A Cardinal, a sparrow and a male goldfinch sat down at the bar...

A Cardinal, a sparrow and a male goldfinch sat down at the bar..., originally uploaded by Our Enchanted Garden

I don't know what the Sparrow said to the Cardinal but everyone else in the shot sure looked interested!

This bird feeder can get quite busy at certain times of the day, but all seem to get along while they share dinner!

Happy 6 month Birthday Rachel

Happy 6 month Birthday Rachel, originally uploaded by Our Enchanted Garden

A fun little e-card I made for my youngest grand daughter.

It sure is fun being a grandma - I'm loving it!

Humanity in it's entirety viewed as a speck of dust in a sunbeam!

The person who clipped this news item said; "This made me stop and think. Wow!" I'll second that comment - amazing how perspectives can paint a very different picture!

clipped from www.smart-kit.com Powerful words by Carl Sagan If you look carefully at the NASA photo below, you will see a little white dot. This minute speck is Earth seen from the Voyager 1 spacecraft as it exits the solar system, nearly 4 billion miles away. The photo was taken back in 1990. Look again at that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every “superstar,” every “supreme leader,” every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there–on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam. tec

New Blaze in an old Fireplace

New Blaze in an old Fireplace, originally uploaded by Our Enchanted GardenI've seen people use all sorts of things for planters, this old wood stove gets a third life as a planter with fiery red and pink flowers to simulate flames! (It's second life was as a backyard fireplace that we used for years, it's first was as someone's indoor wood stove!)
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Sometimes recycling can be fun and can create whimsical new uses for old discarded items.
I've seen people use all sorts of things for planters, and I've found it quite inspiring. Here an old wood stove gets a third life as a planter with fiery red and purple-pink flowers to simulate flames!
It's second life was as a backyard fireplace that we used for years and recently replaced with an old airtight we can cook on. It's first was as someone's indoor wood stove!

A very lucky gift indeed!

100_1765dragontext, originally uploaded by Our Enchanted Garden
Can you see the dragon visiting in the garden? It's a very lucky gift, indeed!.

What pleasant surprises we've encountered in the garden over the past week!
Noticed last Saturday - which was 07-07-07 - our garden companion here has been growing and spreading along the fence.

I hope to develop some fun artwork from a series of shots I've taken and see what I might be inspired to create!

With great thanks to our lucky dragon from some very lucky gardeners!

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

July 1st 2007

Happy Birthday Canada

Happy Birthday Canadians







A lovely first Day of July to all!

Navajo Prayer; We Walk With Beauty

Often as I walk I remember this prayer. It gives me a sense of connectedness with the universe that is reassuring. Day to day activities can often over ride our own sense of security and safety. This prayer helps me reaffirm that we are all here for a reason and that all is well within our world despite the sometimes painful illusions around us!

clipped from www.care2.com Walk With Beauty Traditional Navajo Prayer. Simple Solution: printer friendly version Here is one of the most profound prayers--one that can grow on you and provide deeper meaning over the years--about seeing and feeling how embraced we are by the Divine, and showing that a way to find healing is to return to this beauty and really open all your senses to its embrace: As I Walk With Beauty As I walk, as I walk The universe is walking with me In beauty it walks before me In beauty it walks behind me In beauty it walks below me In beauty it walks above me Beauty is on every side As I walk, I walk with Beauty

It's Time To Plant The Annuals

Cool Hardy Plants brighten an old barrel with cherry yellows, purples and blues!

Now that the Victoria Day weekend has arrived (Canada's first long weekend of the summer season) it's safe to begin planting seeds and annuals in the garden. It's unlikely, but still possible, that we'll get frost in the early mornings now.

With the official arrival of this first long weekend the summer rituals begin! It's time for backyard barbecues, camping, biking, fishing and hiking and of course gardening!

Here we've planted an old half barrel with pansies and placed a cheery yellow mum in the center. The setting sun adds an interesting light element to the photograph.
We'll add a few other flowers as the weather gets warmer and the pansies start to go dormant with the heat, knowing they'll rejuvenate when cooler fall temperatures arrive.

Our strawberry plants have bloomed profusely this week and provided the bees do their busy work we'll get a good load of fruit this year to enjoy.

We'll be heading out to the garden nurseries tommorow to look for some pretty specimens to add to the perennial beds and dress them up a bit. Perennials are a favourite of mine but they do have limitations because they bloom for a short period of time. Mixing a good selection of perennial plants that flower at various times of the year is the best way to ensure a constant display of colour. Adding anual plants to the mix gives some constancy as most will flower continuously from now till the first frosts in September or October. (Or even later in the fall given the way the seasons have been over the past few years!)

I'll be back with a few more shots a bit later, want to catch some shots with the light of the setting sun. When the sun is rising or setting the light it displays is very special and adds an incredible depth and tone to most photographs. I'll get out with the hope of catching some surprises - but first there's a hockey game to watch... I want to see who from the Western Division is going to end up matched up with the Ottawa Senators, the Eastern Division champions, in the Stanley Cup Finals! Spoken like a Canadian, eh?