Rob O’Dare and his friend, teacher/librarian Yvonne came by on Monday. Rob had just become a Canadian citizen. He had also made me an iron sculpture particularly appropriate for a former bookshop garden.
I have some book pages I may add to the one the creature seems to be contentedly [...]

Never have the flowers been so bright and tall – hollyhocks, lilies, chicory, daisies, black-eyed susans, scarlet bergamont. With fewer beer cans in the middle and not as much trampling as usual for the front garden. Fingers crossed.

My front garden at the end of April is above

Just over a month later, it looks like this! Yes, I know how it works but if ever there was proof of magic in the world – here it is. All those whistles and skyrockets, buried underground, just waiting. Who wouldn’t want to find [...]

Someone held a cigarette lighter up to this particular renku in my spring garden on the corner. As a form of criticism, it leaves a lot to be desired. Was it this verse on the front, sent me by Sandra Stephenson as an academic offshoot of rengu or this one I love on [...]

You can see the contrast if you go back to spring and summer photos from the same door on my earlier blogs. Obvious season changes is the reason a lot of people love the north country. Real markers. A couple more weeks and there will be no leaves at all around the door.
I took the [...]

Once the Bergamont was gone, the garden used to be all about sunflowers. But since nearly all my space is half-shade, they didn’t thrive. Now I only have a few multi-headed replants courtesy of the squirrels & birds, around the edges.
Eleanor, from Hamilton, drove 6 hrs to bring me Ecinasia (spelled phonetically at the [...]

This is the last panel from the Sunday comics yesterday. The New Adventures of Queen Victoria, by Pab Subgenis, a truly brilliant cartoon which features the enterprising Queen in a variety of motifs. In this she is discussing the palace garden with Queen Elizabeth the first.
I am going to post this [...]