Weekend for firsts

Freda took one of our neighbour's daughters horseback riding. You can see Emma in the background. Unfortunately Freda pinched a nerve or something and wasn't able to go to work on Monday because of the pain.

Emma's sister Maddy (in green shirt) came by to see if we wanted to buy a raffle ticket for her camp. The girls kept telling each other to shut up, so they had some fun with a small strip of packing tape and a marker.


I was walking the dogs this morning and saw this little dead bird on the side of the road. I brought it home to give it a proper burial but thought I would try to find out what it was first. I thought it might have been a brown jay, but no such luck. Note the yellow tips on the tail feathers.

If you know what the bird is, leave a comment please.

Update July 24th 2009: The bird looks like a Cedar Waxwing, which has yellow on the tips of its tail feathers. Thanks for the tip, Mum.

When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie...

(July 4th) The very pretty little American Goldfinches having a bite to eat.

(July 5th) The moon was very low, you could almost reach it.

(July 7th) As the evening rolled in, fog started appearing over the trees. Very neat to look at.

Taz and Tawny playing, as usual. (July 7th)

That's a good doggy!

Taz and Tawny sitting very nicely, hoping and anticipating that Freda will share her ice cream with them.

And their patience is rewarded.

Being a good dog is such tiring work.

Being of the philosophy that "a tired dog is a good dog", the dogs had a lot of exercise today: first a long walk this morning, then a swim and play in mid-afternoon, and then a long walk before supper. Tawny was tired and found a cool spot in the sand to lay down and sleep - here she was just starting to wake up when I took this photo.

Peonies and roses

A small red peony - no name label - with a bug inside. This is a small 2nd year plant, with two blossoms.

This white peony with yellow centre is really beautiful. No name label, sorry.

This pink peony with yellow centre is almost finished - the petals are starting to dry out.

This beautiful rose is just about to burst into bloom. You can see that the older leaves have lots of holes in them and the newer growth seems to be free of the insect damage. I hope this means the new mixture I am spraying on the roses is working to control the insects as well as mildew.

Rose. Pink. Need I say more?

Rose. Pink. Can you guess Freda's favourite colour?

Rose. Pink.

Rose. Pink.

New flower photos

You can see that the leaves have lots of holes in them. I am trying a new earth-friendly pesticide mixture that includes apple cider vinegar and Listerine mouthwash!

Don't know what this is.

Nemesia?

Bucopa

The first flower on the Pink Potentilla.

Trapped turtle

Pano - June 17, 2009

The groundhog was out chewing on the grass but when he saw me approach with the camera he took off. Must be camera-shy... At least you can see the robin out there. Since I hadn't done a panoramic photo for a while, I decided to to one with these three photos.


Freda let the dogs out and noticed they were very interested in something, so she got closer and looked and it was a turtle that was trying to get through the chain link fence. Since it would never make it in a month of Sundays, we carefully scooped him into an empty plant pot and then let him go outside of the yard. He has since disappeared so I guess he recovered from his little ride.

Flowers and birds

Tuberous begonia

This plant is sitting in a pot on the table on our deck. What a pretty sight!

You can see the robin sitting on its nest. I hope it is successful at hatching something because we saw two broken eggs on the porch before this...

A beautiful peony. I don't know what this one is called. This was planted last year and was marked down at the garden center as there was no label.


Another rosebud!!! What? Is that what Citizen Kane meant??? (No, of course not!) THis is the Lambert Closse, of course.

First roses of the year

Morden Centennial (Morden series)

Lambert Closse ('modern' Explorer series)

These are the first roses that have bloomed this year. There are lots of buds in progress so there will be a nice showing, or at least, we hope so.

Creatures around us

This is the big fat groundhog that lives in the rocks in the front of our house. We think he may be the one eating some of Freda's flowers but aren't too sure. (Photo taken June 9th, 2009.)

This is a photo of 6 American Goldfinches, I just love these pretty birds. (Photo taken June 12th, 2009.)

Tired puppy dog

Tawny crashed on Sunday - Freda took the dogs for two swims on Saturday, and they had another two on Sunday plus a medium-length walk (it started raining). Tawny is a middle aged dog now (she was 6 in March) and she doesn't have the same 'go for hours' energy she used to have.


This is the view towards our house from the road. I haven't been able to keep a path regularly trimmed in the back 40 because of the headaches I have all the time.