A busy, busy week

Last week was a full slate of activities. Monday's bike ride with the Roaming Riders took us about 8 kms south of Brantford to the little village of Mt. Pleasant with The Windmill Country Market as the final destination. "A touch of Europe" according to its ad, has a breakfast, lunch and a coffee bar with freshly baked goodies that are difficult to resist. Cinnamon bun for Bob, a date turnover for me. I have no resistance whatsoever....The ride back was relatively easy with the wind behind us but Bob managed to have a flat tire to make the trip more eventful. Two couples stayed with us; the guys pulling out their tools while the ladies took turns telling previous flat tire stories. One lady actually kept the piece of glass that blew her husband's tire! Where was my camera when there's a photo op?

The local Diabetes Association chapter, along with various pharmaceutical sponsors, had a public symposium entitled "Diabetes Management and Stress" one evening. The 2 keynote speakers were both effective and provided an excellent program. I've been out of nursing for less than 2 years and I was quite impressed with the new information that's out there!

As members of the Royal Botanical Gardens, we were invited to a presentation about the newest garden featuring native species at the RBG. As it happens, the major donor for the Helen Kippax Garden is a Brantford resident and niece of Helen Kippax. Coffee and hor d'oeuvres convinced Bob to come with me but we both enjoyed the evening.

Who says there aren't free entertainment?

A Taste of RBG Sanctuary Trail

What a gorgeous day! After being indoors for an Auxiliary meeting at the Nature Interpretive Center at RBG this morning, I came prepared to take advantage of the 20 degree weather: I hiked part of the Captain Coote's Trail. The trailhead is right at the NIC so I just traded my clipboard for my hiking shoes and off I went. The pictures here are just a taste of the wildlife sanctuary at RBG.

Vivid yellow

The weather had been perfect to clean up the garden today. Wouldn't you know two daffodil buds finally opened up and provided a perfect photo op! The yellow just brightened up the north side of the garden.
First blooms among the daffodils this Spring.


After checking the Brantford weather, I felt that it was safe to set the seedlings out overnight in their transient home: a portable "greenhouse" from Home Depot. I had been letting them soak up the real sunlight when the temperature was conducive to do so. Like a mother hen, I'm worried that 4 degrees may be too cold tonight. I might just throw an old sheet over the greenhouse
A cozy little greenhouse for the seedlings.

Work and Learn Adventures

There are a lot of opportunities out there to volunteer one's time and talents. Sometimes one doesn't even have to look for them; they just fall in one's lap.

Bob and I had our share of work and learn adventures in our previous church, FHUC, for example. Bob chaired the Property Committee and Annual Auction. I chaired UCW (United Church Women) for a couple of years, taught Sunday School with my hiking friends Shirley and Glenna, convened Chicken Barbecue Dinners, Turkey Dinners, Apple Pie Making, Gift Boutique with my friend Judy, and assisted my friend Marg with her Church banners. For me, those years were most productive and rewarding: learned a lot, laughed a lot, met some incredible people and made a lot of friends while my self-esteem greatly improved . How I miss those friends! But a new church offers just those same opportunities so, off we go again.

Being a Master Gardener in Training has also opened up lots of new adventures for me. Besides being a member of the Brantford Garden Club, I also joined the RBG Auxiliary. (View the Quick Time video at this website.) For starters, I help in the Potting Shed to pot perennial seedlings and bare root species once a week under one of the huge greenhouses. (I can't help but drool over some of them but I exercise self control.) We are getting ready for the Annual Plant Sale on May 1st and 3rd, so, there are lots to do!

As a keen hiker, I joined the Trail Watchers as well, conducting basic trail safety inspections and educating the public about the nature sanctuaries. With more than 23 kms of nature sanctuaries throughout the RBG grounds, I'm looking forward to hiking the trails and invite my family and friends to come and join me.

Being exposed to nature and the camaraderie of other gardeners is like having a mini vacation so I absolutely love being involved in these new endeavors.

Gardening is a Crime

Our local public library has a number of recommended reading lists in different genre. I picked one up the other day; it's called Gardening is a Crime. I couldn't resist so I investigated. The list consists of authors including Susan Wittig Albert, Kate Collins, Kathy Lynn Emerson, Anthony Elgin, Janis Harrison and Ann Ripley. I have taken out 2 books of the latter author: Mulch and Death of A Political Plant. Whoaa..with titles like that I just had to check them out.

I just finished reading the second book; both are light, fast-paced and definitely for the gardeners. Instead of a dictionary, I had my little red book called What Grows Where in Canadian Gardens- 1,000 tried-and-tested plants for every site, soil, and usage at my side. It's incredible how much I learned about plants just by reading the 2 books. Mulch was first published in 1994 and this author has written others in this series (check out the link above) so, I'll start reserving the rest today. The stories have uncomplicated plots with recurring characters so, they are perfect when I start getting busy outside. Two days later, I can easily follow the story without backtracking who's who- for me, that's a bonus!

Rainy days are fun days

For a change, no Easterly sun crept around the curtains to wake me up today so, naturally, I slept in!

After a leisurely breakfast of oatmeal and raisins with lots of cinnamon (yummy!), I headed down to the basement to check on my seedlings.The little pots are drier than than the larger ones as expected. Then, I noticed that the beets didn't look too happy: they where spindly and flopped on their sides. (This reminds me of Michael when he was a kid- he flopped around when he was throwing a tantrum as well. But, I'm digressing...) So, then, I had to transplant them to 3" pots....

To date: the Roma tomatoes are the tallest - almost 5" tall. For comparison, the bottom picture shows the cherry tomatoes on the right . The rest are just lagging behind because they are not as close to the light source as the Roma tomatoes. Note the aluminum foil "awning" I've added behind the plants to reflect the light.

Three hours later, I was still in my PJs. (I just quickly put my coveralls on over it!) Bob had been to & from Hamilton to buy a part for his model airplane from the hobby shop, then went out again to find out about his CPU's prognosis which he took in to the computer hospital yesterday.

Ahhh, see? when it's raining out, there's no rush to go out anywhere. There's no shortage of fun things to do around here: indoor gardening is just one of them.

Simple Abundance

Way back Christmas 1998, my children Valerie and Michael gave me Sarah Ban Breathnach's Simple Abundance, A Daybook of Comfort and Joy. I must confess I didn't make it beyond the March chapter (the bookmark still sadly wedged in place). At the time, Bob and I were a part of the sandwich generation as we struggled to look after his ailing parents long distance. One would think, with the stress and ongoing distraction, that I would have embraced what Simple Abundance had to offer. Well, I discovered that it doesn't work that way. To experience it, one has to be present; I was obviously "somewhere" else.

Now that I am exploring my authentic self once again, I reclaimed this fascinating book. I am trying to adapt as much of the joyful simplicities as I can cram in a day: a cup of hot ginger tea, enjoying a bite of dark chocolate and letting it just melt in my mouth, curling up to read a book, going for a stroll, sitting out just watching nature that surrounds me, or watching a child play... The trick is not in the "doing" but in the "being", I learned. It is this self nurture- without hesitation or guilt or fear that lifts my spirit and "stay connected".

Perhaps some of you have been enjoying simple abundances all along. If not, why not?