We hatched a sprout!

"Daddy, look!  We hatched a sprout!" 

Emma and I were both surprised.  It's only been a week or so since we started these cosmos in an indoor pot.

Will they have the dark pink petals I like or the white that James wants?  

It shouldn't matter.  Nature is magical and Emma shows me the right level of appreciation and enthusiasm I should have for the season.  Marvel at the wonder.   

Here's to more "hatching" of sprouts!  

I would too.

Overheard in the garden store today:

"Can I help you find something ma'am?"

"I'm looking for my 92 year old mother in law, this is her first outing in a year, we think she may have gone... rogue..."

It's a jungle out there.

Look!  A flower!  One of the dollar store daffodil bulbs bloomed!

I've had so little luck with daffodils; this one I planted last year and ignored seemed like a long shot -- but woot!  Like last time, 1 out of 5, another little yellow one (under 30 cm tall).  Hopefully it comes back (last year's didn't).

Look, it even attracted a bee!

Um... oh.

That's a little bee, and a little white spider eating it.  I showed it to James.  He's fascinated (possibly the same white spider we saw on the porch the other day?).

It's a bug eat bug world, I know, but I'm still a little disgusted.

I generally try to stop James from killing bugs*.  But today I saw a red lily beetle and immediately plucked it up and stomped on it.  James looked at me questioningly: Ladybug?  "Nope, this one eats Mama's flowers, so we don't like it.  We like ladybugs."  I wonder if he's confused.  I feel slightly hypocritical...

* Mosquitoes, though, definitely get them before they get you.













A couple of days later: the bloom's faded, but the spider's still there.

2019-06-12 - Update: After looking at a bunch of spider photos (Why?!  Why did I do that?!), I think this one is possibly a small female goldenrod crab spider.  Shivers.

Old MacDonald had a Ma-Ma...

"Ol' Ma-Dawno ha Ma-ma.  E-I-E-I-O!  With a fa-fa dere, fa-fa dere, fa-fa dere, fa-fa dere..."

(James's rendition of Old MacDonald had a Farm)

Yes!  Despite my neglect, the garden is in bloom -- thanks to perennials.

Right: The other lilies have faded, but this tiger lily (though plagued by lily beetles) just opened.

Below: Surprise sunflowers!  OK, I did have to plant these, but since I "found" (collected) these seeds on walks around the neighbourhood from dried out flowers, I didn't really know what they'd look like.  And it's always a miracle that seeds work.

1. This dwarf, branching, pale yellows with dark centers are currently my all-time favourite (of the ones I've grown).  (Is there such thing as a "dwarf Lemon Queen"?).  Behind it are some Scarlet Runner beans.

2. This little / medium one has gorgeous golden-almost-orange petals and a light center.  Look at all that bee-attracting pollen.

Below: Monkshood and hydrangea that seem to be thriving in only partial sun... my only guess is that they're not dried out as fast and have some protection from the side of the house. 

The same hydrangea are in front of the house and yesterday James picked one flower (from the cluster) and said "Bay Popo".  Aw, he wanted to give it to her.























But the flower he loves and he keeps for himself is this one (below). Good thing (:P) we have lots of them (that's partially why there's no full pictures of our whole yard).

Time Lapsed - Some Old Photos

Mom had ideas for James (a bath, a nap...) -- so while we waited, Jackie and I flipped through some family photos.  Mom's albums were rarely labelled and weren't in any particular order -- neither the albums nor the photos were standard sized, so she stuck photos where ever there was space*. 

*I should take some pictures next time to illustrate that...

This is what we found:

Photos from Angela and Patrick's wedding (that would be 1978?).

Right: The tea ceremony at my parents'

Below: At the reception - Nancy, Gary, Theresa, Angela, Patrick, Donald, Tim, and Kathy

























Dad's early backyard gardening attempts (Jackie: "You were pretty handsome back then."  Tim: "I'm always handsome.")  

A studio photo from China, rare because it was one of the few we found of Linda (Linda, someone, someone else, someone else-else, and my grandfather 爺爺 - Linda and Dad's dad). 












Photos at Linda and Gary's house (based on the fact I wasn't there: 1976-1977?):

Left: Theresa, York, Tim, and Angela

Right: York, Tim, Theresa, and Angela

Below left: Donald, Gary, and Theresa

Below right: Ernie and Gary




















I know Jackie was really interested in the photos of China, but I was interested in the people I knew and, of course, me!  And so we have it:


Below left: Despite being 2 weeks early (and only 5 lbs 6 oz) I quickly "caught up" and became this chubby baby.  NB: They still have those couch cushions! 

Below right: Mom and me (at around 3 months-old, based on the X-mas tree). 






I'm looking forward now to my next visit to my parents'.  Goal: Photograph and label more of those photos!  (And ideally, find some evidence of me being a cute baby.)

Dionne's Herb Garden

James and I went to the garden club meeting.  I was a little worried since there were so many mosquitoes about, but James was good, settling down under the mosquito netting, and I used Dionne's herbal mosquito repellent.  Onward for the tour! 


Amongst the towers of sunflowers (they help take the metals out of the soil) there was milk thistle, Campanula (can cut down and it just spreads and spreads), Skullcap, and California poppies. 

Members (Erica) seemed most interested in the ones that had calming and sleeping benefits.

Once dark, we headed inside for the meeting and enjoyed lilac cordial with pretty floating ice cubes of calendula and violas (all homemade from flowers in her garden).


We talked about:

- Building bee hotels in the future
- the plant exchanges happening on the weekend

- The Open Farm Days at Northlands - Margaret continues to recommend the tours.  Hopefully it'll still be around next year for others in the club to partake.

Tour and Tea

Margaret's Garden Club tea meeting started off with a garden tour.  Well, actually, it started with some members fawning over James (and Paul :P). 

It wasn't too cold or too hot and the rain didn't come. 

James seemed content enough sitting in the car seat stroller with the occasional friendly face poking in (mostly Audrey -- she's a well experienced auntie). 

I could focus then on Margaret's garden.  This time (a month earlier than last year), the kale was a little less monstrous and a different set of flowers were in bloom. 

(Left: James dressed in gifts from the Garden Club ladies.)


Happy bees buzzed around.  We checked out some native beauties (milkweed, blanket flower) in the far far back -- no space is wasted, flowers and plants right into the alley!

We retired to the front yard for tea and discussed upcoming events: The tour of Wilf Maul's acreage is on!  Also of interest is Alberta Open Farm Days at Northlands on Aug.21st.  There will be farm tours, demonstrations of honey harvesting, and talks on beekeeping, keeping chickens, and backyard farming.

During the actual meeting part, James fell asleep.  The mosquito cover from Jasmine did a great job for him... I had to rely on Erica watching my back. 

Mothers' Day

"Mother's of sons, work from son up to son down."   ~ Beccy's magnet (bestowed by Jackie)

The card "from James" was heart melting.  I think I did cry a little.  (Especially, Paul's message.) 

Invited people over in mind to honour my Mom and Jackie for mother's day, but guess what?  All the Moms ended up hard at work!  Oops.

Jackie was cooking, I was feeding (James), and then my mom showed up and immediately started cleaning...

Oh, well.  It was also sort of a belated birthday for Celina. 

Store bought pizza and lasagna, and veggies were the main menu.  There was the too sweet cake* I'd made for dessert, that shocked her and Kevin (because my stuff was usually so "mild" -- my words.). 

*No eggs -- a decent (though sweeter) substitution for 3 eggs: 1/4 cup applesauce, 2 tsp cornstarch, 6 Tbs water.

Unfortunately, the actual visiting and interaction bits didn't quite go according to plan. 

We were all awful, with me being grumpy about Mom.  I could feel myself tense up every minute she was there.

Mom: "Oh, everyone's talking in English, I don't understand what they're saying, so I'll just clean up in here.  Could you just clear that up / get that ready for me...?" 
Me: "You could try... You could talk with Celina and Kevin...  I could translate for you. 

Nothing I said could pull her away from the kitchen, but all the things she was doing also needed me to help.  I resented her for making me stay with her -- I was missing out on what's going on with the others!  

Ugh.  I wish I could be nicer.  But it was a relief when Celina and Kevin ended up taking her away. 

"When you grow up, you'll know to fear our Mom,"  Kevin and Celina told James -- so much for their part of "honouring" their mom...

Le sigh.  Maybe this is just the way it is with moms.  Such a thankless job. 

One of the sweetest messages came from Erica: "We choose our parents, James chose you!"  That made me cry again. 

Later, I did get a bit of treat: I indulged in gardening.  But the 1/2 hour, of course, was not enough.

I'd found the lily beetles have invaded!  Argh!  More than 7 adults and so many eggs.  Squished as many as I could, but it meant less time for putting things into the ground...

I need to decide out what is worse: no more lilies this year or after (the beetles will eat them to the stem and lilies won't recover), or no annuals this year?  Both uncertain since I don't know how much time I could devote to managing either anyway.

And then there's the dandelions...  (WHATEVER!) 

Some people are jerks

Two of our sunflowers have been decapitated!  All that hard work and potential gone!

I'm angry and sad.

"They" also took / vandalised Erica's.

She tells me how as kids, she and her sister did that once too (cut off other people's sunflowers).  But they felt so guilty she went back and tried to duct tape them back on.

Well, I hope whoever did it to us feels guilty too.  Hrmph!

I can't think of a way to protect the other two.  :(