Holes of Despair in the Sidewalk of Life?

I can see I've been away far longer than I'd imagined and summer is unfolding quickly in the garden with the warmer than usual weather we are getting this year. Back in April we were playing with computer hook-ups and rearranging our front office and since then our land line phones and both cameras have gone on the blink. A current drought of cash flow doesn't make me any happier, and has required me to look at things from fresh perspectives. Sometimes this is best, despite any frustration it sets off in my experience.  Challenges such as these are that which can be opportunities in waiting. The trick, as has been discussed in the garden before, is to watch for the magic to unfold and to allow the change of perspective, the fresh approach to a reoccurring issue be the catalyst for creativity.

This quote came to my e-mail this morning, in many ways it is a simplification, yet so is life when we let it be!

If you had one goal, and that was to feel good, you would never again need to hear another word from anyone. You would live successfully and happily and in a way of fulfilling your life's purpose ever after. 

--- Abraham

Sometimes I still have to remind myself to watch for the magic, sometimes I need to remember that the tougher things get - the greater the opportunity for life's miracles to unfold. Like anyone, sometimes I forget and I can fall into holes of despair in the sidewalk of my life. Some of those holes are very deep. Climbing back out of many holes can take time and determination. Some are simply small pitfalls that trip me up, they can slow me down when I've pushed too hard and when I need to remember to allow! 

So I am trusting that I can overcome any current pitfalls, I am trusting I can manage to keep my website and associated domains up and running, that computer connections, phones and cameras will begin to cooperate and that once I find the right mortgage broker to talk to we'll get things in place in a way that allows us to move forward once again. And - I'm hoping I can pull it all together this week! Yup, it's a rough sidewalk, it is pock marked and cracked and uneven and full of pot holes.  It's the path I've chosen for whatever reasons and I desire to continue exploring the potential it seems to beckon me with! (...the path less traveled, the beat of a different drum, the unconventional...)

Garden updates will be a bit more challenging for me as we make it through this transition and I will try some YouTube videos using my laptop web cam - that will likely be the easiest way to provide some visuals. Perhaps even the garden will have something to say when I film it. I'll do some test runs in the garden today and if all goes well tomorrow I will have something fun for you to see and possibly to hear as well! 

Stay tuned for that!

With love,
...from the garden

More shots of April Flowers #OEG Life returns in vibrant abundance!

So here are more shots to document what's blooming and when for this year 2010. Things are quite a bit earlier than last year too! Got some great shots!

The Sweet Cherry Tree

The Daffodil , frontal

Primula, pretty!

Wild Violets near the Compost

Sweet Violet is aptly named!

The Blue Scilia are nearly finished

Finally showing off it's finer details!

These are baby spinach! growing in a planter box on the deck.

And here's the mesclun mix I showed in an earlier post, should be about 2 weeks to harvest now!

So much is happening quickly all around the garden. A new pile of topsoil was dug, delivered and dibbled up this afternoon to cover the damage caused by the dogs, then more lawn seed applied. Supposed to rain next day and a half but not enough for the seed so we'll be watering every other day until the grass gets into good shape! The hyacinth are getting ready to bloom, irises, peonies and other plants are barely raising their heads yet! Thank goodness for the enclosure John built! The dogs don't mind at all and they're less likely to lose their ball!

I hear the Osprey are back at Guelph Lake and getting set to nest at the roadside so we'll be out and about for some shots there soon, depending on weather. Those amazing fishing birds are probably setting up shop at the Shan Dam on Lake Belwood too! Wish me luck!

 

 With love,

...from the garden ;-)

#OEG Our Cherry Trees are blooming!

Here's one of the first shots taken this afternoon of the blossoms that opened this morning!
It inspired me right away to apply it to a card design. Also got me thinking about the potential for pretty coordinated sets specific for weddings, maybe even some ideas for attendant gifts and favors! This could be fun and some of the images I manage to capture just seem to want to be used somehow!

I'll add more photos for as long as I can handle being away from my editing tools!

So up close and personal you can almost smell the cherry perfume;

I call this one Edgy!

This one Peachy!

And this one Details!


Lots more life to share still, the garden is exploding into life, including our veggies, be back soon!



With love,

...from the garden  ;-)

New Spring Gallery opening! #OEG

Spring!
It's really setting in now. Birds are nesting, some chicks like morning doves are already hatched, plenty of other eggs have yet to be laid. I love the spring and there seems to be something new and beautiful in the garden every day.

I've put together a Spring gallery of images at my Blogger site. You'll find a link to it near the top of the blog home page. The link is also built into this post's title. I'll build the gallery to include some of this spring's shots as they come along, currently it features some favorites from last spring.

Some of these images, and other favorites have also been utilized to create products like note cards, t-shirts, Keds shoes, fridge magnets and aprons. Check them out at our Zazzle Gallery ; Our Enchanted Garden

Your support of our work is so very appreciated. Words cannot express the joy I feel when I've learned a special image had touched a heart and triggered pleasant memories for someone. We endeavor to share our shots and our thoughts as a sort of therapy for our world. Nature and the natural world we live in is far too often overlooked and discounted.

Noticing the nature around us, appreciating and even encouraging it to flourish are the first steps in what we can each do individually to help our world.  Our world is an enchanted garden and this author, photographer, artist, gardener and spiritualist is finding the ways and means to remind us all that we are human spirits immersed in a magical world!

With love,

...from the garden

A safe enclosure - for our pups and our lawn! #OEG blog post

If you recall last year's blogs we often wrote about the puppies in the garden and the challenges they provided. Our smallest, Mia is one spunky Jack Russell Terrier and she can jump over tall fences. Daisy the Lab has grown to near her full size, about 100 pounds and her weight alone can destroy new sprouts and delicate flowers. Not to mention the beating our lawn has taken as the puppies grew and romped in the back yard with their friends and foster brothers. Mind you, that can't be blamed on the dogs alone - the weather through the past two winters has provided next to no snow cover to keep the root system of  what was left of our lawn healthy. Needless to say - we needed to find a way to keep the dogs and the lawn safe but also in good shape!

Our solution? We built an enclosure at the end of our driveway and the beginning of the backyard, an area that is covered with fine crushed brick gravel and doesn't get muddy. We already had the gate at the driveway so we simply added a second interior fence and gate that connects at the back corner of our deck creating a huge 25' by 35' enclosed area, lots of room for the dogs to run and play and still do their business while leaving the grass seed some time to grow in this lovely warm early spring weather we've been enjoying!

We wondered, after putting up the new gate - why didn't we think of this sooner? Ah well! We spoiled the puppies with all that room to romp and it was good exercise for them. This summer, once the lawn has had a good chance to grow in, we'll allow the dogs to play on the lawn at controlled intervals, hopefully finding a happy medium for both of what we enjoy in the yard; Our dogs and Our Garden!

With love,

...from the garden

#OEG Spring Greens planted the first week of April!

The garden is showing signs of life and some spring greens planted the first week of April are already up!

A spicy mesclun mix blend in planters on our south facing deck.

Tiny sprouts, these will grow fast!

This view gives you some idea of their size!

21 days to harvest the package says...

Yum!!!

With love,

...from the garden

Our Garden is Giving me the Blues! #OEG

And when our scilia are blooming I don't mind The Blues one bit!

Such tiny clumps of delicate flowers - when they first start growing they look like a clump of crab grass.

I took these shots in between today's rain storms, thinking they may not look as good once they're beaten down with the heavy raindrops and there's even the possibility of hail. Beautiful little parcels of life and color, like these sweet little bells of blue must be appreciated in the now - later they could be gone, such is the fleetingly fickle heart of nature and her synchronistic ways! Something I've come to truly appreciate, as learning to be fully present in the now is a skill I am cultivating while I work with the garden, the camera and nature herself.

My favorite shot is this verticle image above with the focus set on the forefront flower, this is a perfect example of a depth of field shot at close range. It gives a fabulous sense of depth and size even though these sweet little beauties are no taller than 4", or 100 cm for my metric minded readers! This marks the beginning of the flowering in our perennial beds - with the weather playing it's fun tricks I'm certain there will be more popping up all over the property!

There are so many delightful, cheery flowers to adorn our gardens. Which is your favorite of the first flowers of spring?

Stay tuned - planting and sprouting of our vegetables has begun and we're also getting the back lawns into shape again after having been subjected to the pounding of puppy feet for over a year. I will be adding entries highlighting both later today!
Also see Our Garden Blog at http://ourenchantedgarden.net/gardenblog for similar stories and larger format photographs. Do feel free to follow me at Twitter or to become a fan on our page at Facebook if you are inclined. (See this blogs' side bar for links.)There are so many great ways to keep in touch I enjoy taking advantage of the services and learning how they work!  

Cern ... What will we learn? #OEG

Cern ... What will we learn?, originally uploaded by Our Enchanted Garden.

The broad mix of people's reactions to the experiments at Cern and attempts to discover the smallest particles; the Big Bang type of particles that exist in matter!
There will always be controversy and mystique around something with so much potential, so many unknowns.
Some of the graphs, charts and diagrams shown in the media were interesting. I got inspired to play with elements of these digital maps. Symbols representing some of the questions and concerns raised by media and concerned citizens are superimposed over a representation of a photon tracking chart from the banks of video screens at the research facility.
I am curious where the experiments will take our world and ever hopeful we apply it's gifts wisely, generously and with compassion.
It is an incredible time in history to be alive and witness the birthing of such new breakthroughs in science, math and philosophy!
What will we learn?

Spring Reflections on the Eramosa River #OEG

Spring Reflections on the Eramosa River, originally uploaded by Our Enchanted Garden.

A mating pair of Canada Geese wouldn't come too close because the dogs were with us. Caught a great reflection shot as they moved past us warily! We were out for a walk along one of the rivers that runs through the city, enjoying the sights and sounds of nature as much as our two Jack Russell Terriers.
A nice walk on Earth Hour day seemed appropriate entertainment to us and the dogs! It has a "low carbon footprint" and marks a time to actively appreciate the natural world we live in.
Temperatures are still cool, there's very little plant life showing signs of activity yet. Lawns are just starting to turn green in our neighborhood, just a few blocks from where these shots were taken. Sunshine makes up for cool temps - with a good jacket and a faithful willing companion a brisk walk is good for us all!