Another Spring!

Can't believe it's been so long since I posted!  What can I say?  I've taken on quite a few volunteer roles this year and they do keep me busy.  But I love it...wouldn't want to be bored!
But things are wrapping up and the garden is waking up and I'm so excited.  I love spring!  And this year spring has come so early!  I estimate that the garden is about a month ahead of schedule.  Of course, crazy Calgary... it was snowing last week, but yesterday we had record breaking heat!  It was 26!  And we have our first blooms!  And the rhubarb is up!  I'm very excited!

 

Of course, the garden is only just waking up.  But the kids are having a blast.  It's been so warm I am tempted to treat myself and get a few annuals to brighten things up.  Even if it gets cold again it'll be worth it.  I'll only get cold tolerant ones like pansies or snapdragons.  I'll let you know how it goes.

Time for the compost!  And I have a project going on in the front yard...more in the next post (I hope).

Ahhhhh! It's fall!

We had our first frost!  I can NOT believe the summer is over!  Not only that, September is over!  Where did the time go?  I'm in a bit of a panic to get everything done these days.  Everything seems to take longer than I thought.  And I was worried that I would be bored when the kids started school, so of course I volunteered for a whole bunch of random things and now I am definitely not bored, quite the opposite in fact.  Well, I guess that's how it goes. 

But, here is my summary for the summer...plants did good, loved the peas, beans got the better of me, LOVED the new Lee Valley watering system I set up.  And that is pretty much it! Happy fall everyone!

Shadow Shot Sunday #1

Hey, here is an interesting idea that I found from the Crafty Gardener.  And she has linked back to Hey Harriet.  It's about taking a cool shadow picture.  It hasn't been very sunny here lately, but we were lucky enough to get a few hours this afternoon.  I liked this picture because of the shadows within the leaves.  It is a lupin bud, grown from my husband's grandmother's seeds.

A Father's Day Adventure at Big Hill Springs

Happy Father's Day everyone, especially my own Dad and my DH.  Hope everyone is having a great day.  For our bit of family fun we decided to go on a short hike up to Big Hill Springs Provincial Park.  It is quite close to Calgary and the hike only took about an hour, which is about as long as my four-year-old can handle.  It is a great hike with lots of cool rocks  and water to play in.  We also saw lots of wildflowers.  I thought it would be fun to share and see how many of Alberta's wildflowers I know and maybe get some help with the ones I can't identify.

A cool picture of the Tufa - carbonate deposited by the calcium-rich spring water

 the spring water

 Star-flowered Soloman's Seal:

 Cow parsnip (wild rhubarb)?

 Western Canada Violet

 chickweed?

 lovely little ferns growing in the moss

 Canada Anemone?

 yarrow?

 

Western Shooting Star