Only a frugal man would take the time to repair a broken sprinkler.

My husband is a frugal man.

My husband likes to fix things.

My husband amuses me.

"And the dreadful ghost of a wind moaning over the precipice with an evil invitation at the back of it, moaning up out of space, through distant spiky gullies where the sun is shining, moaning with a suggestion of inhuman mirth, causes me to face the ravine as if something might come out if it which would have to be fought."

"I sit down and hold out my frozen hands in the sun, and, suddenly catching sight of those shoes which have in their time known Piccadilly and Bond Street, I roar with laughter! "

H.V. Morton writes travel books. In the 1920's and I am hooked. So far I've found and finished - In Search of England, and now I am almost through - In Search of Scotland.

The two sentences above come from his description of climbing Ben Nevis.

I am now trolling sites looking for more. My library only has these two. The first is a current reprint but the Scotland book is the eighteenth edition from 1933, with a faded inscription, To Frank. With best wishes for Xmas 1933 from the Fletchers, and those wonderful old photos that have more character than ones in modern colour. The only thing missing is the map showing his route that must have gone missing when the book was rebound for library use.

I'd steal this book if I wasn't afraid my library card would be revoked and I'd be banished, never allowed to return.

I have been having great fun with words and terms long out of use, checking to see if churches/monuments he hopes will be repaired are now part of the British Heritage system and wishing that tourists hadn't found and crowded all those places, opening only for me and my friends.

His description of the National War Shrine in Edinburgh was so vivid and moving I had to read it several times keeping in mind how soon after the war this book was written, (1929) and how time had yet dulled the edges of the horror.

"The Shrine is a lament in stone, the greatest of all Scotland's laments, with all the sweetness of pipes crying among hills, with all the haunting beauty of a lament, all the pride, all the grandeur."

I'm captivated and not just by that profile and natty hat.

With temperatures running 1.5 C degrees cooler than normal it's been comfortable working away thinning and shortening my one run of hedge.
Over the last few years it's only had a top trim but now that the new neighbours are in and have been deemed worthy I am working up blisters and creating a nice look rather than a green barrier.
I've been slowed down thanks to all the rain showers that refuse to move on and I may come to a complete stop if the hot weather forecast holds true, but it's a start.

Less blue thanks.

The weather and my mood.

It's 5:45 and after almost 2 weeks of on and off gray skies and wet weather I finally see sunshine

We visited a second garden, one within walking distance of our home. Paul wanted to play with a new-to-him digital so he took lots and lots of photos using different settings. He was the most interesting thing in the garden.



This lovingly restored farm house sits at the edge of a park on our route home. I want this house. Paul wants the 3+ garage that goes with it.




We caught site of this little fellow on a lawn as we got closer to home. This is Paul's photo, his camera having a slightly better zoom than mine.

Today on the way to the gym there was a dead rabbit on the road right at the same spot.

Wonder if it was this one.

TODAY IN MY GARDEN....

The daisies have started

The first of my new lilies

Blanket flowers and Bleeding Heart

It's a white perennial

First tomato.

For the 17th year in a row our city has held Open Garden Week. Sixty-one gardeners have opened their yards to anyone interested in viewing their labour of love.

This is the first years I've visited a garden. It belongs to one of the ladies from the gym and I've been hearing about it all spring. This year she polled her friends and garden club members and decided that yes, her garden was worthy.
Her beds are spread around her backyard and are anchored with a large variety of hostas. Not a spot of soil shows as she has packed each with colour.
I came home and looked at my garden and decided I'm not ready for viewing. It's not that I don't like my flower beds, it's because I have no idea what most of the plants are called. I'm a hodgepodge gardener. I haven't saved labels, I haven't kept notes, I have no master plan.

photos from Annice's garden