Last Day of Summer

Today we say goodbye, to the summer!! Fall arrives tomorrow, and when I looked around the yard this afternoon I could see the signs already. Despite the heat and drought of this long endless summer, the leaves are changing colour and some are already falling. My Virginia Creeper is showing off its fall colours, but then it is always at its best in the fall.

I just never expected it so soon!

Italian Plum Harvest!

We were thrilled with our plum harvest this year!! We should have weighed them, but forgot. We got a 1/2 dozen colander bowls full, just like this one. It was a fight to see who could eat the most, as Chris and I both love these plums equally. They were such good eating that we simply could not spoil the crop by cooking with them. I hope we can do as well or better next year!.

Fire Pits and Hard Labour

Every summer, I like to tackle at least one or two outdoor project. This year, one of them was to make a proper bonfire pit. Sometimes Chris is on board with my projects, and sometimes not. This time he was not, so I thought it was definitely worth sharing since I worked hard on it all by myself. The reason Chris was not on board with it is because we had an existing spot for our bonfires on the grass with a few rocks around it in a circle, and he thought it was good enough as it was. I thought it looked tacky. I didn't want to buy one of those costly outdoor fire pit kits, I wanted to create something myself. So here is what I started with: the existing bonfire spot on the ground:

I got retainer wall bricks from Brick and Block in north van, and after digging a hole and widening the pit I started to shape my bricks:

It was hard because the property is on a slight slope and I wanted it to be level. And I have never worked with a level before:

It took me 2 days, and this is the finished project:

Truth is I am not happy with the final result because I didn't do my research. I used the wrong kind of bricks for fire, I left too big of a space between the bricks, and the open end on the right side of the photo is on loose soil so I expect it to shift considerable once the rains come. Oh well, it's level, and that's what's important. I can always start again next year, knowing what I know now. It will get us through bonfire season this year, which runs from October 15th though to end of April. We do have lots to burn, so I can't wait for the inaugural fire. We will have a few friends over for a typical Bowen bonfire! That will be another blog post I am sure. I hope the bricks don't all collapse. Now I must take Advil and soak in the tub because my back and arms are super sore.

Coffee on the Pier

On early sunny mornings when I am not working, the pier is a favorite spot of mine. My favorite brand of coffee is Moja, and it has finally arrived on Bowen, so I am in luck. It’s usually early when I go to the pier, and my coffee is my escape to jump start my brain and relax by the water with no one around. Watching the sun come up over Dorman Point is always a thrill. I have been relying too much on my iPhone lately, but snapping these photos reminds me how much I love capturing these simple everyday moments. The dreamer in me would love to do nothing but wander, take photos and write it down. But back to the coffee. Moja started in Whistler, but the fact that it is locally brewed is not why I like it. Roasted using a Milan style, it is just the best. I know coffee is a personal taste, but this one is mine. Our Rustique Bistro (also a favorite) on Bowen is now offering it. What luck!

Cricket Chorus

My favorite time of year for going to bed is late August, early September; when the silence of the night is alive with the singing of crickets. Those tiny creatures of God are a comforting sound and can lull me to sleep any time. Our crickets are the true black field crickets. They just happen to love our patio instead of the back meadow.

As a child, I used to think that crickets were those flying creatures that came in the heat of the late summer, and when in flight, their wings made a clicking sound. Well I know better now. Those are just band-winged grasshoppers like this one below:

We have a few of the band-winged that we see during the day, but it is the black crickets I love and wait for in the evening. Crickets chirping out their songs, punctuating the night silence. During the day we have plenty of plain grasshoppers, smaller in comparison to the band-winged.

They're cute, but I'll take the crickets! A chorus of crickets!

An Apple By Any Other Name is Still an Apple

Do you know how easy it is to have an orchard? Especially if you want to grow apples! Even if you have a small yard or even just a big sunny veranda, apples will grow. We have 4 varieties, and this year we have more apples decorating the branches than ever. First we have the Spartan:

This is the first year we have had apples on it and it is 6 years old. The location may not be the best, but in past years, the blossoms all flew off with wind storms. Yesterday I picked about 20 Spartans to make apple sauce.

Next we have Braeburn Apples:

And the Coxes Pippin - a British favourite:

And of course the ever popular Liberty:

The Liberty is the star performer this year. Happy, healthy, and bearing fruit on every branch! Home grown apples!! They just taste better!!