Blooms At Night

Our mystery flower bloomed this evening.

Although it may be a kind of evening primrose, I still have not been able to match it up to any pictures and names on the web. As you can see, it is a 4-petal flower atop a slender and leafless stem. The leaves are long and narrow, and form a rosette at ground level - much like a dandelion.

Whatever it is, it is fascinating to watch!!

Summer's Half Over Already!!

Where is the summer going?! Wasn't it just yesterday that we had the longest day?

Here are a couple of this summer's photos from Oma's point of view - - - - -

I'm so glad Petra loves baby dolls too! She got two dolls and a teddy for her birthday.

From my grandaughter's birthday on one day, to my mother's birthday the next day. And my daughter-in-law's birthday was the same week, too! In this photo are my aunts and two of my cousins with two of their children, with my parents and John, at my parents' home at Riverpark Place.

We starting to wonder whether we should make a swimming pool or - a mud spa - instead of a sunroom; we've had so much rain! Not only did the rain fall into this year's hole, but all the run-off from the hill ended up in the hole, too!

David and Stephanie are having their turn with home improvements, too. This ceiling went from ivory to white with this application of paint.

In the midst of the busy-ness, we've been marvelling at this awesome flower. It goes from being a tight bud into full bloom in a matter of minutes - sometimes only 30 seconds! - but it blooms only at night! But we can't identify it! Dad and Mom G. got it at a local plant sale where it was described as a "moon flower". But looking it up on the web, we've discovered that it is not really a moon flower.

There's no end in finding projects to do. Naomi and Petra enjoyed helping their Daddy while he repaired the patio steps.

There's always time for a game of Settlers when these kids gather!

Does Aunt Em need a little practice?

Mud baths and bubble baths - we've got it all!

A Busy Life . . .

When I last wrote, Michael had arrived home for a few days. Specifically, he came home to attend Karin and Braden's wedding, which was quite lovely, and the dinner and reception was a lot of fun.

He also spent a little bit of time on the tractor. It seems that one of the (fond ?) memories of our boys is about Dad's yearly hole. Well, here is this year's hole. Grandpa and Grandma G. are having their house raised and they are getting a new sunroom. There's a lot of mud with this hole, too. Living at the bottom of a hill means lots of water after a rain - and we've had some good down-pours!

In between days working for Kriska, holes in the yard, and taking my parents to the "farm", I've finally managed to clean up my back garden. The lavender and campanula glomerata (!) look lovely with the Stella D'Oro daylilies. I'll have to keep that colour scheme in mind when it comes time to redo that garden's wall.

Here are Tante Nettie, Tante Ans and my Mom while at the "farm" last week. Tante Nettie is visiting from Amsterdam for a few weeks. We'll have to plan something special for Mom's birthday in Ottawa next week!

And while life has been so busy, the inside of our home is a little neglected. On Monday morning, Petra gave me a hand with these shelves . . . .

So, yes, all in all, it's been very busy this last month or more. I've heard it said that life goes faster once you're over the hill - it certainly is true for me!

Coming and Going.....

We had an adventure today - Naomi and I went to the Ottawa Airport.

Naomi was very fashionably dressed in her ballerina dress over t-shirt and capris. (You know you're an Oma when . . .)

While at the airport, we went upstairs and downstairs, using the "elevator" stairs of course, watched where the baggage rolls down to be loaded on to the plane, saw a magazine with a cow on it, received a colouring book about the airport, watched the activity outside, saw a couple of planes just like the one Naomi flew in with Uncle Martin, saw a waterfall INSIDE the building, checked the arrivals sign board a few times, and then . . .

Uncle Michael arrived!!

Voila!

We flipped over the stones today, and I removed the leaves and veins from the grooves. They turned out quite well! I discovered the reason for working on sand: the plastic should be pulled up around the edges to round them and then the sand should be piled up against the edges to hold the cement in place. I also discovered that the cement should not be applied right to the edges because it will seep underneath. But for the first try at this, I'm impressed with our handiwork!

Birthday Fun!

Sunday was a busy but wonderful day. Both sets of parents, Stevin and Katrina and their girls, and Mark and Tanya and their crew, all joined us for the afternoon. We had baked potatoes and barbecued sausages and salad for lunch, and of course cake and ice cream made their appearance and disappearance as well!


Shannon and Naomi enjoyed dressing up, hiking down to the lake, and also provided us with background music . . . .



Petra found a new friend!




Devin and Brent kept busy with biking, hockey, eating and running around as they usually do, and Lisa waited a long time for her cup of afternoon tea!

I have been wanting to make rhubarb leaf stepping stones, and now that Stevin and Katrina have 2 huge rhubarb plants in their new garden, we'll be making several! On this sunny, Sunday afternoon, they surprised me with bringing the materials for the first three! This picture shows us putting on gloves in preparation for handling the cement.

All in all - a very satisfying sort of day!

The Colour of Spring is Joy

So how would you describe the colour of spring? I think I would say it's the colour of joy.

Last week Tuesday, I took my parents into Ottawa to look and marvel at the blooming city. The daffodils were done, the lilacs were just beginning to open up, the cherry trees were just coming into their peak, the apple trees were at their best and so were the tulips.

We stopped in at the Arboretum, and then the Gardens at the Experimental Farm. It's amazing how many shades of green there are! Spring certainly makes up for the lack of colour in winter. Although, if you really look, there are many shades of grey in winter!

I have seen magnolia bushes and trees in bloom in Georgia, and I think they are quite beautiful. I would really like to try growing one in my yard.

This is my favourite photo of the day. I would like THIS variety of magnolia in my garden!

This past holiday Monday, Mom G., Grace and I visited an English style country garden a couple of concessions over from here. Talk about a riot of colour! Smatterings of different tulips and daffodils mixed in with many other spring-blooming plants! This garden also had a couple of magnolia bushes, as well as a magnolia tree. This means that magnolias are definitely in my plans!

season of . . . . .

It's a beautiful sunny day out there, today! We have spring again: tulips and forget-me-nots and grape hyacinths and dandelions and lilacs are all showing off their beauty.
With the advent of a new season, our family is now in an advent season too. This Oma will have a new little one to cuddle in November! Martin and Emily are expecting!
Along with getting ready for a new baby, there will be a lot of changes going on in our family: Martin and Emily have possession of their new house and are planning an extensive renovation in order to "flip that house"; Stevin and Katrina are moving this week and will do renovations, as well, in order to "flip that house"; David and Stephanie are moving at the end of the month into her parents' basement in order to save up a couple of months for their move sometime this summer: but Michael is still out in Alberta - although Laura is moving to Calgary in June!
As one of my friends stated: I certainly have nomadic kids!

springtime

One of my favourite things to do is gardening. Last fall, I started making a new one - David and Steph were here on Labour Day weekend, and they were enlisted! Now I am anxiously waiting for the transplants to come up. I'm happy to say that I see most! Anything else will be a surprise!

The soil is loose enough to work in, and I've done some adjusting along the property line. Our neighbours are moving, so it's a good thing to pull in now rather than adjust afterwards! I also have put Martin and Emily's birdbath into a place visible from the kitchen window - it sure looks nice there. I'll either have to move my birdbath or buy another one when they claim their's for their new house!

One of the new bulbs I planted last fall were these "scilla" - otherwise known as English Bluebells. They are a very pretty blue colour, and although there are only 6 of them this year, they present a bright note of cheer.

sweet spring

I had hoped to make regular posts, but time has simply flown by! Easter came and went, and houses were bought and sold....Never a dull moment!

John and I tapped a few maple trees a week and a bit ago, for the first time in several years! There's nothing like the smell of syrup as it bubbles in the pan. So far, I have bottled 13 pint jars of really nice clear, light amber syrup. The flow has really slowed down with the coming of higher temperatures, indicating the end of syrup making with darker syrup, but the colour of the last bottling is still light amber. So sweet!