Time Travel

Ottawa South is in the throws of a sizzling hot spell and prolonged drought. No appreciable rain has fallen here for months. Lawns are brown and crispy. My vegetable garden is pretty much a write-off -- with the exception of my tomato plants which I keep watered.

Despite the harsh conditions, my late mother's peonies are now in full and sumptuous bloom. Their bouquets are short lived but transform even a modest home in to a palace. As I bury my nose down into the blooms and inhale their delicate rosy fragrance, my mind time-travels back to my childhood. I hear metal clinking on metal as my father tinkers with some repair or other in the barn. I hear a cow bawl for her calf. In the distance a neighbour's dog barks. Barn swallows twitter and swoop to their mud nests in the tractor shed rafters. Uh-oh, I hear a familiar call from the house. "Flow-w-rinse. Florence!" Mom has a chore for me. Quickly back to 2020 reality.

Fresh bouquets of peonies grace my kitchen window sill. Thank you, Mom.

The white ones are my favourites.

The wonderful fragrance of this pink peony would rival any rose.

I can picture this magenta beauty pinned to a lady's frock at a garden party.

An evening or so ago, cat roomy Ellie May called my attention to an interesting scene. Jenny Skunk was spending considerable time and care in gathering up grass cuttings in front of my little garden shed. She was rolling the dried grass into a bundle with her body and tamping it into place to close up the entrance to her den. She's apparently starting a nursery and wants to keep it's location a secret.

Remember the old saying, "About as welcome as a skunk in a chicken house."? Well, times have changed. Mom used to raise chickens in that little building and I now enjoy having this mother skunk around.  Baby skunks are simply adorable and Jenny and I are on good terms.

The small cut out between door and window was for a chicken ramp.

Jenny Skunk used dried grass to reduce the entrance to her den under the building.