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...a glimpse into life on Vancouver Island, needle felting, photography, food, gardening, etcetera...etcetera
"Happiness always looks small when you hold it in your hands, but let it go, and at once you learn how big and precious it is."
Maxim Gorky

Showing posts with label pink fawn lily. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pink fawn lily. Show all posts

Sunday, May 4, 2014

Secret, sacred places...

I've been to this place many times but its been a while since I've visited
so I thought I'd give you a little tour again...
 ...down through the woods to the bend in the creek sits a little raft on a cable...
 ...we call it the pull ferry (its self propelled) and Griffs always up for the ride!
 ...it always feels like I'm passing through into another world...
 ...a secret world of childhood dreams...
The woods on the other side are deep and rich and full of life...
 Skunk cabbage grows big on these rain filled boggy paths...
 ...also called swamp lantern because of its gorgeous, strange, spiky flowers...
 I must cut through the farmers field to get around these spots...there's Annie's house where
I had tea that morning..."Hi Annie!"
In no time these grasses will be shoulder high and like tigers we'll sneak through in the summer heat..
 We went to Annie's this morning to see her pink fawn lilies ( you can read more about that here)
 and lo and behold there was some over here too just finishing up their show...
The false lily of the valley was a thick carpet all along the paths...
 ...just getting ready to show it's tiny white flowers any day now...
 ...meandering...
 ...nests of summers past...
Up onto the suspension bridge...
 Yes, that was where Wordless Wednesday was!
 Down by the swimming hole, the water is still too high on the riverbanks to walk
along the shore, but come July our toes will once again
be tickled by tiny fish in dappled cooling waters...
 For now we wander back through the woods...spotting evidence of the sapsuckers...
 ...witnessing the changing colours of the dying trillium...
 Instead of fading, her colours turn vibrant in one last show
...and if you follow an old road, past the weathered fence posts,
treading carefully across the rotting bridge you'll spot a tree...
...not just any tree...look closely...at the bottom...
 ...a sad tale of the woodcutter who loved his wife and child but lost them tragically and
carved his pain into the wood.
Actually I made that part up...they are my trees of mystery of which I know nothing
but I like to imagine him out here on a summers evening with
his tools and a beer...immortalizing those he lost
Heading back, I glance  once more down the secret creek 
and dream of warmer summer afternoons...
These places have become sacred, secrets to me and the few I choose to share them with.
They're worth the quiet whispers and unwritten maps, the places
where sometimes you just have to hold them close.









Monday, April 23, 2012

Lovely labour of lily love...

On Sunday morning I was invited over to the lovely Anne Boquist's house.
Norene and I walked down the road to see her lovely patch of lilies.
Not just any lilies, but native woodland fawn lilies.
And not just any woodland fawn lilies but
PINK woodland fawn lilies!
I've only ever seen the odd one of these in the woods so
when we got to Anne's....WOW!
...probably thousands of them...
She's been nurturing these babies for 20 years now and rightly should be proud.
Anne keeps the weeds and the bigger shrubs in check along the creek...
The effort has paid off in spades...mind the pun...
It's like a fairy wonderland here and I could have just sat here for ages...
It takes 7 years for these lovelies to flower from seed...
In amongst the glory of the lilies was some Indian hellebore,
 striking in it's broad, textured leaves...
Little pale, purple woodland anemones share the dappled forest...
A friend of Anne's, since passed away, who used to come see the lilies every year,
is remembered by the little angel.
Truly a magical morning...a good way to start Earth Day!
Clean whites on the line...
 magnolias dancing in the breeze...
 Welcoming warm spring sky...
 the frittilaria showing off her checkered hoods...
 I had visited Anne's house for the first time in the fall
so it was such a treat to see it at this time of year...
 Anne and David are getting ready to move out of the big house
 and into this rebuilt 1930's cottage they've been working on for years...
 Such an inspiring place to visit.
Now I must get rested so I can get to work on my garden!
If you want to see tales of my visit last fall, have a look here...