Sunday Walk

It was cloudy this morning and cooler than it has been for a while. We took advantage of the coolness to walk in an area that has no shade and we hadn't visited for some weeks.

As you can see it's a wetlands park. Lots of ducks and geese on the water and this unusual heron which I had to look up when we got home. It is a Green-Backed Heron, the first time I've seen one.

Kingfishers are not easy to photograph. They take off, scolding as they fly, as soon as you stop to look at them. This one stayed just long enough for me to get a pic.

This female Wood Duck had a number of cute babies. She wasn't happy about us watching her but couldn't fly off and leave her little ones so we didn't look for long.

I'm glad we were able to get that walk in before the clouds drifted away and the afternoon sun brought the temperature back up to what we've been having.  There is a chance of rain this week and we could use it. Here's hoping.

Thanks for visiting.

Granny Marigold

Books

Now, is that not the most unimaginative title of a post ever?
Maybe the heat has dulled my brain. It is so hot that I realized that the water in  the concrete birdbath was HOT. No birds would drink it so I put cool water in and put an ice pack into the water to keep it that way.

Made a short trip to the thrift store to take boxes of stuff  then had a quick look at the books. I'm so glad I did. I am enthralled by this book of pencil sketches and water colour pictures of wild flowers. I'll show just a couple of the lovely pages here.

In the bargain section I picked up this one. I tried to read a Mitford book some years ago and just couldn't get into it. So many of you love them so I'll give it another chance 

Have a great weekend and keep cool!


Granny Marigold

Thrifty treasures and a cosy porch

I visited the thrift store this morning and had a leisurely browse. Didn't find much but that's okay. It was fun.  I did find these cute little bowls. They were .25 each. I also found a Harry Potter mug for my  GD who is a big fan.

I came home with a nice stack of cooking magazines to look through while doing my porch sitting. This is my swing where I spend my free time reading and sipping tea.
This is the 'wrong' side of my old quilt. There seemed to be a lot of sunshine coming through the skylight and I didn't want the right side to fade.   I guess an antique quilt should be protected from the sun completely but I'm determined to actually use my lovely things. If they fade or get broken then that's  okay. At least I'll have the pleasure of seeing them used.

At the other end of the porch is this spot where my DH and I eat our meals in the summer. Unless we're all eating together, then we need the big table inside.  I'm looking for a different round tablecloth for this glass topped table. I'm thinking something blue and yellow would be lovely.

On Saturday we were at a garage sale and I was looking at this slightly faded old box with magnetic closure. The woman whose gs it was said I could have it. She didn't want anything for it because it smelled of lavender  and she was allergic. She just wanted  to give it to someone.  Now I will figure out what to keep in it.

 I know I said I would not buy any more notebooks but I couldn't resist this cute one. I think by now I qualify as a hoarder of notebooks. It was from the same gs as the free box.

I hope you had a pleasant Tuesday. I know I did.

I always love to read your comments.

Granny Marigold

This and That

Today's post will be a bit of everything, starting with this quote from a favourite author! I've been doing quite a bit of both reading and eating lately.

I know you'll forgive me for including another picture of the awesome clouds we had last week. I didn't take this one but I wish I had.

At the grocery store the garden center was marking down the leftover plants. I got these 2 Daylilies for .79 each. They are blooming but being the amazing photographer that I am I didn't get the blooms in the picture.
Later I went back to buy the last remaining Daylily and that one was now .35. I did buy some assorted Coleus for really cheap too.

I have had this old fountain for years but didn't use it. DH drilled some drainage holes in it and I  planted some bits of other plants and hopefully they'll all flourish.

I've mentioned that many of my Lilies didn't make it through the winter. Two Stargazers did make it  and I  brought them in to enjoy.

The last week of July and it is going to be a hot one. I foresee a lot of watering ( and probably watering restrictions by the end of the week).
Keep cool,


Granny Marigold

Clouds

Last evening my youngest son was on his way to the grocery store when he spotted these amazing clouds and came right over to get me outside to see them.  So glad he did.

I wondered what causes clouds to be red, orange or even peach-coloured. Here's what I read:

Just before sunrise or just after sunset , light rays from the sun follow a longer path through the denser part of the atmosphere near the bend in the earth's surface near the horizon. Most of the blue light is filtered out and only the longer wave lengths are left... first yellow then red.  That's why as the earth rolls away from the sun, presenting a thicker atmosphere for light to penetrate, the colour  of the clouds changes from yellow to roange to red.

          You probably already knew all this but I found it very interesting.

The above pics were taken to the East while the one below was in the Western sky.

Happy Friday!!


Granny Marigold

A Fence and some Fruit

Can you believe two posts on consecutive days?  I'm amazed myself!

I wanted to show you my DH's latest project. So we have this big dog who will not cross over a low fence and since I don't want him lumbering around where he shouldn't be ( in my flowerbeds)  we have had wooden fences for years. Now they are getting shabby and we thought we'd try plastic pipe  ( inch and a half white water pipe from the lumber yard)and white plastic chain which will attach with large cup hooks. This should make it easy to unhook the chain and give it a wash from time to time.

                            Old fence with Japanese Anemone September Charm  starting to bloom behind it.

              The beginning of the new fence. As you can see the chain is just held with clamps for now.

                      Cherries have come down in price so we bought another 20 pounds.

While at the fruit stand we saw over ripe peaches for .59 lb so I picked some with the idea of making a peach crisp but once I had them cut up I realized they were so very ripe I'd be better to make jam. So I did. 4 little jars.

Okay, I'm off to the porch again. When I'm not in the kitchen or out in the garden everyone knows just where to find me.


                Granny Marigold

Flowers and a Couple of thrifty buys

                                My pots of Petunias are pretty happy so far.

We used to have Perennials Sweet Peas growing near this spot and some are popping up in odd spots. They are all shades of pink so far. I know they'll want to grow 8 to 10 feet tall so I won't be able to find tall enough stakes for them here. We'll see what they'll do.

                           The Zinnias are blooming...

             ....and the Rudbeckias and Nasturtiums.

                               This red Dahlia is quite happy in this sunny spot.

Enough about flowers.  I went to the thrift store this morning and while there I checked the apron drawer like I always do. I found this very sturdy apron with three big pockets that I am going to use as a gardening apron. Now I can carry the tools I need with me as I garden..

I also found a different purse. I had bought one recently but even before I put my wallet and other stuff in it it was very heavy. Also it had short handles so I couldn't put it over my shoulder.  This one might not look quite as nice but will be more practical. One of the wonderful things about thrift stores is that if you make an unwise decision you haven't wasted more than a couple of dollars.

Well, I'm off to sit on the porch swing.  Hope you're having a good day.



                            Granny Marigold

Cherries and Camping

Summer time with all the lovely fresh fruit and vegetables makes me happy. Yesterday we bought a 20 lb box of gorgeous big almost black cherries.  Tomorrow, if it doesn't rain, we'll go blueberry picking one last time.  Last night I made a delicious veg soup with our own green beans, bought carrots ( the kind that still have their tops attached) and new potatoes. Yumm.  I use Summer Savoury in my veg soup and I find without it it just doesn't taste right.  I only found 3 volunteer Summer Savoury plants in my garden this year.  Must let one go to seed and shake it around a bit to have more next year.

As I mentioned in my last post DH took the grands camping.  They love being by the river and even though the water is very cold they like walking through to the other side.

Hikes are always fun. A cane for DH and a nice walking stick for the little man.

Here the girl is about to cross the river. She took sandals to protect her feet. Wise decision.

                A tired out grandad enjoying a quiet moment by the camp fire.

Hope you had a great day.   


              Granny Marigold

Housework

How do you feel about housework?   Do you have some sort of schedule whereby you "get it all done"?   Or are you more apt to wait until the house looks like a disaster and then clean?
I fall more in the first category  and in winter I don't mind doing what has to be done but in summer I want to be outside not inside cleaning.  Another thing about housework that I resent is that it truly is never ending. Floors you wash on Saturday will very soon be dirty again. Same for dusting... and laundry...

I grabbed some fun pics off the internet. Hope you enjoy them.  I love how the women washing dishes seem to be enjoying themselves.  Maybe this first woman represents most of us.  (Doesn't this first pic make you think of Lucy in I Love Lucy?)

My DH painted these shelves in the livingroom yesterday. They are usually full of assorted family photos. When I took them all down I could see that I hadn't dusted under them for a long time.  The main reason they needed painting was because the picture frames I have are all metal and the metal had left black marks on every shelf. So this morning I tried putting a coat of clear nail polish on the part of the frames that rest on the shelves.   Hope that does the trick.
(As you can see some of my Christmas things stay out all year long.  Just in case you wondered!).

Making meals is part of housework, isn't it?   So this  might qualify as having done some housework. DH picked up the flat of eggs at the farm where we normally buy them.  I love the extra large ones that we get.

Now that I've had a chance to sit for a bit and get rested I'm off outside again. The sun keeps going behind clouds but they are the fluffy summertime clouds and not the kind that bring rain. At least I hope they don't because DH and the grands are going camping tomorrow.

Thanks for visiting today.   I enjoy your comments so keep them coming!!


                      Granny Marigold