Merry Cherry Maker!

So very glad to see the honey bees in the garden busy pollinating our fruit trees, planted this time last year. What a pleasure to watch the development of fresh fruits in the back yard! Nature's spontaneity and abundant synchronicity are the "magic" that is the very fabric of existence. Here is that magic in action; the ant and the bee and a mass of flowers to explore with random, wild abandon. Yet most of the flowers seem to be successfully transformed into tiny cherries, despite the lack of any apparent plan! We humans can learn so much from that!

The Apples Begin Showing Off Their Adventures!

Sweet Signs Are showing in the garden! Sweet and tiny still, these buds are set to explode into a bright and fragrant show of beauty unfolding. The magic and miracles of life and rejuvenation on display for all to enjoy and appreciate with gratitude. Life on this fair earth is ever changing and striving to reach its full potential!

*testing, this was an old draft I forgot to post - want to see where it turns up on the blog page...

In The Garden These Days

On Thursday afternoon 4-2-09 we had a nice preview of the warmer weather to come; this shot documents it, just for fun showing the temperature at 10 C, at 1:50 in the afternoon. This was in light shade! (Ah, promising! More please!!!) In my last post I had mentioned the birds had begun their nest-building in the garden. We have a few home-made houses on the front of our little barn, you can see the grass streamers in one shot, the other has a male sparrow perched on the uppermost birdhouse. It's still too early to do much in the garden, other than cleaning things up. With rains keeping things wet I find it best to avoid trying to work the soil. It's difficult for me to be patient at this point in the garden's season. I surveyed the yard to see what will need attention soon and noticed our little statue had lost her head. When I tried to replace it she looked a bit odd! Frankenstatue?

Life In The Garden Returns - No April Fool Here!

A favorite early spring flower of mine, Blue Scillia opens just a week or two after my neighbors' little white Snow Drops. They send the clear signal that the ground is warming and our bulbs and perennials will soon start popping out of the ground. A bonus that it marks the beginning of April - we'll likely have blooms in the garden in time for the upcoming long weekend. Like Crocus, these tiny flowers multiply through garden beds and lawns and finish flowering well before the grass will need cutting and can be mowed without consequence of damage to the plants. Something else that's showing life in the garden are the young fruit trees we planted in late April last year. They were already flowering when they went in the ground so we are experiencing the early spring transformation of these trees for the first time. we have two Cherry trees; one is a sweet red cherry and the other, a sweet black cherry. They are accompanied by a lovely little peach tree that I just adore blooms on! Can't wait till I get shots with the Canon I bought last summer, the macros are much better than my previous camera even though they were good too! Macro photography and gardens go so well together - the close up images really help show off delecate blooms and details you might otherwise overlook. Insects are also interesting subjects, as are toads and mice if you can get them to sit still long enough! The peach buds surprised me by being fuzzy just like the fruit that will grow from them. A borring bit of trivia perhaps, it is true too, the cherry tree buds look different. Their outer casing is smooth and, oddly enough, reddish brown! I even double checked to be sure. Ah, spring! The birds and bugs are getting active. Nests are being built in the birdhouses, evidenced by fluttering streamers of dried grasses and old morning glory vines dangling from the little round doorways! Most of Sunday morning in the garden we were serenaded by a good mix of bird songs; crows, blue jays, morning doves, house finches, purple finches, chickadees, sparrows, goldfinches, nuthatches. red winged black birds, robins, cardinals and cedar wax wings. Looking forward to documenting and sharing a whole new season in Our Enchanted Garden!

A Book Cover - View from the Tower

I've been having a bit of fun playing with image enhancements that transform photographs into images that can resemble oil paintings, posters, litho prints, watercolor or even a pastel drawing. One of my hobbies that sometimes results in an interesting or fun image I can use for e-Notecards or Greetings. Here I took a shot of the Niagara River looking from the start of the Bruce Trail toward Lake Ontario, taken in autumn and played a bit to see what sort of emotional feel the changes would create with the image. Of the experiments this is one of my favorites, it's intriguing and gentle. The saturation and gauziness gives the viewer the sense of twighlight approaching. This image would be fun used as a book cover. It would suit a book written about the Niagara River, Niagara on the Lake, Queenston Heights. This would even suit something on a historical line, including General Brock who died near where this shot was taken. It could also suit a story about the Niagara Escarpment and/or the Bruce Trail. Likely it would also lend itself well to a romance, given the softness, the color and the framing of the image. Before all the playing; the image was a nice silhouette of the same view. It would also work for many of the same applications. I was born in this area and love it here. It's surprising that this region is right on the northern border with the US and yet one can only barely see any rooftops above the trees! It's one of the things about the image that is priceless compared to the commercial representations of the region featuring casinos, waterfalls and a carnival atmosphere. There's so much more to Niagara than the flashy tourist attractions; there are botanical gardens, family oriented parks and play areas, historical buildings, sites and monuments. There are a wide range of fresh fruits and vegetables available throughout the growing season from local farm markets. A wide river with Lake Ontario at one end, Lake Erie at the other means lots of fresh water to enjoy recreational boating, fishing and swimming. There are also miles of bike trails and hiking trails to satisfy the dog lover, fitness aficionado, naturalist or birdwatcher in most of us. The Heart of Niagara?... It's her River!

Running Obstacles

Running Obstacles
Originally uploaded by Our Enchanted Garden

Another update on our puppies; still the only things actively growing in the garden!
Mia and Daisy are taking good advantage of the mild weather in our region and getting loads of exercise in the backyard. We practice their leash walking nearby around the neighborhood and we've had a few visits to the park. This weekend we may try some trails combined with a trip in the truck to help them get over their motion sickness. Daisy is getting pretty good at it and I'm sure Mia will come along alright. We want to be able to take them on road trips so it's an issue to deal with ASAP with spring just a few days away!.
Mia is very athletic and acrobatic. We don't have to build much of an obstacle course to amuse her - she finds her own! I'll upload a few more shots tomorrow after work, have to clear my memory card so I can start fresh for the spring season!! Looking forward to some good candid shots of the girls but beginning to realize a digital video camera will be helpful and more useful at times - when the dogs are being quite active for example!

I AM MIA!

Mia Settles In
Originally uploaded by Our Enchanted Garden

Mia is settling into her new home. Mia is our second Jack Russell Terrier and also the second dog we've adopted as a rescue. She is a sweet puppy (only 6 months) and fortunately the only abuse she experienced in her life has been her lack of training or socializing with other animals.
We were very fortunate to be able to acquire a young Jack in such great shape as a rescue. Often this breed is misunderstood and the uninformed human can do harm by neglecting their training and not providing enough exercise. Worse the mistreatment can go on for years creating a dog with personality disorders like fearfulness or aggression and nasty habits like biting, barking, and chewing. They can be seriously overweight or underweight, have dental issues and a host of problems.

With us Mia is guaranteed to be trained and well exercised plus she will be socialized with our Lab puppy Daisy (3 months). Daisy helps with the exercise because they love to chase each other around the yard! Mia will learn the regular puppy "stuff" like sit, stay, down and come. She will learn how to walk on a leash and when she's a bit older she'll learn how to run beside a rolling bicycle and we'll work on some tricks hopefully by the end of summer!

Our goal is to have two well adjusted dogs in the end who will be good companions and guardians for our family. Their unconditional love will help us all through any of the rough edges the outside world seems to expose. Who knows, maybe we'll get the pair volunteering to visit sick kids at the hospital or home-bound adults or seniors or something along those lines! It's something I'll be researching in the next few months. Helping others would be a worthwhile activity for the dogs, giving them a sense of purpose which all living beings thrive well in!

Sepia Daisy larger

to see how large, large is!

Sepia Daisy

Our Daisy is growing and inspires us each day! Watching her grow and learn is a blast. She loves the garden and as she gets to know the neighborhood she'll love it too. There's so much to explore. She's been to the station, walking with John to pick me up after my shift and we all enjoyed walking home in the middle of a February thaw! Towels by the door are a necessity this time of year when walking any animal, the water, mud and grime and salt can make a mess indoors, best to dry their feet, legs and underbelly just inside the door upon entry. She's already used to the routine and has no trouble with cooperating. I can no longer say that our pup is the only Daisy growing in the garden! With the thaw we had in February there is very little snow cover in the yard and tiny young plants, hardy varieties are showing signs of life. This includes tiny daisy plantlets, pansies and early primulas! Only 3 weeks till the spring equinox and warmer weather to follow a few weeks after that! Something to really uplift the spirits is the sweet promise of spring in our enchanted garden!