Little Yellow Crab Spider

Now this pretty little thing I found on one of my herbs yesterday.  I have seen white ones like this but this is my first yellow one. I followed the delicate little arachnid around the leaves, but left him in peace to forage for bugs to eat.

Too Warm for Llamas

Just up the road from us  live 3 llamas with big batting eyelids. They are adorable, and even cuter now that they have been sheared for the summer. 

The Owl and the Pussycat

I believe it was Edward Lear who wrote the poem... "The Owl and the Pussycat set out to sea in a pea green boat, with honey and "plenty of money", wrapped in a five pound note...."
Well, my owl and pussycat story is a different sort. I love the barred owls I hear late at night and I love my pussycats, so I couldn't resist these two latest garage sale items that now live on on front patio.

Celery and More Celery

Our first year for growing celery.  They told Chris it was one of the hardest veggies to grow, so he is trying his luck.  They have a long growing season and we are not even close yet, but it is looking good for sure.  Stay tuned for the results of the harvest.

If You Plant it They Will Grow!

Chris really wanted to grow Italian prune plums, so last year we bought a young tree, and voila - this year we have quite a few little plums coming.  Hopefully they will all ripen and not fall off.

Now This is Chocolate!

Chris's friend Mark Pennington  (aka Mr Callebaut Chocolate) brought me a years supply of lovely chocolate pieces.  Nice chocolate for sure!!    You may not be able to see the print at the bottom right, but it is an 11lb box (5kg).  What more could a girl want!!

Karaoke Night

RJ brought his karaoke machine over for the weekend, and here are Jordan, RJ and Laurie singing their hearts out.  No picture of me, but I am going to buy one of these machines, it was just too much fun!

Get Together for the Brits!

Chris's cousin Eve and her son Laurie were visiting from England, and Chris's brother Richard and his sister Jill  came over for the weekend, along with their families.  Clockwise from the left, Joanne, RJ, Richard, Laurie, Chris, Nick, Jill, Jordan and Eve.

Lupins and Bears

A trip up the sea to sky highway this week brought a pleasant roadside photo opportunity.  A black bear dining on buttercups which were growing in between a fabulous field of wild lupins.

 

A grand site for cousin Eve from England - her first sighting and close up of a black bear.  We both took plenty of shots of this big guy who seemed undisturbed by all the traffic going by, or of Eve and I snapping photos out the window.   We watched for about 20 minutes, until it finally sauntered on up and over the hill.

Aspiring Artist

Chris's cousin Eve is visiting from London and is a wonderful artist.  She painted an awesome picture of our pond for us in lovely pastel shades and we will have it framed shortly.  Eve has encouraged me to try my "hand" so to speak at painting, so we made a trip to town yesterday and went to Opus and bought some basic supplies for me to get started.

 My new hobby will be to learn about colors, water based oils and pastels.    Chris is very doubtful of my skill and ability to become another Rembrandt, however, I plan to prove him wrong!

Happy 145th Birthday Canada!

July 1st, 2012 - Canada Day on Bowen

Little Birds are Safe!

This it the first year we have had birds nest in one of our many birdhouses.  The guests are a pair of Nuthatches, and by the sounds of the little peeps, there are a good number of nestlings inside

We are not the only ones who have figured out there are birds in residence with babies.  Our "Smoke-Kitty" has figured it out by watching mom and dad take turns with the feeding ritual.  Chris caught Mr. Smoke on the fence railing taking advantage of the "bird's-eye" view.. up on his hind legs trying to get a glimpse of what was inside making the peeping sounds.

 There is no way he is going to hang out there waiting for babies to one day emerge , so Chris in all his brilliance quickly installed a deterrent on the fence which will keep the cats away (hopefully without injury).  A strip of upright staples.  It works!!

Serious Sanding

We have these wrought-iron/wood patio chairs and bench that have been left outside too many winters.  Rather than throw them out, I decided to sand the wood down and re-paint and varnish.  This is a picture of the bench, before I started sanding.

The sanding was hard on my arm/wrist, and I broke Chris's electric sander (twice).  I must have been pressing too hard and burnt out some plastic piece.  The Handyman was able to fix it both times so that I could at least finish phase one of the project.  Here is the after-sanding bench.

Phase two was to use the Citol to paint/stain/glossify.  Needs 3 coats, and I was able to do the fist coat on the bench and all 4 chairs.  Check out the bench below after the first coat.  I love sanding now.  I want to sand everything now.