Catching Up

Well it's been quite some time since I've written a blog post! As I mentioned some time ago I wasn't sure how much time I could set aside for blogging as my situation has changed with my work. Obviously, there has been next to no time for blogging, and I quite miss the contact with all of you. But life is what it is and nothing is going to change for me anytime soon I'm afraid.

I finally got my income taxes filed away for my home business, which is always weighing on my mind come April! Now I can finally enjoy the beautiful weather that has taken its time in arriving here in southern Ontario. It's been a very long cold winter, and a very long, cold spring. Last week we had snow. SNOW!  It didn't last more than one day, but it was disappointing to see it covering everything when I got up that morning. Sheesh! There was some nasty hail last week too, and that pelted my husband's big wooden Muskoka chair a bit more. This chair have taken a beating from hail over the last few years. I store it in the garden shed over the winter, and only just brought it out two weeks ago, obviously just a bit too soon :[

Lots of little indents from damaging hail

But since Tuesday ... glorious weather at last!! The sun has been shining, the temperature has risen above 0C, and I even sat on the patio yesterday afternoon ... ahhhhhhh .... bliss! 

Out in the gardens, flowers and shrubs are putting forth a gallant effort to bloom despite the extended periods of cold this year. I went out this afternoon and snapped a few shots of what is showing at the moment.

My only hyacinth ... fairly sad looking I know.

The lenten rose tucked under my kitchen windows ... I didn't even realize it had bloomed until I was outside. I'm always happy to see it again as it was once a gift from me to my mother. She planted it along the edge of the wooded hill at her home. I brought it home with me after she passed away.

Another of Mom's plants is the Virginia bluebell. The squirrels moved it a couple of years ago, but I'm happy to see that it is still coming up regardless. I don't have any other flowers blooming, the rest of the garden part of this post is just green.

Bleeding hearts are one of the first flowers to come up from their long sleep. I get so many coming up that I have to rip out quite a few each year!

One of a couple of peonies. I haven't even been out to clear out the debris from winter yet. I like to leave a lot of stalks of flower heads out for the birds. This winter the little birds enjoyed the black-eyed Susan's right through the winter. The stalks don't look so pretty, but  most of them were covered in deep snow, and only the flower seed heads were visible above the white drifts.

My mossy stump (Amy!). Not looking so good after the winter, but I have hopes that it will recuperate with a bit of watering. The squirrels and birds seem to have dug in it while foraging for food through the winter.

The black currant bushes are looking good already!

My favourite lilac bush is budding up :)

And so are the lilacs from Mom's garden. I can't help but mention my mother when talking about my garden. She was such an avid gardener and loved her plants like little children. Picturing her in her gardens all through the spring, summer and fall is how I remember her best. Having her plants come back is a very sentimental thing for me. I'm glad most of them survived because I really don't have the skill and dedication to gardening that she did!

The iris have come back fairly well. I lost a few of these beauties last summer. I think ants ate the roots, but can't be sure. I want to move them out of this garden to the front where they are doing really well. This back garden becomes too shady for them later in the summer.

So that's most of what's happening out there in the gardens. Not too thrilling. I have to get out there and clean up the gardens soon! Hopefully the weather will hold till the weekend. A visit to my dad at the nursing home is overdue (missed last Saturday), so I'll be there on Saturday morning again. He could do with some outings in the spring air himself, but we have to scout out a good wheelchair for him (he had two ... both horrendous!). Always something to keep us busy :)

I've been working on some knitting in the evenings, and have got almost one side finished of another cable cushion cover. 

This one is in denim blue, with a fussy Celtic cable pattern in the centre. I have to keep track of every row I work on, and I can't knit on it if there is even the slightest distraction or I mess it up! But I really like that cable, and it's going to look great with my other knitted cable cushion I did a few months ago.

And that's me sort of caught up. My daughter is home from university for the summer, and my son is home from high school thanks to the teachers' union forcing teachers out on strike!! How I hate this strike. It's been going on for the second week now, and it doesn't sound like the teachers are going to listen to the governments offers at all. I'm only thankful that my son is not in his graduating year. I can only imagine the anguish the graduating students are going through. Sadly I think it's the union leaders who are pushing this, I doubt the teachers themselves are enjoying walking the pavement all day long for reduced pay. Such a frustrating situation.

I hope everyone is doing well, and that this gorgeous weather is being felt by my blogging friends scattered around Ontario! I have to run now, so I hope this post is error free and makes some sense as I don't have time to proofread it! Thanks so much for stopping by to have a read, and hopefully I'll be able to visit most of you soon :)

Wendy