Little Visitor

When I pulled up to the house, look who I saw sitting there and eating grass from a crack in the sidewalk.

The quality of the photo isn't too good because I wanted to snap the photo before the little guy got scared and hopped over to the neighbours to feed there.

My sad yard

This year we had a very cold spring. Then there was the frost right up into June! We planted our vegetable garden late this spring to avoid the frost only to watch as nothing thrived. We've experienced drought conditions in our area throughout the "summer". See the only tomatoes which survived, in the hard, dry earth?

Some of our perennials did come up, but many just couldn't live in these conditions.

The flowers that I planted in portable planters faired better, largely because I hand-watered them throughout the season.


The raspberry bushes produced very few berries ~ all of them teeny.


Our Virginia Creeper seemed to do reasonably well which is great. Of course the aphids continue to try to destroy them again, but I think I just may have found a environmently friendly homemade formula to ward them off.

Our city usually gets approximately 45 millimetres of rain in May, plus another 80-some millimetres in June. This year however, apparently we've had under 20 millimetres all summer.


Yesterday, I saw some Canada Geese flying in formation.

Days like these

call for photos like this ...

This is a photo booth picture of me with my mom in the early 1960s.

I've been spending a lot of time with my mom lately. She is 89 years old, in frail health and now living in a nursing home. She has diabetes, dementia, and finds it difficult to express what she wants or needs. However, she is ever-gracious to everyone she comes in contact with. Whenever someone comes up to her, she always acknowledges them with a warm "hello" and a big smile. She makes people feel like they're the most important person ever!

The biggest challenge these days is trying to feed her because she hasn't had any desire to eat for a couple weeks now. A good feeding is when she accepts a few spoonfuls of potatoes, some milk or tea. We're trying to keep her hydrated and comfortable. It is difficult to see someone you have known "forever" who was once so full of life, become entirely dependent, vulnerable and vacant. Often a smile, holding a hand, and playing some soothing music are the only things you can offer.


To see some of my artwork on the Alzheimer Society of Canada's website, look here.

Making room

We placed it on the lawn. This love seat was out there for less than half an hour when two guys drove up with a pickup truck and hauled it away. My son yelled out the door, "Thank you!" as they loaded it up and left. We had two of these love seats for many years. They provided a place to sit, but never a comfy nap ~ especially for 3 guys in our house who are all over 6 feet tall. Whenever you put your head down, it was always greeted with an awfully sharp piece of oak. It also had movable cushions which often shifted which made it less desirable. A while back we purchased a funky couch with a comfy, napable surface, so I was anxious to get rid of the love seats. The first one had to go in order to get the couch in the living room, but my husband seemed overly attached to the idea of keeping the other one. I was very happy when finally, this weekend, I convinced him that we should part with this little bit of family history too, and gain more room in our living room; which my son, home from university for the summer, has taken over with his full sized piano keyboard, two guitars, computer and numerous gaming systems and games. Life can be spatially challenging in a small abode.

Snaps of summer '09

Yes folks, I'm still around.
Seems like summertime is a busy, busy season when blogging
is put to the bottom of the priority list.
So until I get motivated again to blog on a more regular basis,
I will share these few snaps of summer ...