Our front garden is awash with colour these days. Driving or walking up to the house makes me smile inside. Hydrangeas are at their best, and the roses are flourishing (and need to be dead-headed). There's lavender and daisies in the opposite corner.
This morning is cool and damp after yesterday's almost steady drizzle. Oh where, oh where is summer? I don't want to complain too much because I know that some of my readers are suffering with intense heat. Such strange weather across the globe.
We took the boat out for two nights this week, to Mayne Island, one of the Gulf Islands the ferry boats pass en route from the mainland to Vancouver Island. There are a couple of small villages and several marinas.
There were fun and lovely sights to see along the way. The Briary sells gourmet preserves, made locally, from the cutest little stand full of whimsy. It looked like a fairy house in the forest.
There are a number of farms on the island with golden fields recently cut. One farmer passed us in his tractor with a bale of silage stuck to the front. We joked that it looked like a marshmallow on a giant stick, ready for roasting.
Cattle grazed peacefully in fields of dappled sunlight and shade. I always enjoy seeing a zig zag split rail fence and there are many throughout our province.
At last we reached the goal of our long walk - Mayne Island Lighthouse. Here is where boats enter Active Pass a narrow-ish passage of water with lots of treacherous currents, and one of the busiest waterways of Canada's West Coast. A lighthouse here has guided ships since 1885. The light is now automated and the house closed up.
We purchased sandwiches in the village store at Miners Bay and ate them while enjoying the expansive view. Bald Eagles, Kingfishers, Starlings and more entertained us along with the waves lapping the rocky shore.
Another view of Active Pass, with two large ferries passing each other, and one smaller ferry ahead. A lovely sight on Canada Day.
We walked back across the island to our little boat and I was happy to take off my shoes and wriggle my toes. Thankfully it was a cool day. That night we moved our boat to another island to be closer to home for the next day in order to catch the proper tide for taking the boat out of the water.
It was an unsettled night with the boat sloshing about in the waves and neither of us slept well, so we got up at 5 am and headed home. I'm glad we left earlier than planned for the wind picked up and it was a rocky trip home, with the wind increasing throughout the day, and rain beginning mid-morning.
The Boscobel Rose by David Austin is one of my favourites, a steady bloomer with a deliciously sweet scent.
This morning is a wee bit brighter with no rain, but lots of puffy clouds allow for only small patches of blue. Hopefully the blue will prevail as the day goes on.
I plan to sew this morning, pick blueberries once they dry a little, and generally putter here at home. Deadheading the roses is also on my mental list. And I hope to send out the invitations for my mother's 90th birthday party in August.
Our boat is still where we store it in a hanger at the airport. We probably won't get it in the water until August due to some visitors and travel plans. We've never been to the Gulf Islands, we usually head north. For a while our boat was down in Bellingham where I stayed with my mother for several years. It was a nice place to go for quick overnighters right there in the harbour. -- Margy
ReplyDeleteHow lovely tour garden is with its shades of blue. My hydrangeas are doing well but could do with some rain. The intense heat has ruined my roses, they all opened up too quickly and now are dropping. Very sad. Boscobel is a beauty isn't she.
ReplyDeleteWhat a joyous event, to celebrate your mother's 90th!
ReplyDeleteIt's been unseasonably cool here, too, and I am asking the same thing: Where is summer?
What a nice picture reportage starting from your beautiful front garden and coming back to the same place 🌹 Rural pictures and a lighthouse plus a Canadian flag 🇨🇦 Had to look up "silage" because I didn't know the word. It does look like a gigantic marshmallow 🤭
ReplyDeleteI that whimsical little shop selling preserves is so cute! You sure went on a long walk. It's nice and cool for walking but not at all seasonal temperatures I think.
ReplyDeleteThe rain we had this past week has, unfortunately, crushed my Hydrangeas.
We never have the weather we want. Very envious of your damp boating days. Relentless heat here. The garden is parched and the water butts empty. Enjoy a relaxed weekend. B x
ReplyDeleteThat sounds a really lovely trip enjoying your beautiful countryside. I don't think I ever saw any animals in the fields ever when we visited friends in Ontario, just those huge industrial buildings housing unfortunate chickens.
ReplyDeleteThat looks like a beautiful place to explore.
ReplyDeleteYour outing sounds wonderful—a boat trip combined with a long walk in beautiful natural surroundings. Thanks for the great photos; I really enjoyed them.
ReplyDeleteI hope you have a lovely time sewing and enjoying some relaxing moments in your garden.
I’m doing a bit of sewing today, too, and cooking lunch for us... later this afternoon, we’re heading to the national park for a short walk... we’ll definitely bring rain gear along, as there have been intermittent showers since Monday... which is nice—it means we don't have to water the garden :-)))
Last night, I went to see the ballet *Onegin* at the Semperoper—it was magical—I really enjoyed it.
Sending you a hug and wishing you a happy weekend.
That sixteen-kilometer walk across Mayne Island was quite the trek, but finding that whimsical fairy-house preserve stand and the marshmallow-on-a-stick tractor must have made the distance fly by. Watching the ferries navigate Active Pass while eating your sandwiches by the lighthouse is such a perfect way to spend Canada Day, even if the rocky, sleepless night on the boat cut the trip a bit short. Hopefully, the sun breaks through the clouds for you so you can get those blueberries picked and finish sending out the invitations for your mother's milestone birthday.
ReplyDeleteWhat a gorgeous garden with those lovely blue hydrangeas, one of my favourite blooms. Now I think I want to buy a hydrangea for our new garden! I looked up Mayne island to see where you took the boat. You live in a very attractive part of the world, and it was quite an adventure. The Briary is so cute, and I bet everyone buys something on the very long walk. Great photo for Canada Day with the ferries going to and fro.
ReplyDeleteMy son, Jesse, and his family are at the cottage. I'm sure the cool didn't dampen their spirits! It is a lovely province.
ReplyDeleteWhat beautiful and fun views you had on your little getaway. Glad you got home safely. Your front garden is in it's glory. Greg was just reading the temps that are forecast for the next several days and they definitely qualify for summer!
ReplyDeleteFresh blueberries sounds so good and your flower garden is gorgeous! The flowers love the rain!
ReplyDeleteYour boating get-away looks and sounds so perfect! Your style of living on an Island is how I would want to live if I were on an Island! That’s extra special, planning your Mother’s 90th birthday!
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely time you had. That briary shop is just too cute and a wonderful thing to amble upon. Love those roseberres and thrilled that you will have blueberries. We don't seem to see them en masse till August.
ReplyDeleteYou had again a nice walk with beautiful views. I love blue hydrangeas ours are beautiful this year. Here another heat wave is starting today and the vegetation suffers a lot so are the animals and humans. We finally had the AC downstairs installed on time for the second heat wave!
ReplyDeleteYour garden is gorgeous! We had an intense heat wave here last week. I think it was the first time that we've had temperatures that felt like 48-49 Celsius with the humidity. Yikes! Thank goodness for the A/C!
ReplyDeleteHow lovely your garden looks, the Boscobel rose is gorgeous. Your long walk looks wonderful with much to see along the way. How strange the weather is for all of us at the moment:)
ReplyDeleteYour garden must be a joy to come home to, and that island walk sounds like such fun.
ReplyDeleteI love the marshmallow tractor image--it made me smile!
Beautiful photos, Lorrie.
Your front garden with the hydrangeas and roses is gorgeous! How I love a summer garden. And then an adventure in nature is always the very best. Enjoy your mother's birthday celebration.
ReplyDeleteDear Lorrie, your garden is absolutely stunning! I am extremely grateful for air conditioning. It is still pretty hot and humid here in Montreal. We are supposed to get rain tomorrow. I hope we do, but it won't bring much relief. At this point, though, any relief will be appreciated! Not complaining, though, just mentioning how the weather is here. :)
ReplyDeleteYour photos with the water and the flowers are very soothing! Thank you so much for sharing.
Your front garden looks lovely, Lorrie. I love hydrangea, but can't really grow them here - too dry and they wouldn't fit in my dry garden. Your visit to Mayne Island sounds wonderful including the long hike. I'm quite sad that I am not able to do such long hikes, at least at the moment. Your roses look so beautiful - I love David Austen roses. I hope you will get some summer weather soon. It has been cooler here than usual, but it's going to heat up the coming week.
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