A New Rose

There are two downsides to a woodland garden. Growing anything edible attracts wildlife so no berries, no vegetables, no fruit. There isn't any point in planting a crop and spending the growing season fending off our woodland neighbours. Herbs are okay. They don't tempt the palates of deer, rabbits, squirrels, racoons, and the rest of the forest family.Hard to imagine how any living thing could resist the flavor of rosemary, cilantro, thyme, fresh basil...
The other downside is that the forest canopy overhead doesn't allow enough direct sun for a sufficient period of time in most parts of the garden for roses to grow well. So when something dies in one of the few really sunny spots, there's a chance to plant another rose!
Over the last couple of weeks, a small evergreen - a Chamaecyparis obtusa nana - turned rusty red after appearing to be in perfect health for the last few years. When there was little green foliage remaining, I dug and hacked and pried it out of its somewhat sunny spot in a front border and set off to the garden centre to look at roses.
I discovered a relatively new series of hardy roses on the market called Easy Elegance. They all appeared to be strong, healthy, glossy leaved, and in full bloom. I chose one that has little fragrance but blooms all summer long:

All The Rage Rose

It's Beginning To Look Like A Princess Will Visit Here!

And, no, not Kate Middleton - though she arrives in Canada three days before our French princess. My, but I love that woman's wardrobe! What wealth, beauty, a lean physique, and exquisite taste in clothes can do for a gal!

We are in Phase Three of the Preparing The Pink Princess Room

Gauzy curtains from Ikea in Toronto and a beautiful pink flowered duvet cover and pillow cases

Some toys at the foot of the bed

A patient teddy waiting to go for a walk in his stroller.

Dolly waiting to be fed.

And on the window sills - pink violets:

The African Violets I purchased at last year's violet shows are coming into bloom now. This gorgeous hybrid is called Smooch Me.

Sometimes hybrids can be a bit unstable and revert to a parent base. This is Suncoast Paisley Print, which right now is showing pink blossoms with tiny purple speckles, purple blossoms, and pink with large purple splotches.

It actually should be uniformly pink with purple speckles. It has always been one of my favourite violets.

A Trip To Toronto

Movita and I are visiting Movita's Sister in Toronto. Now, unlike Nova Scotia, it is really summer in Ontario and we have basked in more sun in a few days here than in the past two months in our own home province.

We've been shopping, gardening, connecting with friends, and eating out. Our first restaurant stop was on the way home from the airport - Pho Hung, a Vietnamese restaurant near and dear to Movita's heart. It seemed mean spirited to make her wait a moment longer for her favorite dish - No 16 on the menu.

No. 16

Our first evening meal out was with Ra, an old friend of Movita and the entire family. She took us to a wonderful Chinese Restaurant, The Pearl Harbourfront. We sat by one of the huge windows and watched the sailboats, yachts, tour boats, and ferries go by on Lake Ontario. The food was great and it was so nice to sit and talk with Ra again. Afterwards, she showed us her lovely condo with a sun room where she can sit, read, and enjoy the water views.

Because I was given a stack of Romni Wools gift certificates for Christmas, our first shopping trip was to Queen Street West to surely one of the largest wool inventories in Canada!

This is only one section of the main floor of yarn shop AND the entire basement is full of yarn at discount prices. Now while this should be a knitter's dream come true, it was very hot in the store and the sheer volume of fibers was so mind boggling that even with a list, it was hard to focus and make the right decisions. In fact, it took two trips to the store to use up the gift cards.

Left to Right: Zephyr Lace by Fantastic Knitting (mahogany), Lana Grossa Meilenweit sock yarn ((2504), Zarina merino (1935), Austermann Step sock yarn (1020), and luscious Malabrigo Sock Yarn (Ravelry Red).

We met up with Melissa, an old friend of Movita's Sister and the entire family. Melissa is a firecracker and our Pilates Princess. She took us to her favourite El Salvadoran restaurant, a tiny corner place on Bloor Street called Tacos El Asador. The meals are mostly of the hand held variety, messy but delicious, and the staff are warm and work hard to provide great customer service.

Beef Enchiladas with Guacamole and Taco Chips

Yesterday was the warmest day so far.  28 degrees Celsius seems hotter in a large city than it does in the countryside. We spent part of the afternoon in that section of Toronto known as The Beaches - a curious waterfront combination of expensive urban housing, boutiques, eateries, and gourmet food shops with Coney Island style crowds in their beach wear strolling the streets.

Sir Lucas went for a swim but unlike our retrievers, Annie and Lucy, he only goes in the water so as not to lose face. He can't dog paddle worth beans.

Last evening, we went to a Greek restaurant, Ouzeri, on the Danforth. Good restaurant with lots of character, comfortable, with great service, an extensive menu, and good food. And judging by the crowd, a local favourite.

Grouper fish with shrimp and scallops

We were in Little Italy this evening to have dinner at Bar Italia. This was the last of a three day fesitval and a section of College Street was closed to traffic.

Street dancing in Little Italy

Problem Solved

So the trick is to walk away and do other things. Have a nice glass of chilled white wine with supper, go back to the project, and voila! - the solution to the puzzle is now so readily at hand!

Wait Until Adam Comes - Not!

A refrain sometimes heard around this house is "Wait till Adam comes" - especially if the subject of conversation is the connection of an audio receiver to a digital box to a VCR to a....
Or figuring out a small but very annoying computer software problem or program conflict
Or trying to attach something that requires not just skill but skill and great height
However, some things just have to be done before he arrives - like the Pretty Bed With Pink Rails Assembly:

Stage 1: Connecting the framework - piece of cake

Stage 2: Covering framework with soft, plush, pink fabric and mesh - a cake walk

Stage 3:  Hey, this is actually fun. Just jump down on the instruction page to where two rails are attached to bed instead of one...

Stage 4: What the??????   This is a simple project. This is not rocket science. Just because the instructions say to rotate the 3-way connector and attach the straps of both rails, which then appears to place the mattress anchor at right angles to the bed instead of at the edge between the box spring and mattress...  This is simply a perception problem. A very small problem of perception. We WILL NOT wait for Adam. We WILL figure this out.

Inside and Out

 African Violet: Suncoast Paisley Print

Deck Planter



Le Pink Adirondack

The pink adirondack chair arrived tonight but, alas, I fear it may be too small for our little French girl. It would probably be better for her baby sister. We'll see.

Remember the Friendly Giant saying, "One little chair for one of you, and a bigger chair for two to curl up in..."

A Pink Bedroom For Little French Girls

The Great Pink Bedroom Makeover started today. It is about four weeks before one of the little girls arrives from France and this room is going to be transformed into a child's retreat that is delightful and comfortable, airy and pretty, and, hopefully, a little magical.

Phase One:
The botanical and other prints came down from the walls and were replaced with illustrations from Beatrix Potter's children's books.

Guest novels were removed from the bedside table and replaced with such memorable volumes as The Forgetful Bears, Bunnykins, Small Pig, Bullfrog Grows Up, Sylvia Plath's Bedtime book ("Not just a white little, tuck-in-tight little, nighty-night little bed but instead...") and

Autographed by the author and personally hand delivered to Nova Scotia by little French Girls' editor Auntie!

and

Phase Two will include pretty pink, white, and green bed linen, pretty pink bed rails, a dollhouse (Movita all but gasped when she saw it today. Okay - it has lights that go on at night! They don't call us Grand Parents for nothing...), teddy friends, and a basket of balls. Oh, the next few weeks will be busy ones.