First Harvest

How wonderful to witness the land awaken from her winter's snooze. Each of her flora and fauna appearing at their accustomed time.

 

Pretty Spring-Beauties and a wee beetle beastie.

 

 

Free for the picking (with leather or plastic gloves), wild stinging nettles are now at their tender best to make a tasty and protein rich boiled green. I also enjoy the water they are cooked in as a tea. They contain calcium and manganese, which promote bone health. A wise food choice given that I do have osteoporosis.

  

A lovely crop of nutritious and delicious nettles.

Yummy nettles and battered cod. Disappointing Betty Crocker scalloped potatoes.

 

 

The brown thrasher is back and happy to find that my property still has plenty of brush piles to forage around and for nesting in. He's a member of the mockingbird family which is evident when he sings his melodious, mimicking birdie phrases. Usually from a tree top.

 

At a glance he is quite hard to see amid brushy surroundings.

In this pose, he reminds me of a road runner.

What a talented 'cover' singer!

 

Here are a few more April snaps of my wildlife neighbours.

 

The craggy, shaggy profile of a raven.

Looks like a lease has been signed for Number Ten.

A male Yellow-shafted Flicker foraging on the lawn.

A blurry snap of a kestrel, our smallest falcon.

A couple of bunnies speaking body language.

 

 

Funny how an item can pass muster for many years, then suddenly scream out that it is completely the wrong colour for its setting! Demanding a repaint! 

My grandfather, Roy, was a carpenter and built many things from barns to boats and everything in between. Decades ago, I had painted a little cabinet he made in a very dark, high-gloss green and the handles in silver. Last week I decided the colour was much too dark to live with. So I gave it a makeover with much lighter paint and handles in black. (Wish I'd thought to take a 'before' photo.) I also penned an inscription on the back for future generations to read.

 

I'm still enjoying the relaxing pastime of knitting. Over winter I made a good supply of comfortable wool socks. So I decided to make some cotton blend ones for summer. The yarn is 72% cotton, 18% polyamide and 10% polyester. Of course for really warm days, bare toes in sandals is the ticket.

 

Ankle and heel finished, foot and toe yet to be knit.

April Fooled On Earth Day

April Fools Day is weeks in the past and in fact, today is Earth Day. But it is still April and I was fooled just the same.

Tree swallows are back and swooping around their nest boxes. I knew I had better get a move on and clean the mouse nests from their boxes. Perhaps this is the year Eastern Bluebirds will again try their nesting luck here. So this morning, I hoisted my bird house cleaning kit and set off to the far reaches of my property. On my two hour trek, I did not see any sign of the hoped for bluebirds. However, I did imagine I could hear snatches of their soft melodious warble. On my walk back down the lane towards home, all was revealed. I'd been punked! The bluebird song was interspersed with other bird sounds and even -- this really astonished me -- a rendition of a dog owner calling "Come he-e-ere, come he-e-ere, come he-e-ere. Good boy-y-y, good boy-y-y, good boy-y-y". High up in an Ash tree, I saw that it was a Brown Thrasher performing these clever impressions. Sometimes you just can't believe your own ears. Canada has talent!

A Brown Thrasher belts out a convincing medley of sounds from other species.

He takes a performance break to explore a brush pile.

A squirrel has enlarged the entrance to another bird box.

A lovely Earth Day to sit by a stream and enjoy the sights, sounds and scents of Spring.

... waitin' round the bend, my Huckleberry friend ...

Only one of my two honey bee colonies survived the severe cold of last winter.

Both native and honey bees are visiting my patch of lawn crocus.

May -- Whats Not To Like?

As usual, May has been a delightful month.

Baltimore Orioles, Rose-breasted Grosbeaks and Gray Catbirds are feeding at the grape jam dispenser. They are on their second jar of the treat.

Meanwhile the garden is already productive. I've been lunching on garden asparagus, and boiled wild nettle greens. Also, rhubarb is in season and I've been using it to make sauce, cold drinks and pie. I make pretty good bread (even if I do say so myself) but my pie crust certainly needs improvement. It's tasty enough but much too heavy. Perhaps the next time I'll try using shortening instead of butter.

The Royal wedding was a special viewing treat. The pagentry! The lovely frocks! The celebrities! The sumptuous flowers! The music! At least a quarter of my ancestors were from England so I do feel a strong connection to the U.K. Yes, Prince Harry and Meghan were gorgeous but for me, the beautiful horses were the stars of the procession. Windsor grays and Household Cavalry horses groomed and tacked to perfection. Wonderful! And those frosty glasses of Pimm's looked so refreshing.

I did find it interesting to see so many elegantly dressed and hatted ladies, tottering riskily on very high and thin heels during their long walk to St. George's Chapel. Many were clutching their escorts' arms for safety and studying the path ahead for imperfections. In contrast, the elder royals, in their nineties, strolled unaided and easily along. I guess fashion and vanity prevails today as it did for me, long ago.
 

The Baltimore Orioles are already on their second jar of grape jam.

A female Ruby-throated hummingbird has journeyed far with those long wings!

A Brown Thresher belts out a medley of the songs of other birds.

Spring-Beauties and a wee beetle beastie.

Let the cheerful bouquets begin!

The wonderful fresh scent of laundry, courtesy of the sun and gentle breezes.

Young nettle tops make a nutritious boiled side-dish green.

My rhubarb pie. Tasty but I really need to improve my pie crust recipe.

I hope this prevents "Your car was there but no one was home."