Life on the farm

Just in case you think we don't do anything but drink coffee and read magazines and play with the dogs, I'm showing you some images of life on our farm.

Here's Harry digging in the garden by the shed that we've spruced up.

You can see it complete with flowers and vegetable plantings, including a teepee for the Scarlet Runners made by Sue.  In fact this garden is pretty much Sue's work.  She lives downstairs from us and is an avid veggie gardener.  Today I purchased four different basil plants that we'll put in once this cooler weather is finished. That sprayer sitting on the lawn is to deal with the little green worms that are eating the apple and plum leaves. Work on the farm just never ends.

And here's what we were doing last week:  painting the kitchen ceiling.  It hadn't been painted since before we moved here seven years ago.  Badly overdue; now it's done.

So you see, its ok that we're now spending some days dallying in elegant coffee shops.

What to do on a rainy day

After our stretch of lovely weather it was a shock to wake up this morning to drizzle that turned into full-blown rain.  So what to do?

We had planned to go down to the inner harbour and hear a free performance of a Mariachi band from Jalisco but it was raining hard when we got there so no surprise that the band didn't show. I think those musicians would be reluctant to take their instruments out in the rain. It's not something they encounter much in Mexico.

So we wandered into a cafe that we hadn't been to before. And we loved sitting in this European-inspired spot sipping lovely cups of coffee,  nibbling on a wholesome blueberry muffin, and reading back issues of local magazines.

Then we drifted around through the touristy part of town enjoying some new views. It's amazing how things can change in a season or two.

On the way home we stopped to do a couple of errands. One was at the Industrial Plastics store where I bought some plastic scrapers for my studio.











These little yellow guys do a good job of scraping the acrylic paint off of the plastic that I've laid down over my old desk to create a working space. You can see them there at the bottom right, along with some of my works in progress.

The rest of the afternoon was spent experimenting with paint.  I'm spending more time each week doing these exercises.  Someday soon I may even come up with a painting.





In any case, by late afternoon the sun came out so we could play with dogs in the yard. Now we're looking forward to a springy-summery weekend.





 
 

Sadly it's business as usual in British Columbia

Despite high hopes of many and the predictions of all the pollsters for the government to change, the voters chose to keep the status quo here.  Last night we went down to the NDP headquarters to celebrate the upcoming victory. But the party turned into a wake quite quickly as the results poured in.  So it's business as usual in British Columbia and the door is open for pipelines to be built and for our coast to be filled with oil tankers. It's a sad day for our beautiful coastal waters.

Everyone I know is in shock.  But the people have spoken--at least those who bothered to vote. Less than 50 percent turnout. Even lower than the last election. Now comes all the analysis of what went wrong and the second guessing. But for a while at least I'm taking a break from politics. It's just too depressing.

One bright spot was the election of British Columbia's very first Green MLA, Andrew Weaver representing a suburb of Victdoria. At least that shows some here are ready for change.

Waiting with fingers crossed

Tomorrow is the provincial election here in BC.  We have endured 12 years of a government not of my choosing and it's quite possible that there will be a change tomorrow. Excitement is mounting and many of my friends and acquaintances are holding their breath hoping that the NDP will form the government.

Of course nothing is certain until the votes are counted.

Both the NDP and the Green Party are opposed to increased tanker traffic on our coast.  The thing is that these two parties are both on the progressive side of the spectrum and may split the vote allowing the incumbents to be returned.  We will be watching the returns with our fingers crossed tomorrow night.

The front yard four years later

It's been four years since we redid our front yard and the garden is looking beautiful. The rhododendrons have grown up and the trees are established.  This is the best time of year for gardens in the Pacific North West and with our recent stretch of warm weather everything is coming into bloom.

Here's what it looked like four years ago when we first planted the shrubs and trees.














And here's the garden now.  It's looking good after some warm weather and a day of soft rain.

Close ups of some of the Rhodies for your Mother's Day viewing. Don't they look nice with the cedar trees as a backdrop? (This may be the only time of year that I like those trees.)

A couple more, the Magnolia in bloom and the Cotton Candy Rhododendron.  Happy Mother's Day.  

Cycling in France

My friend Jennifer and her husband went to France last year with their bicycles for a month and loved it so much that they've returned this year for two months. She's just outside of Bordeaux after a few days exploring that lovely city and they've set out on their cycling adventure.

Jennifer is a great writer and photographer and reading her daily blog entries is like spending a few minutes going along with them on their trip.

Here's the link:

http://www.travelpod.com/z/jenniferklm/


PS: Inspired by Jennifer's trip last year we are planning to spend some time in France in September. I've been busy looking into gites in small villages and apartments in Paris.  I'll keep you posted.