at least that is how it seems to me.   June 1st we are half way through the year pretty much....feels like it was only a month or so back that we started into 2011 and here we are half way through.

Last night after work I spent some time sitting on my deck by my pond.  How nice it will be once I have plants and flowers blooming in the pond.  The sound of the water is so soothing.  It was a nice time to sit and reflect on things where I have been in my life and where I am currently and where I want to be.  Much  like the words to Christina Aguilera's song "Reflections"

          Who is the girl I see staring straight back at me?
          When will my reflection show who I am inside?

Yes time has a way of changing us all....sometimes our outter self matches our inner self and sometime they don't match at all.

Today I remember my Aunt Gladys, well she was actually my great aunt.  She was a dear lady that I was lucky enough to get to know during my childhood.  As a child every Saturday my grandparents went to town, we delivered eggs then did the grocery shopping and ended the day with a short visit with my Aunt Gladys.  Aunt Gladys was my grandpa's youngest sister. Today is also Aunt Gladys' birthday, she was born 108 years ago today in the Malta.  It was my Aunt Gladys that sparked my interest in family history.  Occasionally I would spend my Saturday's with my Aunt Gladys...we talked about family history.  She told me many stories over those times....I asked her if she would write down these things as I would never remember them in the future.  It must of been the older me telling the younger me to make sure she writes down this history.  My Aunt Gladys also made the best "shortbread cookies" around.  To this day I have yet to find a shortbread cookie that comes close to hers.  How I wish I had gotten her recipe for her shortbread.

I know that Aunt Gladys is watching over me....so today I wish my Aunt a very happy birthday in paradise.


Corinne~