I’m sitting in my favourite chair under the gazebo in our backyard, where it’s currently 36F / 97F. Beautiful. There’s a slight breeze that might explain the absence of mosquitoes. They’re ridiculous this year. I resorted to burning those green coils I haven’t seen since my parents used them back in the 1960s. They’re probably…
I’ve just been out puttering in the garden. It’s a holy place. Truly. This morning, I harvested dill, tucking it away in the freezer for when I want to make borscht; and parsley for soups when the weather turns. I planted another couple of rows of radishes, and just puttered. Pulling the odd weed, dead-heading…
The origin of the quote isn’t clear. Widely attributed to an 18th-century English writer, historian, and politician named Robert Walpole, but also to 17th-century French essayist, Jean de La Bruyère. “Life is a tragedy for those who feel, and a comedy for those who think.” But honestly, any of us from the beginning of human…
It’s mid-July. These are full-on hot summer days. We’re on the other side of a heatwave that, with the humidity, has been tough even for us heat-loving Kamloops folks to appreciate. These are stormy days. Saskatchewan weather has been, shall we say, interesting. One evening, as we settled in to eat dinner and partake in…
When last we met, I told you about six bunnies who had appeared, as if by magic, in our backyard, how we had successfully encouraged five of them to move on, and that I suspected one lone baby rabbit remained. Turned out, I was right. The last bunny standing proved to be a worthy match…
They are the cutest little things. And they appeared—as if by magic—in our backyard earlier this week. But of course it wasn’t magic, and the only logical explanation is that they were born here. Somewhere. Somehow. By some bunny. They don’t belong in our backyard. Molly is beside herself. “This is what my terrier self…