Friday Thoughts of Roses, Birds, and Peonies

 

It was June, and the world smelled of roses.

The sunshine was like powdered gold over the grassy hillside. Maud Hart Lovelace

The first roses are blooming in the garden. John Cabot, above, is one of the earliest. It's a thorny plant, a climber that we cut severely last year and moved due to the construction of a new patio. It seems to be recovering nicely, and should it develop the tall growth it previously had, we will train it along the fence which is at the back of our property. 

While I work in the garden, birds come and go. A bright male House Finch sat on a lilac branch and watched me for a few moments, giving me time to take a few photos of him. 

There is another bird who has discovered our garden, and I'm not so pleased about this one. It's a very cheeky American Robin who seems to think this is his property. He comes regularly and pecks at the strawberries. I planted pole beans this week and the very next day saw him peck them out of the ground. I've now covered the bean trellises in cloth to prevent him stealing the ones I replanted. 

Today I saw him perch on a blueberry branch and eye the berries up and down. He's just waiting for them to ripen. Something must be done for he is voracious. 

Our elderberry tree has grown very tall recently, and I hope it fills out a little. Meanwhile the lovely floral fragrance of the blossoms wafts across to where I weed sometimes, making the chore just a wee bit sweeter. 

I make Elderberry Cordial and we've enjoyed it on the rare hot afternoon with lots of ice in either water or club soda. I'm hoping there are plenty more hot summer days ahead, for just now there is a chill wind blowing in from the Pacific and over the past hour, clouds have covered the blue sky. 

As the roses begin to flower, the last of the peonies blooms. This is Sarah Bernhardt, who always shows up last. I don't mind, for I believe she is my favourite, pale pink with flashes of deeper colour here and there. 

Peonies are long-lived shrubs and can bloom for up to 100 seasons, hence their association with long marriages. I love their femininity and extravagant ruffles and can't get enough of them. I've taken photo after photo to try and capture their magic. 

Book news: 

My memoir, Life is Short but Wide, is now available via online platforms such as Amazon. I am still working on getting the print book available on Indigo (Canada), as only the e-book shows up for now. 

If you would like to support your local bookstore, the book can be ordered. Here's the information. The ISBN is not necessary but might help if there are difficulties.

Life is Short but Wide

Lorrie Orr

ISBN 978-1-0675121-0-1 

Also, for the month of June, I will send a signed copy to Canadian addresses, postage included. Just send an email to (lorrieorr @ gmail.com) without the spaces. 

Anyone who has purchased a book (throughout the month of June) is eligible to win this original matted (4 x 6 inches) watercolour. Just send me a quick email (or comment below) and I'll put your name into the hat for the draw. I will mail it anywhere in the world. 

Something to remember - we are all beautiful. When I taught, I would look at my students while they worked on an assignment and I would occasionally think of how beautiful they were, each one with unique gifts and talents, and years of life ahead of them. Youth has its beauty, as does each stage of life on up to old age. Think of the peony that continues to produce beauty throughout its long life.  

Tonight there's a birthday celebration for two darling granddaughters, born within a day of each other. Other than that the weekend will be fairly quiet, with gardening, housekeeping, and reading. 

A Weekend Away

 

Along the highway curving up our Island, daisies wave in the wind among the long grasses lining the road. In a few places, purple lupins stand tall, just beginning to bloom. And everywhere is green, from chartreuse to emerald, all joyous in the sunshine. 

Our anniversary isn't until next month, but this was the weekend that worked for a family getaway. Sadly, one family had to cancel at the very last minute because of illness. Oh, how we missed them. They are recovering well, and we are thankful.

Above is the view from our hotel. At low tide the beach was exposed almost to the point of the nearest bit of land on the right. We walked out one afternoon, over a kilometre, wading through sun-warmed tide pools and squelchy sand. 

Along a log visitors pile up stones and leave them all in a row for others to add to. 

The weather was not terribly warm, but we did manage both beach time and pool time. Here are the littlest ones enjoying the mud on the beach. I love their hats that protect their delicate skin both back and front. 

Tide pool art. There is so much life to observe - tiny crabs, sand dollars, determined snails, waving eel grass - it's a miniature world. 

There was a visit to the wonderful playground in Parksville - definitely the best playground I've ever seen. So many activities for kids of all ages. And an ice cream truck. Grandpa treated the grands. This picture makes me both happy and sad, as one grand is missing. 

We ate well, slept well (mostly), and enjoyed each others' company. I cut a bouquet of peonies before leaving home to place on the table of our suite. How beautiful they are, so elegantly ruffled and fragrant. 

School is now finished and I have completed my reports. I still have to tidy up my room, and attend graduation on Wednesday. I'm looking forward to spending more time in my garden, and at my sewing machine. Our weather is still rather cool with much cloud. I keep hoping for sunnier, warmer days, but will have to make do with what we have. Experts say this system might break mid-July! That seems very far away. 

Strawberries, Spanish, and Flowers

 

Twice last week, I rode a small school bus down to Fisherman's Wharf with my students. Grade 11s on Monday and Grade 10s on Friday. Fisherman's Wharf is a bustling place where working fish boats tie up, where elegant float homes bob in the water, and where there are a number of great restaurants. 

My students line up at the Mexican restaurant where they can practice ordering their food in Spanish. It's hard to have an authentic Spanish-speaking experience here, but the staff at Puerto Vallarta Amigos are so kind and accommodating, allowing the students to interact with them in Spanish. The food is also very good - my go-to order is Fish Tacos. We've not been able to do this for a few years because of the pandemic, so I was happy to give the students this experience. 

Classes end on Friday, and next week is graduation and tying up loose ends. I'm happy to say that the school has found a good Spanish teacher - someone I know very well - my eldest daughter, who is shifting from teaching English and Humanities to Spanish, the language she grew up with, although we always spoke English at home. Retirement beckons once again for me, and I'm looking forward to it.

In spite of our continuing very chilly spring, the strawberries are ripening, ever so slowly. We're enjoying them sliced onto our breakfast bowls of yogurt and granola. Here they are fresh from the garden, still with a bit of soil on them. I rinse them just before using them and they keep for several days. 

Gertrude Jekyll is opening beautifully, with many more buds to follow. I love her fragrance and pink colour. In the background you can see small buds of peonies still waiting to open. It's a rather topsy turvy spring. 

One of the few open peony blooms. They smell so wonderful. I read recently that peonies are edible, but I've not tried them, nor do I think I will. I'll just enjoy their blowsy blooms and sweet fragrance. 

Is it chilly or warm in your corner? How is your garden doing? 

and the month flew by

 

At the beginning of May we enjoyed lilacs and tulips. They are now past and new things have taken pride of place. Just now it's strawberries in the garden. I keep the plants mostly netted to avoid birds and bunnies snacking on them. We're enjoying their sweetness in the garden, straight off the plant, with our breakfast yogurt, with whipped cream, and today...

in a salad with avocado slices, a drizzle each of olive oil and balsamic vinegar, and a few snips of chives picked at the last minute. Salt and pepper. Best eaten (as it was this evening) outdoors on a sunny patio. 

The little herb garden is lush and green and I've been drying oregano, parsley, and thyme. I kept track of usage this past year and a quart and a half of dried oregano leaves is what I use. It would be less if I crumbled the leaves immediately, but I find it very satisfying to rub the leaves with my fingers and to let them fall gracefully into whatever dish I'm making. The fragrance wafts up and I'm transported to my summer garden. 

Over the weekend we enjoyed part of our family's company indoors, seated at the dining room table for the first time since the pandemic began. It was pure joy to sit across the table from them and eat and visit. 

Thank you for the best wishes for my parents' anniversary. They had a good day and enjoyed dinner out at a restaurant together. 

A couple of years ago a flurry of yellow poppies arrived in a corner of my garden. They continue to appear each year and confine themselves quite nicely to that corner. It's a rather dark spot, and they add lots of cheer there. 

The peonies are blooming! How I love these flowers that bloom so briefly yet with such sensational presence. Extravagant ruffles, delicate scent, gorgeous colours combine in a wonderful package. Perhaps we enjoy them so much because of their short lives. 

For our second wedding anniversary quite a number of years ago, we bought gifts together. I chose this crystal vase that has held flowers in all of our homes from northern British Columbia, to Texas, to Ecuador, and now on Vancouver Island. When I use it I think of that hot summer day when we shopped together. Tim chose a pair of binoculars that he still uses. We stopped giving anniversary presents soon after, so these are special. 

June is on the horizon and much of it is planned already. Another lovely month to anticipate. Wishing you joy today and every day.

Five Things Close to Home

Hooray for strawberry season! Now that Iris has gone home, I'm letting other people (like Tim) eat the strawberries. To be fair, there were just a few ripe when she was here. I picked a cereal bowl full of them the other evening, and there are more today. 

However, I'm feeling very Mr. McGregor-ish these days because the BUNNIES are eating the ripe berries. They take bites from the very juiciest red ones and leave the evidence in plain site. Such cheek! Last night I was busy with my netting and covered the berry plants. It will take a bit more effort to pick them, but at least we will enjoy the berries we've grown!

I had a physio appointment this morning and since the office is directly across from the Bog, I took along my camera and went for a walk after the treatment. The Bog was empty of people for the first 30 minutes. There have been cougars sighted lately, and so I picked up a sturdy stick and walked with vigor, letting my stick trail in the pathway or swish the grasses. Making noise tends to scare off animals. 

Daisies bloom in clumps among the tall grass. In some places the grasses wave about my head, and arch over the pathway, creating flowing, wispy tunnels. 

I caught a glimpse of two deer in a clearing just off the path. They stood silent, still, watching me very carefully. My first view of them was through the waving grasses and the photos taken there show clear grass and blurry deer. Just a few steps forward and I was able to get a clear shot of the deer, still so quiet and motionless. 

While walking up the street to our home, I admired my new rosebush - a David Austin Boscobel - pink with just a hint of peach. She's a small bush now, but valiantly producing fragrant roses. There is another new rose beside Boscobel, also a David Austin - Falstaff. He's not quite as ready to bloom, although there are buds forming. 

Into the house to admire the peonies on the dining room table. The light streams in from the corner windows in the evening, when this photo was taken. What's not visible in the photo are the piles of papers and school materials. Just a few more weeks and all that will be cleared away. 

Now it's time to get to work marking assignments and preparing the same for next week. From my window I see puffy clouds and patches of blue. If I am diligent about my work there will be time to spend an hour or so in the garden this afternoon. 

Happy weekend!

May Days at Home

"May and June. Soft syllables, gentle names for the two best months in the garden year: cool misty mornings gently burned away with a warming spring sun, followed by breezy afternoons and chilly nights." Peter Loewer

9 pm. Light lingers long. This evening, for the first time, I walked without a light sweater or jacket. It feels like summer. Beautiful days. Yesterday, Tim and I walked to the top of Christmas Hill. Butterflies flitted here and there, lots of them, chasing each other among the grasses and trees, alighting on the ground from time to time. Painted Ladies, gorgeously designed. 

Radishes are ready in the garden these days. And strawberries. I like the long French Breakfast radishes. They've become part of salads, dipped in melted cheese, and eaten plain. I like them sliced on buttered bread, too, with a bit of salt.

In my mind, a bit of pickle elevates a salad or a sandwich. On Saturday I did a quick pickle with red onions and another with radishes. Ready the next day for whatever takes my fancy. 

The jar holding the radishes is old - my mother used it for canning when I was a child. It has a glass lid and she used to buy rubber rings for sealing. I don't know if rubber rings like that are available any longer. The old zinc screw top still works like a charm. 

Lilacs and bluebells have given way to peonies, ruffled beauties with a delicate, sweet fragrance. There are plenty to come in the garden, and a bouquet of them is opening in the house. 

I found a spot for a new rosebush - a David Austin Gertrude Jekyll. Each evening I observe how the buds are forming and will soon open with the lovely warmth we're experiencing. 

The blueberry bushes are loaded with fruit. I'm amazed at how quickly the plants go from bare sticks to fruit. Spring and summer are so urgent in the garden after the long dormancy of autumn and winter. 

A couple of years ago a yellow poppy appeared unbidden in a corner of my garden. I let it linger and it rewards me with a spot of brightness in what is otherwise a bit bare at this time of year. A lovely bit of serendipity.

Two new little items for my kitchen - a Garlic Store by Mason Cash. It has air vents and a lid with a little hole in it for lifting. The copper oil dispenser is perfect for drizzling olive oil on vegetables for roasting, or salads. I like the shape of both items. William Morris' advice to "have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful" is something I like to adhere to.

Finally, one last rose - this a John Cabot climbing rose that really climbs. I cut it way back each year and each year it rewards me with bloom after bloom. This is the first. 

I leave you with these words by Mary Berry: "Without doubt, without hesitation, I choose gardening over the gym. I can't stand going to the gym. It doesn't appeal to me at all. Give me gardening every time." Ha! Me, too. I tried a gym once, but gave it up after not very many visits. 

Busy Days

And the wind upon its way whispered the boughs of May
And touched the nodding peony flowers to bid them waken
Siegfried Sassoon

 This particular peony is growing in my daughter's garden. Her peonies are in full flower. One of my bushes is the same, but there are more tightly curled buds on other bushes that I'm watching carefully. Peonies are such extravagant bloomers, opening slowly until all at once they show off their frilly layers. 

A few tulips still bloom, but most are looking rather bedraggled. I'm feeling a bit bedraggled myself lately - a combination of wanting to do more than I have time to do, the approaching last 6 weeks of school, not sleeping well, and a few odd events occurring.

I was informed of one odd event through my school e-mail one afternoon, asking the owner of a certain license plate number to contact the office. A student (one of my favourite students) had backed her vehicle into mine. She felt terrible. The damage is not serious, but I've taken the car in for estimates, delivered it to the shop, and am waiting to pick it up. The girl's parents chose to pay privately rather than through insurance, and that's complicated things a bit, too.
  

These days there isn't much time to be doing what I really long to do - work in my garden for long hours at a time or sew on a couple of projects I have. I'm fitting in bits of time here and there and the garden assures me that really, my efforts accomplish little, and it's quite happy to grow all on its own, as evidenced by the little figs forming. I planted a few vegetables and am waiting to put the more tender plants into the ground early next week. 

On Sunday, Mother's Day, we got together with the local families and grandkids for dinner. Mr. Four is sporting a painted Batman mask on his face - his mother does a great job of face painting. The girls' photos were taken on other days when they visited our place. I'm realizing how quickly these little ones grow and change and want to spend time with them now.

Tim's contribution to the dinner was to bring dessert. He offered to buy something, but I have been itching to try some new techniques, so I spent a happy Saturday morning puttering in the kitchen. Palmiers were first, easy because I used purchased puff pastry. Making my own puff pastry is a goal for another day. Earlier in the week I made shortbread mini tart shells and later filled them with orange curd and lemon curd. The chocolate brownies were from a favourite recipe, but the frosting is French Buttercream, made by adding a hot sugar syrup to egg yolks and then slowly beating in pieces of butter. I flavoured it with a strawberry puree. Oh how yummy it is! I picked rose petals from the no-name rose bush that is the first to bloom and sugared them for a decoration. Fussing in the kitchen made me happy, particularly because everything turned out reasonably well.

I'm feeling cheerier already, just for taking the time to write this post. Blogging is something that is falling off the radar, too, and I'm not posting, reading, or commenting nearly as much as I'd like to. Tis the season!

Time to do some stretching and head to bed. Things always look brighter in the morning.

Now in the Garden: Mosaic Monday

It's always a bit of a thrill when the garden begins producing. One evening this week I thought I'd go out with a small bowl and see how many ripe strawberries there might be. I ended up returning to the kitchen for a bigger bowl and filling it to the brim. Sweet and juicy strawberries are a great way to kick off almost-summer.

Then I pulled up a bunch of radishes. I got mine in late this year; usually they are the first thing to harvest. 

To go along with dinner last night I paired the radishes with cucumber, fresh snipped chives, and a simple dressing with olive oil, white wine vinegar, salt and pepper. Crisp and delicious. Bring on summer food!

My potting bench needed a serious tidying up, so that was done this weekend. I cleaned up the paperwhites from Christmas (still in their glass containers), scrubbed pots, threw away old plastic pots, and swept off the bench. It looks much better now and is actually usable for potting, not just for throwing things onto. 

The stars of the garden just now are the roses and peonies. I'm torn between clipping them for the house and leaving them in the garden. Fortunately, there are enough to satisfy both places. 

I've been talking to the roses and peonies out in the garden, complimenting them on their showiness. I do it quietly as I wouldn't want the neighbours to think me entirely batty. 

A day or two ago, I heard my neighbour talking: "Good morning, Mrs. Robin," she said, "I can hear you singing your pretty song." 

Instantly, I felt better. Do you talk to your garden or the wildlife that happens by? 

Linking with Mosaic Monday, hosted by Maggie of Normandy Life. 

The Romance of Peonies

They're blooming now, heavy, many-petaled heads that fall forwards. They should be tied up - perhaps over the weekend. These deep pink peonies are of the no-name variety; they were here on the property when we moved in. I've moved them and divided them and they have rewarded me with more blooms each year. 

The paler version is (I think) Sarah Bernhardt. How I love these. They remind me of romance - delicate, exuberant, full of careless joy. 

Since I knew we would be away last weekend, on Friday morning I cut a blossom that was just about to open into ruffled glory, put it into a glass of water and placed it in the fridge. What joy to return home to a peony blossom that seemed to have not aged a whit over 3 days. Here it is now, impossibly lush.

There's a promise of more to come. Fat buds of possibility nestle into pale petals.

Because peony plants can bloom for up to 100 years, they are symbols of marriage, but also of royalty and honour. Whatever their meaning, I'll enjoy their all-too-short season in the sun, or as the case is today, in the rain. 

edited to add: Things are a little rough in our extended family just now. Tim's mother is not doing well at all, and there are serious health issues in so many directions that it's hard to keep them all straight. It's a bit overwhelming, to tell the truth. My garden calms me and turns my thoughts to prayer. I'd appreciate prayers for Tim's mother, and for others I've not mentioned specifically. Thanks.