Easter Greetings

 

Love always involves responsibility, and love

always involves sacrifice.

And we do not really love Christ unless we are

prepared to face his task and to take up his cross.

William Barclay

We had our Easter Dinner with our boys and their wives and baby Kenzington yesterday as they were having dinner with the in-laws today.   My husband had just been discharged from hospital and it was nice to have a meal together again.  Good Friday had me setting the table and then I began to take a few pictures as I went along.  It ended up being a little still life project.  Life is like that as just when you start of do something you get a little side tracked and off you go in another direction.

I am joining Mary for Mosaic Monday.   Have a blessed Easter.

A Gift of Warmth and Beauty

A wonderful gift was recently sent to my husband who was diagnosed with esophageal cancer this year. At the moment he is cancer free thanks to the wonderful Doctors and Nurses at SouthLake Cancer Centre and many hours of chemotherapy and radiation treatments with excellent technicians  and lastly a good Surgeon. Even though he is on the mend he does not feel that way most of the time.  One of the things that he feels constantly is the need for warmth. He lost a lot of weight from an already slight frame in normal times.   His time to feeling well comes slowly day by day.

Our friends in Peterborough, Judy and Les requested that a quilt from Victoria’s Quilts of Canada be sent to Paul to keep him warm.  This lovely quilt is a lap size just big enough to wrap around you while having an afternoon nap. It is done in white and black with a brown border and backed with a warm flannel material.  It is masterfully sewn and quilted together. It is quite a work of art.  We thank them for this most grateful gift. 

Victoria’s Quilts as the card says “was established in memory of Victoria Ann Morrison who was a cancer patient and a quilt maker. She made over 100 “Love Quilts” in her short lifetime.  She spoke of being cold during her chemotherapy treatments.  With her in mind and after much thought and prayer, Victoria’s Quilts Canada was founded in 1998.” Betty Giffin is the founder.  The mission of this organization is to provide hand-made quilts to people with cancer.  By providing quilts they bring a physical and emotional comfort to those battling the disease.  There is never a cost to either the requestor or the recipient.  To date they have distributed over 5500 quilts across Canada. Pretty amazing isn’t it? 

Should you like to look into this wonderful organization visit their website at www.victoriasquiltscanada.com.  

I will be joining Mary for Mosaic Monday today.   I hope that you have a wonderful week.

Lest We Forget 2012

 

In 1944 my Dad was a young flying officer in the Royal Canadian Air Force stationed in Tor Bay, Newfoundland.  Today he is 92years old and his memory is fading away into dementia.

Today, we remember the men and women that have served our country in the two world wars and in many wars and battles since.  Some gave their lives for us to be free and some still battle with the thoughts and memories of what they saw and felt during their time of duty.  We honour their sacrifice.  The poppy we proudly wear signifies their calling and reminds us to never forget.

 

I am joining Mary for Mosaic Monday.   Have yourself a wonderful week.

A Get Away Weekend Mosaic

 

Last weekend I went with friends on the annual shopping trip across the border to the Buffalo area.  The friday when we arrived the day was lovely and warm and dry so in the evening my friend and I took a little walk to look at the shops before we headed off for dinner.  All my photos were taken with with my Iphone.  The remaining  two days of our trip were very wet and cool so no more pictures.

The photo in the top left were taken after dinner.  The homes on this particular street were so lovely with large properties and old maple trees.  One of the stores was a shoe store that offered shoe parties.  I got a red velvet cupcake from a shop called Firefly for my dessert. The bottom right was in front of a shop catering to your pets.  They had two pet strollers for sale in the front which I did not get a photo of.

I am joining Mary for Mosaic Monday.   Wishing everyone a speedy recovery from hurricane Sandy.  We only had some strong winds and lots of rain but others were not so fortunate.

A New Year for Mosaic Monday

Have you cleared your Christmas decorations away yet?  I am working on mine today.  We have had warm temperatures lately and yesterday a great deal of rain.  Today we are down in the minuses again.  My husband is out counting birds for the Bird Count done yearly.   I am counting the birds that land in our birdfeeders at home.    I received an invitation recently  from Kristy at Life-n-Reflection to receive her templates for a calendar and learn how to use Photoshop to make my own calendar.   It was a  lot of fun.   The first square shows my January 2011 calendar.  The remaining squares are just a mishmash of photos from the present season showing yellow roses that my Dad brought, the pinky violet that is blooming on the windowsill, a plate of cookies, some icicles on our back porch, a little bear that my husband put in my stocking, the seed head of a milkweed with a snow cap and a landscape from the river near to us.  As many of you, I am looking forward to the new year with new beginnings and new things to do and learn.  I hope that you will visit often.  I love your company. Have a great week.  

More mosaics can be found at Mary’s for Mosaic Monday.   Come join the fun.

Fall is Here for Mosiac Monday

 

 

Summer ends this week and fall begins.   The look of fall is all around us now.  The vines, trees and shrubs are putting on their fall colours.  Beautiful reds, vivid yellows and beautiful purples can be found at the roadside with purple asters and goldenrod.

My mosiac today is just some of the colours of fall.  Join Mary for Mosiac Monday.  Have a great week.  Valerie

Rose of Sharon for Mosiac Monday

The Rose of Sharon is my plant of choice at the moment for photos.  The plant is two years old in the garden but this is the first year  that has bloomed.  The flowers are a violet-blue with a raspberry centre.  

Join our host Mary for Mosiac Monday.    Have a great gardening week.  It promises to be very warm week here this week.  I guess we need to enjoy it because the weather will cool off come September.  Valerie

Late Summer in the Garden for Mosiac Monday

I don't know about you but the last few days I have been sneezing and my eyes are so itchy.  It must be the late summer pollens that are getting to me.  I was so stuffed up this morning I could hardly think.   My ornamental grasses are blooming now.  I have stuck in my mosiac the  Calamagrostis Karl Foerster, The Eragrostis spectablis Purple Lovegrass and Pennisetum 'Shanendoah' with Perovoskia or Russian Sage, Veronica spikes, Blue Clips Campanula, Brown Eye Susans, and Painted daisy.  The Fellow cellebrating his 90th birthday is my Dad.  We had a family bbq yesterday to celebrate with him.  He is still going strong.   Hubby and I are hitching up the camper for a little R&R in the wilds of Northern Ontario.   Catch up with you when we get back.    Happy Gardening.  Valerie

Join our host Mary at DearLittleRedHouse for Mosiac Monday.

Summer Happiness for Mosiac Monday

What brings you happiness?  Happiness to me is summer.  This is the time of the year I can actually go out side in flip flops and shorts with no sweater.  The rest of the year I always seem to be cold but not in summer.   Happiness in summer  is a lot of things. Here are some highlights so far.
1. Colourful muskoka chairs sitting on the dock at Lake Simcoe. 2.Painted Lady Butterfly 3. Happy yellow Coreopsis 4. White Cleome 5. Morning Glory 'Chocolate' 6. Pink waterlily in the pond 7. Pickerel weed flower in the pond 8. Strawberry Rhubarb Shortcake 9. Baby doves 10. Daylily 'Tiny Temptress' 11. Hardy Prickly Pear cactus 12. Astrantia

Join us at Mary's for Mosiac Monday.  Join in we are friendly.  Happy Gardening.  Valerie

Becky for Mosiac Monday

Leucanthemum x superbum or Shasta Daisy 'Becky' is blooming in the garden.  The plant has large white multi petalled flowers with a yellow centre.

Becky makes a nice big clump.  The flowers last for many weeks.  Dead head for more blooms  Seen here Becky is in combination with a yellow yarrow and purple salvia.  All are drought tolerant and happy in less than ideal soil conditions.

This butterfly would let me get my lens right up close but he would not open his wings for me.

Many more mosiacs can be found at Mary's DearLittleRedHouse.  Join us won't you.   Happy Gardening week.  It is going to be a scorcher here so water early in the day.   Valerie

A Garden in the City for Mosiac Monday

Lake Simcoe South Master Gardeners had the priviledge of visiting the garden of Paul Zammit and his partner Uli last week.   Paul Zammit is the Director of Horticulture at the Toronto Botanical Gardens and Uli wields her expertise at Plant World, a huge Nursery in the west end of Toronto.  The tour began in the driveway with Paul explaining to us that the soil on this property is sandy.   You could see my jaw drop.   I garden on sand too.   Their sandy soil is amended heavily with leaves in the fall.  The neighbours drop bags of leaves on their driveway and Paul mulches them up with the lawnmower.   The front lawn was packed with flowers and shrubs and a big SweetGum Tree.  The garden extended right out to the pavement of the street.   Up by the house were huge planters.   Paul Zammit is the king of the container.  He plants all kinds of varieties of plants and even vegetables and herbs in planters.   The sides of the house were planted with Hostas.  The backyard had a huge deck and it was filled with planters and shelves of planters.  A large gate divided the backyard from the deck.  There was every kind of Japanese Maple and huge Hosta.   In the lower left of the bottom corner of the mosiac you can see the Podophyllum or Mayapple 'Spotty Dotty' that was in flower.   Paul explained about all the plants and was gracious to answer all our questions.   Janet, our Social Convenor had a lovely spread of goodies to munch on while we ogled the plants.  She had picked strawberries that day and hand dipped them in chocolate.  Oh Heaven.    It was a wonderful evening in a beautiful garden.   Paul gave us all a piece of purple plantain from his garden to try in ours.  I hope you like the photos of the garden.  Have a great gardening week.  Valerie

More mosiacs can be found at Mary's DearLittleRedHouse.

A Lovely Evening Mosiac

Last week was the last meeting of our Naturalist group for the summer months.  We went on a hike at the Koffler Scientific Reserve in York Region.   It is a lovely place to visit.  It is owned by the University of Toronto and is used by many science students for their projects.  You see all around coloured flags that you are to stay away from as they are some students summer project.   The night was lovely with few mosquitoes.   I thought you might like to look at something elese rather than what is growing in my garden at the moment.  I will bore you with that later in the week.  Visit Mary at DearLittleRedHouse for more mosiacs.   Have a great gardening week.   Valerie

A touch of White

It has been a hot dry week and this weekend was no exception.  The flowers are blooming quicker but with the heat they are fading faster too.  My Japanese Tree Peony was beautiful but the blooms lasted only a few days.  Much too quickly to enjoy them.  I have been taking pictures of each bloom as soon as I see them in case they perish. Our grass is brown and crispy like the middle of July.  I like the heat after the long winter but we could really need a good rain now.  How about you?  Are you noticing this as well?   My mosiac is John Paul II clematis, a pale pink, a white bearded Iris, pink and white Filipendula or Queen-of-the-Prairie, and a white Clematis "Guernsey Cream".  The middle is the Japanese Tree Peony.   Have a great week.  

For more Mosiac fun visit our host Mary at DearLittleRedHouse.

Valerie

A White Mother's Day

We woke up this morning to a white and chilly Mother's Day.   How about you?  I did have another mosiac made for today with flowers from the garden in it but I thought I would show you this instead.  I hope, hope, hope that this is temporary and we get back to the nice spring weather we were experiencing.   I hope everyone had a relaxing Mother's Day with your family.   Our oldest Son invited us to his house for supper.  My Son and Daughter in law are terrific cooks.  I love that I don't have to do anything just sip on a nice glass of wine and wait to be served.  

Join the Mosiac Monday crowd at Mary's DearLittleRedHouse for more reflections on what is going on in our world today.   Happy Gardening Week....I think.   

Magnolia liliflora 'Betty'

I planted this magnolia the first time 4 or 5 years ago and then moved it 3 years ago.  Until this year she has not bloomed for me.   I am just thrilled to see the magnificent bloom on this wee shrub as she is still not very tall.  At maturity it should be 8ft tall with an equal spread.  That may be a while for this little girl.  Mary at DearLittleRedHouse  is again hosting Mosiac Monday.  I hope that you will join us.  We love to show off what makes us happy.  Happy Gardening Week.

A Mosiac of Pulsitillas

I just had to make a mosiac this week out of all the Pulsitilla or Pasque flower pictures I have taken.  I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.  Find more spring mosiacs on Mosiac Monday with host Mary at Dear Little RedHouse.  It will put you in a good mood.  Happy Gardening week.

Fascination in the Flowerbed

Every Sunday I gather what photos I have to share for Mosiac Monday with our host Mary.  The last few weeks with warm temperatures that are a little unusual for this area the garden has been abloom.  I am not complaining by any means.  It just seems like it is in a rush.  Winter is so long here you like to savour every last drop of spring while you can.   This weeks mosiac is what is in bloom this week.  This morning I saw the grape hyacinth in the back garden, the white christmas cactus with blooms for the third time this year, the pulminaria with its little flowers that are pink and blue, one of my favourites in the spring garden is the pasque flower, I was happy to find the native single bloodroot blooming in a place I don't remember planting it and finally a little perennial violet.   I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.  Visit Mary who will link you to other Mosiac Monday photos.   Have a great garden week.

New Beginnings

My mosiac for this week's addition of Mosiac Monday was based on what is new in the outdoors. There are so many new surprises each day now as I mosey around in the garden.  For more Mosiac Monday fun visit Mary at DearLittleRedHouse and see what others are finding new.

Some of you have commented that the mosiac could not be enlarged by clicking on it.  I have edited it and I think it works now.  Thanks.  V

Signs of Spring

We had a lovely day again today.  Weather has been so wonderful.  The family was here for dinner.  I ate too much even though I said I would just take just a small portion.   I hope you had a wonderful day too.  For more springy mosiacs visit Mary at DearLittleRed House.  See you there.

Mosiac Monday - Scenes from Canada Blooms 2010

As I write this I am preparing to make my way down to Canada Blooms to begin packing up our Master Gardeners booth and returning the shrubs and trees we borrowed from Show Horticulturist  Charlie Dobbin.  What a week!  It was packed in there every day that I was there.  Yesterday I was at the Garden Writers Assoc luncheon and who should come in to have a wave and a smile but Martha Stewart.  She was gracious to come in and say hello.  I took some pictures but believe me she would not and you would not like to see them.  Everytime I pushed the camera plunger someone stepped in front of me.  I am promised some from another writer who did get a good shot and I will share them with you when I get them.  It will be good to get back to normal tomorrow.  You might see two ladies in this mosiac whom you might recognise.  One is http://www.agardenofthreads.blogspot.com/ and one http://www.lavendercottagegardening.blogspot.com/  For more terrific mosiacs visit Mary at