Saturday Photo: Out the Door, School Is Coming....

...and Jeanne just turned six!

It was a week of birthdays: Lukas on Monday, Stuart on Tuesday and Jeanne of Friday.  So last weekend they all were over to celebrate along with Thomas who'll be four Sept. 9.  Great fun!

And tomorrow Jeanne will start Grade One.  How time flies, to repeat a truism. 

Saturday Photo: Reflections on a Summer Day

This is the pavillion in the middle of one of our local parks.  In the winter it's closed up and is used as a place to warm up when you're skating (the circular pond becomes a skating rink.)  This time of year there are tango dancers and other activities. 

But I like it best at the beginning and the end of the day when the light is low and the reflections are lovely.

Saturday Photo: Back to Giverny

Reading a book about Monet and his garden at Giverny, and I'm transported back to one of the loveliest places I've ever been.  We've only visited in May, so I'd love to go back in another season.  Like right now: high summer!

But given all the stuff I've got to do between now and the middle of September, I think I'll just have to get to work.....Another year, perhaps.

Saturday Photo: Ducks Again...

There have been years when there have been at least three duck families cruising around the ponds in Outremont.  But last year I don't think I saw any--bad timing, bad year for ducklings, better pickings elsewhere

This morning, though, I saw two families in Parc Pratt, just kanoodling around, bum in the air parat of the time, looking content at whatever goodies they found in the dirty water.  The immature birds looked big and healthy, so this must have been a good year for them.  Didn't see any  ducklings earlier on, so perhaps Mom and Pop are taking the young ones on a tour to show them the possibilities for later on.

Saturday Photo: Red Day Lilies Showing Their Colours

I find myself getting confused when reading about Red States and Blue States in the US.  The Reds are  Republican and the Blues are Democrat, which is just the reverse of the political line up in Canada.  Here the Liberals are Red and the Conservatives are Blue....not to mention the NDP's orange.

So what message is this day lily sending?  Simply that summer is one heck of a time to obsess about politics.  But I can't help myself.

Saturday Photo: Raspberry Moon

There seemed to be a flurry of comment about last month's Strawberry Moon. Seems Native Americans in the North East States and Canada called it that because wild strawberries were ready for picking then.  Last month's was special, those who care about such things said, because it coincided with the solstice. 

This week the full moon was extraordinary, and according to The Old Farmer's Almanac, it's the Full Buck or Thunder Moon.  The former apparently refers to the fact that male deer start growing their new antlers: who knew?  The latter seems to me to resonate more with us city dwellers.  Certainly we've had thunder storms several days this week. 

But if June is the Strawberry Moon, then July could be the Raspberry Moon.  They're at their peak around here right now.  Delicious!

Saturday Photo: Day Lilies for Difficult Days

A long time ago my son had to take a class that when I was an adolescent would have been called Home Ec (the only advance in his day was that both boys and girls took it.) 

One of the units was on home decoration (!) and a colour wheel was given with what colours were good for what purpose that the kids were supposed to memorize.  I forget what they all were, but I remember that blue was supposed to be calming.

So, there was a test and one of the questions was: your friend is very upset about what's happening in his life and can't sleep.  What colour would you suggest he paint his room?

Lukas answered "yellow."  His reason was that yellow was such a cheerful colour, his friend would feel better.  The teacher said no, the answer was blue because it was restful. 

Lukas was furious and so was I, but he was of an age when he was starting to fight his own battles so I don't think I intervened. In the end he got
part credit because his reasoning was good, as I remember, but I think his point is very well taken: yellow is cheerful.

Given the long string of sad and troubling news this week--the Nice craziness, attempted coup in Turkey, Trump and Hillary neck and neck in the polls, and the list goes on--we're all in need of some cheerfulness.  So here are yellow day lilies which conveniently are in bloom in my back yard right now in hopes that they will make you feel better enough to continue the fight.

Saturday Photo: In Clover...

When something is going good, you can say that it's in clover.  Certainly thing are not going in the world these days, but it's nice to know that clover still is growing in the most unusual places.

This was taken in a corner lot that had been left to go to ruin--only I don't think clover looks bad at all.  Hope no one cuts the grass--although the smell of fresh cut clover is delicious.

Saturday Photo: A Beautiful Immigrant...

The fields along the CPR track through Mile End was full of dancing blue chicory (Cichorium intybus) flowers this morning. A lovely sight. 

The plant, of course, is an invasive import from Europe.  Some have used it roots for a coffee substitute, and apparently it makes good forage for cattle.

But mostly the plant has escaped along the roads of North America, colonizing waste spaces, beautifying urban and rural landscapes. 

Like so many other immigrants, it has made its place here.  Thank goodness.

Saturday (or rather Friday) Photo: Fête nationale and Brexit

This is what our house looked like yesterday, with our Quebec flag unfurled. The grandkids were over and we put it up together.  They don't know the political import of it, but for me this is a sign that we belong here just as much as anybody else. 

Not all of us are Québécois de souche (although grandson Thomas Édouard has ancestors who arrived in the middle of the 17th century from France), but Lee and I chose to live here and the grandkids and their parents were born here or (in the case of Jeanne's father) also chose  Quebec.

This reflection comes as the British are trying to come to grips with what they did on Thursday.  People, it seems, didn't really believe that  Brexit would pass.  Can't understand how people could vote to leave without considering the implications.  But apparently that's what happened in many cases.

Now, there may be good arguments for leaving the European Union, but just because you're angry is not one....

Saturday Photo: Summertime and the Grass Is A-growin'

Summer won't arrive officially until sometime tomorrow, but that hasn't kept the grass and weeds from getting away from people. 

I'm always of two minds about overgrown, shaggy spaces. A weed, after all, is just a plant growing where you don't want it, right?  And my own approach to gardening is what I call Darwinan.  In other words, what grows, grows.  Sometimes the unplanned array of flowers is truly wonderful.

But then there are yards where people have opted for grass and yet who don't do anything about what grows there until it becomes a grass fire hazard.  With just a little thought they could have a low maintenance yard that is a delight for birds and butterflies and also is easy on the eyes  too.

Saturday Photo: Gate into Summer

The photo was taken a week or so ago, before the trees fully leafed out.  But I think it shows nicely where we are headed--toward summer.

Thanks goodness...

Saturday Photo: Chestnuts in Blossom, Paris under Water

The song says:  April in Paris, Chestnuts in Blossom.  That's true as far as it goes perhaps, although when I've been there in early May the chestnuts were always lovely.

They don't bloom until late May or early June here, and now I'm pleased to report that they are lovely right now. 

What I'm not so pleased about is the way the Paris is being submerged in flood waters.  Not so surprising, I suppose: the location was originally chosen because it was on easily-defended islands in the middle of the Seine.  But the recent photos I've seen have given me a little wrench because so many of them show places I've walked completely covered in water, like this pathway along the Seine. 

Saturday Photo: Flowers for Wedding?

It's called bridal veil, I think, and this week its flowers are cascading gracefully everywhere around here. 

Several of the trees on the street were cut down early this spring as a measure to slow the progress of emerald ash borer.  The jury is out over how effective that is, but one thing is certain: the plants which just got on underneath the trees no better than they should have grown immensely.

So this is a good year for bridal veil and honeysuckle.  What that means for weddings and etc. I don't know.  Any ideas?

Saturday Photo: Holiday, Just When We Need It

I've run this photo before. It's of the flag used by the Patriotes in 1837, when Canada had the nearest thing to a revolution that it ever had.

This weekend we're celebrating the Patriotes, while the rest of the country is celebrating Victoria Day.  Interestingly, she took the throne in 1837, although her attitude toward the rebels demanding a say in how they were governed was not at all positive.

I'd much rather celebrate wanting a vote that counted than a girl who stayed on the throne for decades.  But when the weather is warm, as it is right now, I suppose any excuse to enjoy the outdoors is all right.

Satuday Photo: After the Spring Rain

The roads aren't in great shape--the legacy of bad planning (probably) and a winter with a roller coaster of temperatures that turned the freeze and thaw cycle to new heights.

But Saturday morning after a heavy rain, the potholes in the lane were little lakes reflecting the progress of spring.  A few trees are nearly completely leafed out, but many are still in the early stages.  A long way to go before the growing season is really upon us, but there are many promises to be seen.

Saturday Photo: Yello to Match the Sun

First nice weekend this spring.  Really lovely.  Going to do a barbecue for Mother's Day (Lukas will be doing the actual barbecuing, of course.) 

Saturday Photo: Forsythia

Next up: forsythia.  The first week in May is the week when the trees leaf out here.  While the last week was pretty cold, with temperatures below freezing several mornings, the little leaflets seem to be plumping up nicely.  So with any luck by this time next weekend there will be the lacey tracery of leaf shadows falling on the ground.

In the meantime, the forsythia is beginning to come out.  Love the colour.  Yellow rules...

Saturday Photo: Resistance, Plus a Slide Show

Always is nice to see how the force that through the green fuse drives the flower (as Dylan Thomas put it) continues to work. Here's a photo I took, plus a slide show that is truly lovely.

Saturday Photo: Scylla Here and in Chicago

Took this a few years ago when I was in Chicago when the scylla was in bloom.  This year the firsts ones are shaking their little blue heads and spring begins.

Other signs of spring: people whizzing around on Bixis which went into service at midnight Friday, kids asking their parents for ice cream on a lovely Saturday afternoon, and me trying to remember what I thought I sould do in the garden this spring.  So much for keeping records: I may do a good job when I'm reporting/researching something, but I always forget that I mean to plan out the next year's garden when the memories of the last year's one are still vivid.