Prettiest thing I saw today...

rain again today....blah.

a bright spot to my day though was this young buck,

laying in the front field.

i heard that they don't like to be in the woods in the rain.

so there he's been, in the tall grass, most of the day.

To the beach...

Norene came over yesterday with a book she got for her birthday...

We had already planned to go down to the beach for some research into 

a project in the near future, (more on that later!) and after

looking through this book, we were truly inspired!

Lucky for us the day was gloriously sunny, so down the long ramp we went...

With the tide out, it was a perfect day to look for treasures...

 I keep finding weathered fishing lures for a wind chime I'm working on...

A few crab boats pulled up on shore...

Some very funky beach art...

"hello!"

Somebody always finds something to make something out of nothing...love it!

Recycling, cleaning up the beach AND letting loose the creator in ones self.

As we walked along, finding bits and pieces, I saw what I thought was 

a piece of round plastic and ALMOST didn't pick it up.

 But, I couldn't help myself...I was pleasantly surprised to find out that it was 

indeed porcelain and even more surprised when I flipped it over...

How cute is that?!

And to think that it's been rolling around on these rocky beaches for who knows how long

and it's only lost it's body! Wouldn't it be something to find that one day?

You can't really tell by the photos, but these are not your smooth, sandy shores.

These are rough, jagged, winter storm, whipped beaches.

But I suppose, because they're also tidal mud flats, things can be buried

deep in the silt and slowly uncovered by time.

It got Norene and I to wondering, as we often do, where this came from?

If only this little country boy in the straw hat could talk!

This is the same beach where Norene once found the tiniest of opium bottles,

complete with Chinese writing on it.

A long time ago there was a fish packing plant here and, no doubt, 

there were many Chinese workers here which would explain the bottle.

I suppose opium could remedy all kinds of things, including

a low paying, slave driving, fish gutting job.

Anyway, one more treasure to add to the pile

and one more day to bask in the (these days) rare sunshine.

Movie review...

Last night we watched a great movie that came out for HBO TV several years ago.

Bill Nighy plays a reserved cabinet minister with the British government.

He's about to attend the G8 summit in Iceland to address the issue of mortality due to world poverty.

On one of his tea breaks, he meets Kelly MacDonald in a crowded cafe and so begins a quiet

unassuming relationship.

He impulsively invites her to come to the conference with him, innocently enough.

She knows little about the issue at hand, but quickly learns and makes her opinions

well known in the circles of politicians.

Not to Bill Nighy's liking or his boss.

Anyway I won't give away the end because it's a fantastic film worth seeing.

Damien Rice adds his music to the soundtrack as well as Sigur Ros.

Here's a little taste of what Bill Nighy's character is fighting for...

In the garden...

 With all of this cold, wet weather, the seeds are slow coming up.

We need some warmth around here.

Last year, Tom put in a big veggie garden in the front field, so this year we're 

hoping to get a lot more food from here.

 Right now it looks pretty bare, but hopefully, in a month or so, it'll look lush with life.

We are still having fires in the wood stove in the evening so that goes to show you 

how cool things are...

But things are moving along and the perennials and trees and shrubs are

looking quite lush everywhere. 

In the greenhouse, the seeds are doing well, but only due to

 a heated seed bed for them to sit on...

Sometimes I wish I had one of those!

 When we first moved here, we found this double, cast iron farmhouse sink in the bush.
It took 4 of us to drag it out and it sat behind the woodshed for 10 years.
(I had grandiose dreams of having it in my beautifully renovated kitchen!)
Anyway last year, with the help of my friend Clayton, we built a stand for it...

 and I spent an entire afternoon scrubbing the dickens out of it...

Talk about ELBOW GREASE!!
Now this year, I finally sealed up the drain hole and turned it into
a babbling little water feature...

(that's my friend Irma's lovely cement work on the front)

...complete with adorning broken dishes and beach glass...

Of course the stars of the show at this time of year are the apple trees...

This little orchard was here 12 years ago when we bought the place and although
the trees get ravaged by the bears in the fall,
(we do our best to discourage them, but they always end up getting a bunch)
during the late spring months
it looks simply beautiful...

After a good rain, and a bit of sun, the blossoms come out in all their glory...

Nestled amongst small patches of bluebells, it's one of my favorite places to hang out...

Hopefully it'll be warm enough to provide nectar for the bees.
I've been potting up lots of herbs in containers on the upper deck this year as well.
Although I love walking out to the main garden, glass of wine in hand, late afternoon sun,
to pick lettuce and bits for salad, it's nice to have some right at hand
in the midst of whipping up a culinary extravaganza!

I'm trying my hand at growing rhubarb in a big planter since I read that
it does quite well, given plenty of food and water.

We save all of our 'grey' water from dishes and such to water all the plants in pots around the house.
Being on a well, in the summer, we are very careful with the water we use and
try to use this grey water to our advantage.

So hopefully with the temps rising a bit, things will begin to thrive...

I watch farmlady's blog down in California with envy.
All of that sun and things so much further along than here...
but then I think...soon enough it'll be warm enough to bare the shoulders
and swim in the lake!
Summer's coming!!

So far, so great...

  Looks like the adoptee's are livin' the good life!

 If you missed this story, you can read about it here.
...here
...and  here

Song for Friday...for the campers...

This weekend is a long weekend for some...

Here it's Victoria Day...parades, people heading out with trailers and tents...

...bbq's, cider on the porch...

The official start to summer.

And it's a glorious day!

Here's an old Bruce Cockburn song done by a pretty little lady from Newfoundland...

Have a great weekend all!

 

Bees...

Bee keeper Bob and his helper were out the other day trying to

take advantage of a non-rainy day.

The grass had gotten really high around the hives, so

he came out to do some maintenance. They don't like the sound

of weed eaters, so Bob and helper were in full regalia...

I stayed back a bit sans bee suit.

They're also taking some hygiene measures and using a synthetic

form of oxalic acid (naturally occurring in rhubarb leaves),

fumigating the hives for mites.

The oxalic acid doesn't harm the bees.

Mites have been the bane of the bee keepers existence and

have been responsible for huge mortality rates in bees.

Some honey farmers have been devastated and have lost 90% of their stock.

Bob was also explaining to me about the dangers of a cool, wet spring.

In particular, apple blossoms need a certain temperature to 

produce nectar...a.k.a bee food.

No warmth = no nectar = no food = no bees.

No bees = no pollination = no food for us.

Remember, 30 % or more of the food we eat is from honeybees pollinating flowers.

Think about that. 

Almost everything on your dinner plate is there because of a little bee.

And don't forget that gorgeous amber honey they provide us with...

So not only are we hoping for the weather to warm our skin and soil,

but also to keep our bee population up.

Seen here in happier days last summer...