Showing posts with label Vancouver patio garden. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Vancouver patio garden. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 20, 2020

A Little of Everything

Hello friends,

I hope you are all doing well.

I am basically fine and have been keeping myself busy.  I've been gainfully occupied with homely things like cooking, cleaning, gardening, a bit of knitting and reading.  I'm sure most of you are all doing much the same.  Some people are probably exercising of which I am only doing a bit of indoor exercise.  Unless you count a little bit of outdoor gardening though most of the strenuous work is finished.


Fern on May 19/20. I'm really pleased with how lush it looks after how it looked at the beginning of May.
Same fern on May 1/20.  After the winter I removed most leaves which were dead.  It has really come back to life and more fronds are unfurling (the round knobs you see near the soil).

Cosmos. I wish I had some dirt in the ground to plant these in rather than in the container.

Catmint. This plant has several medicinal benefits and is easy to grow.

Hostas. I am going to transplant some of these are they are too crowded in the cedar box.

Red petunias. I need some new terracotta planters but it will have to wait for another time.
Red petunias. I love how petunias spread out and take up space with their luscious blossoms.

I recently started knitting some cloths again. I'm using up my yarn stash and replenishing the cloths I made in the Fall to give as gifts
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I haven't been using the time of quarantine for much reading except for Bible reading.
It's mainly because I enjoy reading paper books and our library is closed except for digital books.
Recently I took the plunge to borrow some digital books and read Sapiens and The Colour Purple.
 It started well but I ended up only giving it 3/5 stars.

I gave this classic 4/5 stars.

This will be my next read.

I still enjoy taking photos of the sky, especially if there is colour in it when I am still up at dawn. It's been raining for going on 3 of the past 4 weeks but there are dry periods in each day and I believe the photos below were taken in our dry week.
Early morning, May 11, 2020

Early morning May 11, 2020

Early morning May 8, 2020

Joining in with Skywatch Friday.
Have a wonderful and safe weekend ahead.

Monday, May 4, 2020

Raindrops






 

One of my very favourite things to do in the garden is to take macro photos of leaves when they have rain drops or dew on them. I captured these the other day.  The last one was taken with a flash as the day had drawn to a close. That's why it's a bit bright.

The excessive rain of the past week and a half is more or less finished.
I'm looking forward to some sun to dry out my container pots and give some nourishment to the sprouts that are emerging in the garden.
Linking with Our World Tuesday.

Happy May 🌱🌱🌱
Have an awesome week ahead.

Saturday, May 2, 2020

How the Garden Grows

Hi friends,

If you are here from Skywatch Friday you can find that post here. Otherwise welcome. I'm always glad you have paid a visit and even happier if you are able to leave a comment.

It's been a wet, cold week. I was expecting rain but it turns out to have rained more than I was expecting. Consequently I didn't get out to the community plot. I am so very late this year and I already know there is no more soil or compost left for me from what the garden club orders each year. I haven't been that successful in finding appropriate starter plants either so not only am I a bit late to plant, I will be sowing seeds directly into the ground. I've decided to keep it simple and plant only a few things anyway so it should all work out.


In my little patio garden I've planted some vegetables and some flowers. I've got fewer containers this year and many of my terracotta pots are cracked broken.  I couldn't find replacements pots in the correct size when I looked last week.

We haven't started summer yet and the city has already announced water restrictions which will last until mid-October.  The month April was very dry compared to the norm although we managed to make some of shortfall up in the last week with heavy rains.  Watering can be done 2 days a week from 4 a.m. to 9 a.m. Even numbered homes can water on Wednesday and Saturday and odd numbered homes on Thursday and Sunday.  I remember I checked last year about whether the restrictions applied to condos or only to homes with lawns and the answer was the latter. This year it looks like vegetables, flowers, shrubs and trees can be watered anytime if done by hand or with a spring loaded nozzle.  This is how I do my watering so it means I will have the flexible to water when I want.

I took the first set of photos in mid-April and the second set  of photos on May 1, 2020.

April 14, 2020

Solomon's Seal

Black Eyed Susan
Unidentified Tree

Two Weeks Later

Black Eyed Susan
 
Solomon's Seal in bloom


The tree is unfolding new green leaves every day.

The shoots coming up in the photo below were planted about 1 week ago and are now coming up. They are wildflowers and I've never planted them before so we'll see what comes up.  I planted them for the butterflies and birds.

The vegetables are not yet showing any signs of life but hopefully they will spring up soon.


The next photo is of some sunflower shoots. They have taken 1 week to get to this point.


I bought the potted fern last year and it was quite lovely. I let it stay out over the winter and most of the leaves died.
I cleaned it up a few days ago and already there are many new shoots coming up.  If you can the knobby "balls" in the center of the plant those are the new shoots that will unfurl into nice leaves.




I found 4  or 5 very small pots of pansies. I've mixed them in with the petunias.
I do have some pansy seeds and hopefully I might yet start some. Pansies seem to be a hardy little flower and have a long growing season compared to some flowers.


The next two photos just show the sky for the past week or so. Just because I never get tired of sky photos.

Sunrise
Sunrise and a seagull flies overhead
Where I live we are still under strict restrictions until May 15th. At that time or possibly just before we will learn what comes next. We expect some lifting of restrictions as we've been given hints but there will be no larger scale gatherings.
I believe different countries are already seeing restrictions lifted in various ways and means.
We should all remember that the virus is still out there. So please continue to be careful.
Stay safe and stay happy.
This too will pass.

Friday, June 14, 2019

After the Pain

Hello everyone,

Since my last post I have suffered a lot of pain. After taking so many painkillers I decided to call the dental office and let them know I needed to get in sooner than my scheduled appointment. I had been on wait list but had not received a call. A few people commented on my last post that their dental offices have space for emergencies. I guess I didn't consider my situation an emergency because I didn't realize that the tooth giving me a problem still had roots.

Long story short, I did go in a few days earlier to the dentist and it was discovered that I had an abscess which needed to be cleaned out right away. Since then I only had a bit of pain after the freezing came out. I've now got antibiotics and pain killers to use as needed. I return Monday for the work to be completed. I'm not sure yet about other work as there is another major piece of work that needs doing under a bridge which now needs to come out and hopefully redone. When I saw the dentist a few months ago he thought he could work around it so I'm not sure why he says something different now. Maybe the x-rays tell the story but the affected tooth has no roots. So I'll wait and see. The main priority was getting rid of the tooth pain and is more or less gone. Thank goodness!

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These sky photos were taken around 5 a.m. from my patio

Sunrise June 9, 2019

Sunrise June 9, 2019

Sunrise June 9, 2019


These plants are all from my patio garden

Geranium in a pot.

Catmint (not cat nip)
Remember the pansies were almost dead before I potted them but they are doing very well now.

Pink petunias

Basil

I've been taking a 1 mile walk each day in my neighbourhood (running errands, going to appointments and to the community garden plot), I spend 10 minutes a day, sometimes 20 minutes on the whole body vibration (WBV) machine, I take supplements for arthritis and try to eat more greens.  The knee pain has greatly reduced but is still there in the background if you will. I will continue with my regimes and next time I see the doctor I will ask for a referral to the arthritis specialist to discuss what my options are.  There can be quite a long wait for knee replacements where I live but they assess each person to see whether you should go on a priority list.

On my last post Yoko commented that I must strengthen the thigh muscles to help the knee pain. I remember when I was getting physiotherapy for the knee I was given some exercises to strengthen the muscles around the knee so I will start doing those again. The WBV machine also increases muscle mass in my legs so that helps.   The knee pain returns when I haven't been using WBV. There have actually been studies showing that WBV is good for arthritis sufferers (if you get the right kind of WBV machine) and I did experience great relief for several years after first being afflicted by arthritis many years ago.  My situation was much worse back then and I was eventually able to walk pain free after a lot of rehabilitation (as described above) and supplements.

I continue to keep very busy with the missions in Kenya. Right now I'm trying to help Eunice and her family who are dealing with life and death issues and the heavy financial burden.  Some of you may remember that Eunice  suffers from a blood issue. Either the blood is clotting and causing sudden hospitalization or she needs a lot of blood transfusions. I fear that she cannot go on much longer as she has already been through so much but God only knows for sure.

The main source of need is to pay for blood at a cost of 3000 Kenyan shillings per pint ($40 Canadian/$30 American) and she needs blood every other day. It gets expensive.  Her family has been getting relatives to travel in from several hours away to donate blood to try and reduce the costs but even this is a hardship because most of them are very poverty stricken and its hardship to spend on the transport and try and eat a bit on the journey to hospital and back. Kindly keep this woman and her family in prayer as the hospital she has been in for some time is several hours away from her home. The specialized kind of care she needs isn't available where she lives.

Ernest Ruto has gone home from hospital but there is still an outstanding balance of about $180 Canadian owing to the Kericho District Hospital. It's important to clear the bill not only because the money is owed but because it is the least expensive hospital option in Kericho Town and if the bill is not paid Ernest will have a hard time to get future medical assistance. I thank God for those who helped get this man home to recover. He is far happier to be recovering at home. Another benefit is that the hospital bill is not increasing since Ernest is no longer occupying a bed.


About a month or so ago I finished the last crochet blanket I was working on. I let it sit around for weeks as I just couldn't seem to get to tieing off the ends and taking a photo.


Finally I put all the loose threads to the back so I could take a photo of the blanket. I spread it out on the grass at the park because it is too large to get a good photo at home.  It is a twin size blanket so I also can't get a good photo of it on the sofa or on a larger bed.  Since I took the photo I have finally woven in and tied up all the loose ends at the back. I just need to prepare the blanket for mailing to my aunt so she can take it to my uncle.  I do hope it won't go missing at the care home where he lives as I've learned that things often get stolen in care homes.  That reminds me that I need to put a name label on the blanket before I mail it. It might help a bit.

I had the service man from the telecommunications company here to upgrade the modem and digital and PVR boxes. The equipment I had was first generation stuff from about 10 years ago and it really needed to be upgraded. What a difference it has made too. I no longer have such long delays and pauses when I use the remote controls. I also now only have to use one remote control rather than 2 and the speed of everything is much better even though I'm still on relatively low internet speed.  I've been waiting for years to get the fastest internet speed and it has been available now for awhile. But sadly the strata council and the telecommunications representative had an issue which led to a stand off and the end result is we cannot get the high speed internet right now.   So the upgrades are a God send and really correct the main issues I've been having. The service man will return in a few weeks to do one more thing which will allow me to have more streaming capability in the apartment. When you have guests or roommates it is much better to have more than 2 streams at a time to use for HD television (2 for watching in different rooms and one for recording). I am probably not explaining things properly but some of you may know what I'm trying to say, lol.

Other that that I've finally got things handled with the new financial advisor and I've made a few financial decision which I had put off for some time while I deliberated about finding a new advisor. I'm pleased with the progress I've made and will be doing more analysis and tweaking over the coming months.  I asked my new advisor if there were any incentives available for making the switch and I was given a choice of gift cards in the amount of $100. It was a bit disappointing since they give $300 for new bank accounts but I am still happy to have something. If I didn't ask I wouldn't get.  I chose a gift card for movies as that is one thing I like to attend throughout the year but I don't like paying today's prices.

Weather here has been very hot. It is usually me complaining about the heat but as I walk down the street my neighbours and some times complete strangers complain to me about the heat. Usually people just love hot weather but it seems this year those that don't are a bit more vocal. I am sure we are off to another dry summer and I just hope we get a few good rainfalls here and there. In May we only had 30.5 mm of rain which is just barely over 1 inch and well below the norm.

Every day or every other day I water my small balcony garden and go to the community plot to water that too. The community plot I have has a mish mash of plants because there are things coming up that were planted by the previous tenant.  I don't want to pull anything out until I can see what is growing. My lettuce, sunflowers and beans seem to be doing well. I didn't have poles for the beans when I planted so now need to get some up pronto so I purchased some 5 foot high bamboo poles. I didn't have time to go searching for alternatives and just bought these in a package of 25 at a store in my neighbourhood.  In future I hope to have some good enough photos to share of the little plot.




Thanks for reading. I hope you will come again.

Monday, May 27, 2019

Early Sunday Morning on the Patio









 I snapped these photos in the wee hours of Sunday morning. 
I couldn't quite get the clarity I wanted but I did enjoy my time in the quiet.
The seagulls were not out squawking for some reason.
Instead there was a beautiful chirping sound from an unknown to me bird. 
It was lovely.

I hope you enjoyed these photos.

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to read and
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(I've also added the information on the side bar, top right of this blog).

 https://www.facebook.com/donate/378998659402985/?fundraiser_source=external_url

 It only takes a few seconds and you will help by making it possible for more people to read and possibly respond.
Thanks so much for your time
and have a lovely week.

Joining

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