It seems like I either have nothing to blog about or far too much to blog about. Right now, the latter situation applies. Renos, garden, dogs, flowers, bugs, birds, local characters, blackberries, walks, interesting photography opportunities, old boats, funny thoughts. The photos and stories are piling up. And up. And up. I'm just too lazy to post them. So I will keep today's post to just a few, and save some more for another day. Without any new material, I think I have enough to post every day for the next month or so.
The renos are supposed to be done, but testing out the new range hood resulted in a clang-clang-clang that could be heard from here to Timbuctoo. (
Yes, readers in Timbuctoo, that WAS a range hood fan you heard clanging!). And the stackable washer and dryer which needed highly technical modifications that only the appliance dealer could do, has now been stacked by them with - ready for this? -
duct tape! Yes, that is all that is holding the dryer to the top of the washer. And a foot of aluminium foil ductwork is protruding from the top of the dryer to the ceiling of my new kitchen, in plain view like a messy closet door left open. I am not a happy camper and this is not satisfactory. I can honestly say there are NO good businesses on Vancouver Island. The lack of professionalism and pride in one's work here is my one pet peeve about where I live (well, that and the people who don't pick up their dog poop!).
So, in the interest of maintaining my sanity, I have been playing with the cameras. Here's a few of my recent favs with no particular story behind them:
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| Yellow flowers raise their faces to the clear blue sky |
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| An unusual spider hangs from the flower basket on the back deck |
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| Young pole beans through a sprinkler in the morning light |
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| Grasshopper on a stucco wall |
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| Mighty big, rather scary Ten-Striped June Bug |
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The garden grows
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And I think these next two are my favourites for this batch:
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Harvest from my garden
The corn was AMAZING!
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Octogenarian, fig-growing, harmonica-playing George.
One of our colorful Crofton characters,
Often found on the Sea Walk or near the ferry terminal.
A great guy to chat with! |
And speaking of photos, if you are heading through Crofton on your way to Salt Spring Island, or just live around here, check out the galleria at Lito's Cafe. You'll find my photo cards on sale there now - all proceeds to the Cowichan and District SPCA. At the moment, I've limited it to images of Crofton, as others are offering shots of animals and flowers but none focused on our beautiful piece of paradise.
Beautiful Piece of Paradise. Well, except for that Bad Business thing. And I take that back - the people at Lito's Cafe are awesome. So is the food and coffee.
4 comments:
More nice photos Jean.
I'm not familiar with the beetle bug.
The lack of professionalism on the sunshine coast was pretty shockingly dreadful also. .. unbelievable really.
(when I was renovating my house there)
Wendy
Your spider shot and George are my favourites :) Are those BLACK beans? I've never seen black beans before. How do you keep your garden pest-free? I've given up growing vegies and herbs because they all become snail fodder.
GLP, those are actually purple-coloured beans, a bush variety called Royal Burgundy. I'm also growing some purple pole beans called Blue Lake. The neat thing about purple beans is that they turn bright green when you steam them!
As for pests, the biggest challenge here is slugs, but the raised beds really seem to cut down on that, though I have given up planting lettuce because of them. When the slugs are bad, I sprinkle a line of salt around the pots or beds. Other pests I try to control with companion planting and natural repellents - hence the marigolds in some of the raised beds. They seem to keep most destructive bugs away, without discouraging the bees.
Beautiful pictures as always Jean.
Your garden looks amazing.
Else
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