30 Days of Gratitude

My daughter is always up for a blog challenge... but since we will be doing a road trip for more than a week to get from Mayne Island to Tucson middle of this month I don't know how consistent the posts will be... but I'll do my best.

I liked the photo challenge list posted on Sher's blog which provides the structure for each day... and right out of the gate want to combine the first two on the list... Colour and Love.

I got five bunches of cut tulips for Shirley's birthday... I just loved the softness and colour of these flowers.  There is a lot of colour and love in fresh bouquet of flowers.

As they sat on the dining room table it was fun to stop at different times and catch a photo as the light changed.

Just like there is a lot of love in a well planned and prepared meal... there is a lot of love in a bunch of flowers.

In this close-up you can see the yellow pollen on the petals.

"Flowers don't worry about how they are going to bloom. They just open up and turn toward the light and that makes them beautiful." -Jim Carrey

And that is the way love is.  I don't have to put "Love Shirley today" on a list.  I wake up and turn toward her and tell her I'm happy to to have another day to spend together.  What should we do today?

Life Without Shirley Ann

Yesterday we were pretty socked in here most of the day... but I did a little walk around and took a few current photos to share.

You can hardly see the huge "Tree House" tree in the centre of the photo... however the clouds lifted in the afternoon and I went for a long walk.

I spent most of Friday framing the dormer windows with wide cedar boards... which meant building a simple scaffold so I could work with ease that high up.  Can't finish the siding without having these windows framed first.

This morning at 6 AM I was up and out putting another coat of white paint on the new frames I installed on Friday.  As I was doing this I was thinking how much these window frames are like picture frames... with the most wonderful view in all the Gulf Islands!

By noon I expect to have theT & G cedar V-groove installed in the soffit over these windows.

The tiger lilies were a blaze of glory.

My favorite lily is this pure yellow one.

The California poppies.

If Shirley were here, I am sure she would have been picking some of these wonderful roses and put them on the table in a vase.

When she left this was a great bouquet on the dining room table... but this picture shows my life without Shirley Ann.

"A picture is worth a thousand words."

Spring... Better Late Than Never

The following 13 photos were taken within about a week as I was coming home from Tucson to Calgary and then  to Mayne Island, BC... signs of spring in Canada.

We saw several groups of Prong Horn Antelope close to the highway in Montana and southern Alberta.

The day we left Calgary it snowed... giving me goose bumps on my sunburn.  They say, "Alberta has ten months of winter and two months of tough sledding."

What a surprise to see these new tulips almost ready to burst into blossom.

New fern fronds getting ready to leaf out.

"Weeds are nature's graffiti."  ~Janice Maeditere

"Plant and your spouse plants with you, weed and you weed alone." 

"Earth laughs in flowers."  ~Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Hamatreya"

"I perhaps owe having become a painter to flowers." ~Claude Monet

"All flowers in time bend towards the sun, 
I know you say there's no one for you, 
But here is one."
-Jeff Buckley

“I hate flowers. I only paint them because they're cheaper than models and they don't move.” -Georgia O'Keefe

"He who plants a tree
Plants a hope."
~Lucy Larcom

"Where flowers bloom so does hope." -Ladybird Johnson

"The actual flower is the plant's highest fulfillment, and are not here exclusively for herbaria, county floras and plant geography: they are here first of all for delight." 
-  John Ruskin   

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Wordless Wednesday

Spring is Here!

While the news channels are talking about record snowfalls and massive airline cancellations due to heavy snowfalls, come and stroll with me thru Butchart Gardens and smell the flowers!

I had no idea the extent that these people would go in order to provide a year around venue here... even in January and February.

They have taken all the tables and chairs out of the Blue Poppy Restaurant and made the entire space into an amazing exhibit.

To build this waterfall and pond is no small job.  In another month or so they will remove all the rocks, gravel, pipes, pumps and plants and return the space back to the Blue Poppy Restaurant.  This pond is even stocked with some beautiful sizeable fish.

With my sister Rose and her husband Morian, Shirley and I made our first visit to Butchart Gardens in 2011.  

The smell of the Hyacinths filled the air with the most pleasant perfume... which hit us the moment we entered the place... long before we actually saw these flowers.

We hope to use our seasons pass a lot this year and see the gardens every month or two.  Can you tell me the name of the next few flowers?

"Spring is a heart full of hope and a shoe full of rain."

"Never cut a tree down in the wintertime. Never make a negative decision in the low time. Never make your most important decisions when you are in your worst moods. Wait. Be patient. The storm will pass. The spring will come." -Robert Schuller

"I stuck my head out the window this morning and spring kissed me bang in the face." -Langston Hughes

"Spring is nature's way of saying, "Let's party!" -Robin Williams

"In spring time, love is carried on the breeze. Watch out for flying passion or kisses whizzing by your head." -Emma Racine deFleur

"If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome." -Anne Bradstreet

This classic view of the sunken gardens in February, without leaves and blossoms, is still very interesting.

I saw this utility cart with my initials on it... so had to stop and take a photo of it... not realizing at first my shadow.  We had a little discussion on what the SG stood for. Something Good? or maybe Sunken Garden.

We enjoyed the sun that graced our day... and so did all the plants!

There were several robins also enjoying the sun.  This was the only one who stood still for 1/125th of a second.  We could hear the worms crying, "Look out!"

Here is the first daffodil I've seen blooming this year.  There are many more nearly ready to burst forth, but someone had to be first!

As we completed our visit to the Gardens, Shirley was drawn to Gift and Seed Store... where she could not resist purchasing some hope.  There is a lot of hope in a package of seeds.

"The day the Lord created hope was probably the same day he created Spring." -Bern Williams

Add a Little Colour

There are many ways to add some colour to your life.  One way is to sign up for Amber Alerts... which is part of the "every Monday Matters" program.  Did you know that AMBER is an acronym that stands for America's Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response.  It is a great way to help find missing children.

Where we live it would be rare for us to find missing kids... maybe missing deer.  So I suggested to Shirley that we might use some alternative ideas to add a little colour in our lives.  One of my favourite colourful ideas is to buy some flowers.  The cyclamen has become "our flower."

I purchased my first cyclamen for Shirley when we were in Grade 11 for Valentines Day... almost 50 years ago!  Since then I have seldom missed buying one in February, as well as whenever I see an especially beautiful specimen. This colourful flower holds some very fond memories for us.

What is your favourite flower to give?

Another suggestion is to either make or buy a colourful painting.  There is something cheerful in colourful art.  One never has too much inspiring art around... it is good for the soul.

As you may have noticed, both Shirley and I, we are pretty high on Van Gogh recently.  The incredible IMAX movie Brush With Genius is still playing in Victoria until January 20... and if we can we will probably go and see it again for a third time.  It is such an inspiration!

"I felt a tremendous affinity with Van Goghs deep feeling for the things he painted and how he exaggerated the colours of sky, chairs, faces, to bring them to almost more than life."

What exciting way are you going to add some colour into your life this week?