Happy Victoria Day!

Me via text this morning:

>There was something in the air last night.
>The moon was bright.
>Fernando?

The SO's response:

>Those were fireworks.

 

It's good to share the silliness sometimes :)

HAPPY VICTORIA DAY!

Jinxed

Life has been strange lately--kind of awesome and kind of stressful. Awesome because we adopted a stray kitty that started showing up at our door. He's super friendly and sweet and we (okay, mostly I) named him Jinx, inspired by a minor character on Buffy (one of Glory's minions for my fellow fans.) I always thought it was a great name for a cat and, come on, how could you not give a black cat a name like that? Surprisingly he's my first ever black cat and I think I must always have one from now on. There's something magical about them. And when he stretches and arches his back in the classic Halloween cat pose, it's just about the coolest thing ever.

It's been stressful because Jinx, while mostly amazingly healthy, has some parasite issues and needs to be kept isolated from our other guys until it clears up (he's also constantly hungry and quite underweight). That means he's confined (which as a recent outdoor cat he doesn't love, although he's mostly okay) and the other two are jealous and confused. And none of them likes to be alone. The SO and I are taking turns keeping Jinx company, so we're not getting a lot of together time. And the two rooms we're keeping him in are the only two in the house with windows that don't open (but there is a couch so at least we can nap). Basically I'm not getting much of anything done these days (it's been five days of isolation so far--hopefully the meds will start working soon!) I do get to go out to the garden in the mornings, which I'm quite happy about. And I've been crocheting a lot--my blanket is almost done! But the sooner we can introduce Jinx to the other guys and let him be a free-range indoor kitty the better.

The new addition to the household, looking regal

Dianthus

Azalea bud. My azalea is currently potted but I think I need to get it in the ground this year.

Lilac we discovered growing inside our cedar hedge. I don't know how it got there but every year it gets a little bigger and flowers a little more profusely. It's lovely.

Dandelion. I have a love-hate relationship with them.

The aquilegia has flowered. I don't know what variety it is but it was a gift from a friend, and apparently they grow wild in his yard.

Another angle

Bleeding heart

Bird (I think it's a female blackbird) enjoying our hospitality (although not quite as thrilled with me pointing a camera at her)

The 'Sensation' lilac in our yard. Prettier than the old-fashioned one in the hedge but doesn't smell nearly as sweet.

A large branch broke off our maple during a storm a few months back. We discovered it's currently the home of a family of blackbirds :)

'Sensation' lilac

Not quite fully opened yet.

Interestingly some of the flower panicles on the 'Senation' lilac are pure white. I'm assuming one of its original parents was a white-flowered lilac. Hopefully the whole tree won't revert to white in time, although I don't mind a few pretty white blossoms.

A couple more shots of a very handsome kitty (the vet thinks he's got some Siamese in him)

Photos ©Whimsy Bower

[Edited to fix a typo. We ended up re-naming Jink to Nox, and as of 2023, he's eleven and a good bit chonkier! Follow me on my official site: AspasiaSBissas.com]

Springing Up

I just got back from the Toronto Botanical Garden annual plant sale. Wow--the selection is amazing. Tons of unusual specimens. It's way too easy to go broke at a sale like that (anyone in the area who feels like going has until the weekend). Hopefully my purchases (eight plants and some hen manure for my tomatoes) will help with my ongoing efforts to improve my garden (and gardening skills).

There's more work to be done in the garden at this time of year than I can really keep up with but I am trying. I'm putting particular effort into improving the overall design and making plans. No more randomly buying plants that catch my eye and then squeezing them into whatever space I find (okay, maybe there's still a little of that).

Anyway, as I make plans and work away I'm also making sure to take time to snap some photos of the beauty that's already sprouting up...

What's spring without dandelions? These resilient weeds have tons of culinary and medicinal uses (including Syrup), though, so it's not all bad,

Pretty daffodils

Forget-me-nots

Clematis vine in the foreground

Hostas are coming up

Periwinkle and Sweet Woodruff

Detail of an old wooden table that I'm going to have converted to a planter.

Aquilegia bud

Aquilegia again

Lilac, not quite blooming

Forsythia

Stone frog

Photos ©Whimsy Bower

 [Follow me on my official site: AspasiaSBissas.com]