One third of a city lot....

That's how much room we have to work with...throw a house in there and there isn't much left. Not really. But magic works in small places, too, and when I see these treasures bloom(treasures we were a part of because you should have seen this yard when we moved in) I am thrilled! No need to chase back and forth like the waves.
The same water which ebbs is the same water that flows.
No point turning back to get water
When it's flowing around you in all directions
The heart of the Buddha and the people of the world...
Where is there any difference?

Heart Of The Buddha - A Poem by Hsu Yun

Did you know that Columbine are wildflowers that grow like weeds in some places? I have to buy mine here, though they did make it over the winter...I feel triumphant! And? I have found some wild ones out on my dog walks this year!

We didn't plant these, but they started coming up in bunches this year. Foxgloves are one of my favorites and have always reminded me of growing up around the rainforests of the Pacific Northwest.

I took so many photos I didn't know which ones to use...so check out flickr later.

We have a few colours of daylilies planted around the pond, but so far only these yellow ones have shown their faces.

This is the pink flowering dogwood that I got Michael for his birthday last year. Last year it had only a few small blooms but this year is delighting us no end. It's gorgeous.

And the roses....there were several untended rosebushes when we bought this house. We had to remove some, but left three because my Grandma loved, loved, loved roses. She had a large rose garden outside her little cabin by the water. I can remember her tiny form among the tall, thorny bushes, talking gently to them about their beauty and how special they were to her, each flower on each bush a blessing.
She grew up substainance farming, living off what came out of the ground. I think she took great joy in just growing beautiful things in her later life. She could make anything grow. She was magic in a small space, too.

It is good to remember these important details before they fall away, like so many petals. Hello, out there, Grandma. I miss you.

My favorite this year has been the snapdragons. Some seem so elegant and lush, saturated in richness, grand....

and others just look like someone tie-dyed my garden.

Of course there is neighbourhood news, and I still haven't finished my trip to Washington, yet. There is still Seattle to cover, a lunch with friends, some odds and ends of Olympia, but I was so delighted with my front garden that I had to take some photos and share some "good stuff" with you all. Hope you don't mind.

8 Awkward and Random Things

#1 There are some songs that make me cry(happy tears or sad)no matter how many times I have heard them in my life, no matter where I am, what the company I am in is, the situation, who is singing, who is laughing at me... and, if you must know, these songs include, but are in no way limited to...."Bird on a Wire" and "Hallelujah" by Leonard Cohen, "Hockey" and "Everything Reminds Me of My Dog" by Jane Siberry, "Angel From Montgomery" and "Sam Stone" by John Prine, "Gulf Coast Highway" by Nancy Griffith and "the Maker" by Daniel Lanois. "Helpless" by Neil Young. "Ghost of a Dog" by Edie Brickell and "Dogsong 2" by the Be Good Tanyas. Wow. Canadian songwriters are really represented here aren't they?



#2 The best memories I have of my family involve old photographs,

and some of the times in them I remember....

and some I do not have any memory of since I was not even around,

but the idea of these people being somebody different before the time I knew them thrills me.

#3 This house is where I have felt safest in all the world in my life.

Because my grandma was here, and stable and sound and sweet....

and I miss her.

#4 The best time of my life, hands down, was the months spent travelling in the vw from the very tip of Texas to Vancouver, BC, with Michael and Maggie and Sebastion(the hermit crab)

We saw amazing vistas, delved into beautiful and tragic histories, spent days and weeks exploring the things we wanted to, lived like gypsies and ate like kings and felt in love with it all....

we found treasures everywhere we stopped...

#4 I will never "get over" this dog.

#5 I love Willie Nelson...in a big way...

and I dream of riding on the Honeysuckle Rose with my dad.

#6 This is a print by Gerald Nailor, who is my favorite artist...and also a personal hero. He should be more well known than he is because he is an important artist in North America, maybe one of the most important, but I also like that so few people know about him

because maybe, just maybe, it means that these....

are one of a kind.

#7 I have semi-regular dreams like this...there is nothing overtly "overt" about them. Vince and I just "hang out" and have a dinner party or garden or hang some pictures on the wall. But, they comfort me somehow. I don't get it. Someone please explain? Isn't he hilarious? He just told the funniest story....I swear.

#8 I dread these MeMe's cuz I don't know how much I really want to reveal about myself out here...but find them kind of fun, at the same time. Go figure.

And, with that, I won't tag anyone...as I read along today, it looks like just about everyone has been tagged with one MeMe or another the past few days anyway. If you want to play along, feel free.

Harewood Mines Road

One of our favorite dogwalking spots is just up around the corner(kind of) along Harewood Mines Road. In the meadows between the groves of arbutus and conifers are fields of moss, succulents and wildflowers. The world here seems soft and pillowtopped. The mosses are inches and inches thick, a wild variety of greens, reds, whites, furry, sticky, plain jane or wildly showy.
Sadly, off-road vehicles are coming here more and more, despite the fact that Nanaimo has extensive designated motorcross and four-wheeler trails and parks. They come here and spin out in the lush, dense moss, destroying such a precious and fragile ecosystem, tearing through foliage right down to the slickrock beneath it. It will take the mosses 25 years to recover here.

Over the weekend, Michael and I took Eem-er up for walkies there...the last trip the car made, in fact. We seemed to have caught the leading edge of the coming wildflower bloom...Soon there will be a colourful blanket of of pinks, yellows, purples, blues, greens, white. Hopefully, that won't be ruined by the same asshats killing the mosses.

The tiny mushies I love still abound. Still damp enough to keep them going a while longer...and the mosses are soft still, and in bloom, as well. Did you know that different mosses bloom? I didn't know that until I found this place.

This one is my favorite...the moss itself turns a deep, earthy red. It is so gorgeous. And then it blooms this beautiful little white flowers. The flowers are tinier than even this photo...much tinier. Who knew that moss could break your heart?!? Moss!

I am not sure if these are pink Fawn Lilies or not, but I think so. Their shape looks so different than the white fawn lilies I am used to seeing. Some of the online photos I compare mine to match and some don't. So my googling failed me on this one...but I was rewarded on my other google search....Michael spotted them. I had walked right past them.

Treasure.

Magic.

Real magic.

And we got to see it.

Such sweet moments.

And we're sharing it with you.

Calypso Orchids. Fairy Slippers . Venus's Slippers.

In the states, this is considered a threatened or endangered species. You couldn't drive your four-wheelers or motorcross motorcycles through this habitat. I don't know if that is the case here and I don't really know who to contact to find out. I really need to learn my way around Canadian government a little, don't I?

Sigh.


*Bye, Eddie. My grandma is gonna be waiting at the gates for you....so be prepared to sing for her!!!!

***What I thought were pink fawn lilies are, in fact, called Shooting Stars. I love Flickr's ID Please Group. Took less than two minutes to get an answer and I had googled for hours!

bits and bits

This book is our guide....look at the tiny Chapter on the Sunshine Coast...there(and there and there) is where we went....after visiting Barb... in Sechelt,. You might know her as Green Wellies. We dropped off some starts from our passionflower vine in exchange for some rhubarb nectar....a pretty sweet exchange, if you ask me. Our first night on the Sunshine Coast was spent at Porpoise Bay... for real campers, this is like spending one night in Hell. If you have kids and want a place to let them run crazy, swim, etc, this might be the place. If you look to camping as your escape from it all, don't bother...Luckily, we were just there for dinner, drinks, bed and then Gone Gone Gone in the early hours.

On the road to Lois Lake....a Forestry Campground accessible by logging roads....although the clear cuts are a bit to take umbridge with, the actual campsite is astounding. The thing with forestry campsites is this....rarely will you find more than 20 sites. Nice, isn't it?

And yes, there is a lake at Lois Lake...I know, I know, sometimes....just sometimes....

I get carried away by the smaller things...things I don't alway have the names for...or the words for....tiny things that make me forget the larger pictures....What I am saying is this. No, I do not have a picture of Lois Lake. Just the small things. Google it for yourselves.

Lois Lake does have huckleberries by the hand full. In fact, there isn't a day of this trip that we did not have at least one (if not multiple) hand(s) full each of huckleberries. In a way(follow me with this, okay?), it makes me sad. To me, it means less and less(and less) people KNOW what these most succulent treasures are. It means less people are growing up in tune with nature.

At the same time, thanks to my Grandma, I know what a sweet treat these little berries are. More for me!!!!!

After Lois Lake, we headed further up the Sunshine Coast....towards Lund. We ended up at Dinner Rock, nearly there...but not quite. What a site. Whew.... overlooking the water of Desolation Bay on rocky cliffs...another Forestry campsite. Glorious. It was just us and one other campsite. How remote is that?

A fire, the boat lights going by, the lights of Vancouver Island visible across from us, diver ducks, eagles, seagulls, and little else. Sweet sweet isolation.....love that stuff.

We lingered.....we loved this space...the air, the colour blue of the sky, the heat of the stones from the sun, the fishing, the seals......................

there is more to say about this spot but it is late(r) and got to think about going to work tomorrow...will try to get some more photos together tomorrow or the next day.....

come back soon.

And? I hope I am not the only one buying this cd tomorrow....

or, for that matter, this one....

Oh, AND...I just tried this... and it works wonders...smells like fennel instead of bad stuff...covers grey, in case you need that sort of thing...not that I do.....wink wink.

aftermath

Well, it started melting pretty quickly but the damage was done. Many cherry trees around here lost large limbs and branches. Some just snapped entirely under the weight of all that wet snow. So sad. Apparently Beban Park lost some trees, too, but I haven't been to that side of town yet. I'll swing by later on my way home from the grocery store to look. Yesterday, we got down to the river for a walk and it seemed devastated. Trees and limbs down, shrubs and bushes and undergrowth lay flat on the ground. Two days earlier while walking there, we had found broken blue eggshells from newly hatched robins on the ground. In a couple of those spots, I don't even see the trees they might have come from anymore...nor do I see how the mamas could have kept 9 inches of snowfall from their tiny featherless babies with no leaves to help shield them yet sprouted....damn climate change. We did see a number of hummingbirds out and about yesterday, so hopefully there are enough blooms left on the trees and bushes to keep them fed for a while.

Two days earlier, in the warm sun, we saw multitudes of the little garter snakes I love so much sunning themselves in the warmest spots. Yesterday, we saw little dead snakes everywhere, frozen or drowned in the meltoff. I know you all don't love my little green garters like I do, but it really was quite heartbreaking for me. They always make my heart beat so fast and fierce. My Grandma used to catch them with me when I was a kid in her garden. We'd feel their smooth skin, talk gently, and lay them back down in the warm-turned earth and watch them slide away.

They are a little bit like Love to me, my little green garters. Love and warm-turned soil, dusty raspberries fresh from the vine, blue-veined, dirt-stained fingers showing me which are weeds to pull and which are the sweet carrot greens, the smell of roses....

Michael spent a fair amount of time gently lifting snow from my flower garden, hoping to save my blooms. He's so good, right? The tulips, daffies, hyacinths and bluebonnets faired pretty well....the leapard's bane, one of our favorites, may be toast.

Well, coffee is done now. I suppose I should get on down the road and get my groceries...

talk to y'all later, eh?

For Biddie.....

1 WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? Nope....I am all original...although my dad wanted to name me Tracy and was vetoed.
2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED ? Today, watching this...http://video.yahoo.com/video/play?vid=646496&fr=yfp-t-501
3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? Yep...and if I hold it up next to my brother's, I can't tell the difference.....
4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE LUNCH MEAT? smoked turkey every day!
5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS?Nope...I require too much quiet time.
6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? I don't know....in person, I am awfully shy so meeting another Me might be difficult. Who would talk first? What would we talk about? Does she really like Me? Is she just being nice....we'd probably never strike up a conversation. And if she held her sssssss asssss long assss I held mine in sssspeech, I might get annoyed talking to her cuz I would think she wasssss making fun of me!
7. DO YOU USE SARCASM ALOT ? Just to quote myself...." Can you hear that dripping sound? It's called sarcasm!"
8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? Yes..but not my Adnoids nor other various parts of my sinuses.....the doctors took out lots of that stuff when I was a kid.
9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? Not for a million dollars, but I would sky dive! Go figure.
10. YOUR FAVOURITE CEREAL? Grape Nuts(geek, eh?)
11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? Only if they have shoestrings.
12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG? Physically? No. And I am emotionally fragile in the Short Term...but in the Long Term, I do overcome, so yeah.
13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE ICE CREAM? President's Choice Key Lime Sorbet.
14. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE? Guys or girls?
15. RED OR PINK? red lipstick, pink Starburst
16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVOURITE THING ABOUT YOU? my insecurities
17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? Maggie, Grandma, Onery
18. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO SEND THIS BACK TO YOU? Send what?
19. WHAT COLOUR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? always blue jeans, always levis and corduroy brown Roos with hidden pockets...sweet!
20. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE? Chips and salsa(with a beer)
21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? Michael talk to Eem-er and traffic outside.
22. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOUR WOULD YOU BE? Periwinkle blue cuz I love how that sounds......
23. FAVOURITE SMELLS?Puppy, orange blossom, coffee and ginger
24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? Emily
25. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? Of course. Would I do this for just anyone?
26. What is your favorite TV show? Criminal Intent.
27. FAVOURITE SPORTS TO WATCH? Now that Andre Agassi has retired, none.
28. HAIR COLOUR? brown
29. EYE COLOUR? also brown
30. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? um...Lasik surgery when it was fresh and new.... and very, very scary.
31. FAVOURITE FOOD? bbq burgers
32. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? Either though I do prefer no gore...cuz I am fragile.... eek.
33. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED? At home? Um, let's see....Willy Wonka(the original, last night) and the theatre? Walk the Line. I hate theatres.
34. ARE YOU SUPERSTITIOUS? No, but I am OCD!!!
35. SUMMER OR WINTER? I don't mind winter if it is sunny but here in this part of the world, I have to say SUMMER!!!!
36. HUGS OR KISSES? Hugs.
37. FAVOURITE DESSERT? Key Lime Pie!!!!!!!
38. MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND? Respond to what?
.39. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND? Respond to what!!!!
.40. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING? The Murder Book by Kellerman(I love, love, love detective books, sad but true), 100 Years of Solitude, and Spaceship Earth.
41. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? Um, my mouse? oh, and my hand!
42. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON TV LAST NIGHT? Willie Wonka with Gene Wilder....LLLLLLLLLLLLLOOOOOOOOVVVVVEEEEEE him!!!
43. WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE SOUND? Willie Nelson
44. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES? Oh crap, this always comes up...if I can listen to other people COVER the Beatles, then I pick the Beatles. I know that is ssssssssssssoooooooooo very uncool. Sorry.
45. WHAT IS THE FURTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME?Mostly when I am somewhere, I am moving there, so eventually it becomes home. So I would have to say, I am always home.
46. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT? Wouldn't you all like to know?
47. WHERE WERE YOU BORN? Olympia, WA , at the old hospital on the West Side.
48. WHOSE ANSWERS ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO GET BACK? Everybody...I am a terrible snoop!
49. ARE YOU MARRIED?Legally common-law and we even wear rings!
50. IF MARRIED...AND YOU WERE WIDOWED WOULD YOU EVER CONSIDER REMARRIAGE? Um, who knows? I doubt it cuz I think we'll be old together. I want to go like June and Johnny....
Then again...if Vincent D'Onofrio were also widowed....hhhhmmmmnnn.

for Life or Something Like It

So this is a digital photo of an old 135 mm photo, grainy at best. The stains are on the photo, not on the carpet or on my arms, not from the dog! He was a good boy! When I was 3 or just 4, I got this puppy. For years, people thought I had named him Henri...I guess cuz he was a poodle mix. As an adult, I think it's hilarious that they all thought I even would know that Henri is a French name...and that my little dog was even(gasp) French??? I was 3 or 4!!!! I mean, yes, of course, we'd all like to think I was such a little genius...especially me. He lived with that mistaken identity for the rest of his life. I don't even remember how old I was when I discovered that EVERYONE thought his name was Henri...but I knew his real name...and then it became ever so much more special to me. Like knowing Batman's secret identity.
When my folks got divorced and we moved into a little apartment, my Grandma took him. I saw him nearly every weekend during the school year and spent my summers with her and my dog...only he did become her dog. I didn't mind. They really grooved on each other and I am so thankful to her for saving him...they had lots of good years...lots.
Want to know his real name?


Ornery: as in.....

Main Entry: or·nery Pronunciation: 'or-n&-rE, 'är-; 'orn-rE, 'ärn-Function: adjectiveInflected Form(s): or·neri·er; -estEtymology: alteration of ordinary: having an irritable disposition : CANTANKEROUS - or·neri·ness noun

Isn't that a hoot?

jiggety jig

Home again, home again...look at what was waiting for me....a pink iris. Have you ever seen anything so lovely? We put these in last year but they didn't bloom. We actually had no idea what colour they were....I hope no one picks them from the front garden...Buddha watch over them, please.
And the first of the roses are opening. Though I don't love dealing with rose bushes, they remind me so overwhelmingly of my grandma that we keep them. This one smells delicious, especially when the sun shines down and warms the air....
One of the neighbourhood landlords was collecting these in his backyard of his rental house for a while...I guess he got tired of his tenants parking them in the front yard! But, enough was enough, and he put them all out in the street in front of our place. I think he thought they might slowly migrate back to the store....like salmon going upstream or something. You can see that they did move from one side of the house to the other overnight. I almost helped them migrate to said landlord's front yard but Michael is more level-headed than I. He called Thrifty's and they sent someone to pick them up the same day...takes so much effort, doesn't it?
Oh the haps around here! The news of the hood continued while I was away in Sechelt. One of our neighbours had enough of the crackheads in the alley and followed them through the hood, right on their heels, giving them a little of the grief they have been giving us every day...he continued his work in the store where crack pipe making supplies are sold...he continued some more with some of the residents and property owners that make things "difficult" around here. I wish I had been here to cheer him on. Anyhoo, the police came(called by the lady running the store) but no one went to jail. Wouldn't it have been just friggin' peachy if our good and outraged neighbour went to jail while the dealers, pimps, hookers and lady selling pipes simply walked away from it all? So then, barely a day later, the crackheads he followed from the alley were back and creeping through his yard in the wee hours of the morning, peeking through his neighbour's window... ARGH!!!!
Yesterday, the RCMP were patrolling the hood looking for a man running naked through the streets. I jumped out there with my camera, on the hunt to bring you all PRIME south Nanaimo(Gates of Crazy Town) news and photos. I had my finger on the button throughout my "investigation" but never saw the naked man...sorry. I so wanted to do that for you...have no fear, though. I am sure it is not the last time...just as I am sure it was not the first time!
Well, folks, time is fleeting...miles to go today. Talk at you all later.