Sunshine came softly

Enjoying the morning sunshine much as is this delicate orchid in the window of  my in-laws' house on l'ile d'Orleans in Quebec. Am also getting acquainted with what my new tablet can do.

Special effects thanks to a combination of Instagram and Pixlr.

A Matter of Daze

Today I am dazed and confused by the raging blizzard outside the windows of my east coast home.

Winds gusting to over 100 km/hr. The world a snowglobe being shaken by a hyper-kinetic poltergeist.

Snow is heaping in impassable drifts on the driveway as the world outside appears and disappears in swirls of white.

And yet mere days ago, on the other side of the country...

my farewell walk around the neighbourhood presented tiny daisies in green grass,

an improbable palm tree proud of its curb appeal,

streams rushing with the promise of spring,

and an elderly couple taking a leisurely stroll

 along the beach, as I basked in the warm afternoon sun.

After enjoying an unusually dry and sunny winter in Vancouver these past four months, I find I have arrived back to my east coast home in time to experience what is being described as the worst storm of the winter, and this after one of the coldest and snowiest seasons in years.

At least the wood stove keeps us feeling cozy as the old house groans and strains to withstand the force of the roaring winds, and we know that eventually spring will prevail.  Won't it??

Give us this day...

our daily bread,

pear, lilacs...and artfully crafted containers to put them in.

Taking a moment to appreciate the simple pleasures of everyday life.

(pottery by Wendy Johsnton; bread by Pierre)

Lilac Time at Last!

Our white lilac trees have burst into bloom

and the first bouquet of the season appeared in a vase on the kitchen counter, 

gathered by the man of the house.

Definitely time to stop and smell the lilacs...

although their perfume is not as heady as the purple variety...

they are, nevertheless, quite intoxicating with their subtle scent and delicate beauty.

No matter white or purple, colour me happy!

If wishes were lilacs

No sign of flowers here as yet...though spring finally seems to be in the air...

I'm dreaming of lilacs to come...

We have several lilac trees in our yard, but no signs of buds, let alone leaves.

But one of these days they are going to POP!

As well as offering you this humble bouquet, I'm adding it to the Friday (and all weekend long) 

Floral Love meme

hosted at Mona's Picturesque blog. 

Do stop by and smell the roses there...

and all the other lovely posies on view.

Leapin' Lupins!

I thought I should laud the lovely leggy lupins that came leaping across the land last month, though alas, they're now beginning to lag.

This batch was spotted in the Laurentians, north of Montreal.  Doesn't that old fashioned fire-hydrant make a colourful sculpture in this wildflower garden?

This one is doing her best to imitate the fire hydrant.

The hot pink and lime green make a bold fashion statement.

You may have noticed that I like colour.  I like my photos to snap, crackle and pop with high contrast and bold tones.  There is a vogue that I've noticed for very pale, washed-out effects, which I do enjoy seeing in other people's photo editing, but it's just not my style.  

These pictures are about the life force of the flowers;

how they leap out at passers-by and demand to be appreciated.

But even in their bold brightness, 

they maintain a delicate softness.

Forgive me for waxing lyrical here.

Taking part in Flower Art Friday

The Forgotten Garden

Although spring is taking its own sweet time arriving here, one of our houseplants is doing its utmost to make up for the lack of blooming in the great outdoors.

This orchid cactus was given to me as a modest cutting from the luxurious plant owned by our neighbour, Mrs. M. When we first moved here some 20 years ago she gave me a tour of their house, the first of only 3 visits I would ever pay to her home.  In an upstairs room dedicated to plants, I stood in awe of the beautiful flowering cactus plant, the likes of which I had never before seen.  

I am not a gardener, but Mrs. M. was quite devoted to hers and I'd often see her outdoors in the early spring, down on her hands and knees, tenderly digging in the earth around her plants.  She was already at a rather advanced age, but very hardy and forthright.

In the early summer, Mrs. M. would put her big cactus orchid out on her front porch and I would gaze at it in envy as I passed by each day on my way to and from the village post office.  Our own plant would, over the years, flower sporadically: some years with great exuberance, while others with a lackadaisical air, and some years, not at all. 

 But Mrs. M.'s was always glorious, as were the flowers in her garden.

A few years ago, I realized that I hadn't seen the cactus orchid out on Mrs. M.'s porch for some time.   And then it occurred to me that I  hadn't seen Mrs. M. herself out in her garden for probably a summer or two.  

You know how it is, one goes along in one's own little bubble, absorbed in the daily cares and concerns without really paying attention to the external world.  A sort of soft focus of the outer sphere of existence while fixated on the inner.

And then one year, in conversation with another neighbour, I learned that Mrs.M. had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's and had been moved to a nursing home.

Her flower garden sits neglected now, and no plants appear on her front porch, although a riotous burst of brilliant blue flowers erupt each spring along the borders of her yard.

I have no way of knowing whether or not Mrs. M. has any memory of her garden or her love of gardening.  For her it is, perhaps, a forgotten garden.

But I will remember Mrs. M. each spring that my orchid cactus blooms.

* * *

This post is partly inspired by Bonnie of Pixel Dust Photo Art who suggested a theme this week of altering a photograph to illustrate (no matter how abstractly) the title of a favourite book.  Recently I've been reading a novel by Kate Morton called "The Forgotten Garden."

The last photo in the series above was altered with one of Bonnie's textures, "A Splash of Gold."

To Cheer My Maritime Friends

Here it is the end of February, the time when friends and family living in Vancouver (Lotus Land) phone their loved ones back east (anywhere west of the Rockies, basically, but I'm speaking particularly of the Atlantic side of the country) to chirrup with delight about the snowdrops being up, to crow about the crocuses popping up all over lawns, and to trumpet about the daffodils blaring their golden presence into the world while the east still shivers under deep blankets of frozen snow.  Well friends, this is the scene that greeted me this Leap Year morn

Yes, the view from my bedroom window at the end of February, I admit it.

The little island between this shore and the opposite remained clear of snow

but the trees on the hillside were well and truly
 sugar-coated (though still a bitter pill to swallow).

I guess there were some beings even less amused than I was by the crystallized world,

such as this host of golden daffodils, seen LAST WEEK in Vancouver's west end.

This is how it's supposed to look around here in February.

Seems I've got to take the bitter cold with the sweet warmth of the daffs.  After all, I will be returning east in a few week's time so I guess I need to start getting my chill on again.

Meanwhile, I'm heading south for a few days.  No need for beachwear, though, as I'm only going as far as Seattle where the weather is pretty similar to here.  

Umbrella and sunglasses all packed.

See you soon.

Giving Thanks

Today is the Canadian Thanksgiving.  The cooking turkey has been producing a heavenly aroma for several hours now.  I have made my special cranberry chutney and prepared the Brussels sprouts, although I am the only one who actually likes those miniature green cabbages.  I think it's from having been forced to eat them as a child  with each Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner, as tradition would have it.  Chef Pierre is making a lot of noise in the kitchen with the final preparations.  The table is set, the wine at the ready.  All that is missing are the guests, who will be here soon.

 Oh yes, and one other missing item: a centrepiece for the table.  I am not much of a Martha Stewart type, really.  I don't recall if I've ever made a centrepiece to put on the table.  So I am borrowing this autumnal beauty from my friend Jacqueline who created it for the scrumptious and sumptuous dinner party she hosted a few weeks ago.  Yes, I am presenting a virtual centrepiece.  The dinner guests can look at it on my computer screen.

.

I'd also like to take this opportunity to thank all the kind people whom I have met through blogging, as well as my real life friends and relatives,  for coming to visit me here to partake of my humble offerings

In the Pink

A very pleasant day in Vancouver this past March was spent wandering through the West End with an old friend, each armed with our little cameras and fuelled by a shared enchantment with the pink confetti falling all around us from the cherry blossom trees.

We were accompanied by the vociferous and squirrel-obsessed Arabella Hound.

No squirrels yet but the sniffing is good!

It was a bit chilly that day, but I imagined how lovely it would be to sit out at one of these street tables in the middle of summer, coming downstairs from my little apartment, if I still lived in the west end.

All the flowers, trees, and shrubs transform what could be a concrete jungle

into a charming and welcoming neighbourhood. 

You can see that family's do make their homes in this densely populated condoland, as evidenced by a father and daughter out together for an afternoon walk.  (Note the daffodils blooming in March, just the way things are supposed to be!  They've begun popping up out here on the east coast in recent days.  But lucky me--I get to experience two springs!)

This looks like a grandfather cherry blossom tree, or maybe a grandmother--I can't tell them apart.  At any rate, I think that's enough pink candy flossing for the moment.  We wouldn't want to have too much of a good thing now, would we? Besides, Arabella is getting anxious to find some squirrels. 

Cherry Blossom Pink

When I was in Vancouver a couple of weeks ago, the cherry blossom trees were blooming.

To see a "haiku'd" version of this photo,

please drop over (to) my Ragzedge blog.

(more coming soon...I just needed to crawl out of that fish tank

I've been floating around in for the past two posts)

Got My Gloat

One reason the rest of Canada hates southwest BC, particularly around this time of the year:

(Yes, VirJIMia, the crocuses are up!)

There's just nothing more annoying than those smug phone calls from west to east or north exclaiming, "The crocuses are up!" while the rest of the country is still digging out from 4 months of accumulated snow.

Right now, the only type of snow Lotus-landers have to deal with is of the Snow-drops variety.

But to be fair, I have to report that the daffodils are late this year due to a "bad" winter, involving a bit of snow from time to time.

Please don't hate me!