A noun. A verb. A blog.
The days are lengthening. Round about this time, our dad would say, “Now we’ve broken winter’s back.” Experience tells me it hasn’t happened quite yet, despite this January thaw, but we are headed in that direction. In fact, winter hasn’t yet made a creditable appearance, up here in Toronto. So to find some of Winter’s […]
My rosemary is leggy. And this is the reason why. Something furry has usurped my only rosemary spot, a small south-facing window in the cool front hall. That magic combo of light and coolth is what rosemary needs to get through a Canadian winter. Poor Rosemary and her pal Sage are reaching out desperately for […]
This photo of my sad front garden (let’s simply call it the before picture) illustrates why I’m sooooo happy to be taking this Art and Management of Landscape Design course [ed. actually, I have the name wrong. It’s the Art and Management of Planting Design – even better!] at Ryerson University. Instructor Michelle Reid outlined […]
I’ve always hated winter. Why? Because I hate, hate, hate being cold. I was the kid with the 17 comforters on my bed: I relished the weighty coziness of it. Living in Canada, I’m way out of my comfort zone: born in England, I came (was dragged) here as a fairly wee tot, and never […]
I have birds on the brain. That can happen when you read a lot of garden blogs. Inevitably, the topic of backyard chickens crops (corny anatomy pun: sorry!) up. Originally, I was going to use this photo in a post about our dad, bless his cool buckled shoes. (This week would have been his 83th […]
Never mind square-foot gardening. I need help with square-foot gardening books. In this age of online info, I try to be restrained about buying only what I’ll refer to again and again. But my bulging blookshelf shows I’m not restrained enough. There might be people with more; my guess is they have more space. Trouble […]
An insight can sneak in quietly. Such happened to me during a lull in this off-kilter holiday. With Daughter #1 visiting from university. Shopping. Cooking. Wrapping. Eating. Entertaining; being entertained. Eating more. Learning Twitter. Dealing with (“stepping around”) the attendant mess. My insight arrived during a marathon viewing of So You Think You Can Dance? […]
Here’s a cute idea to toast with your wassail cup. These orange slice curtains were tucked into a little corner of one of the Allan Gardens Conservatory greenhouses, and might be easy to miss flanking a doorway on the north side of one of the tropical houses. The late sun doesn’t show these off to […]
When the weather outside is frightening… we prescribe Allan Gardens for an injection of the tropics. Sarah and I recently dropped by an hour before closing for quick, medicinal treatment from their Christmas display. That jumble of colour at the bottom right above doesn’t make a great photo, but it does represent the joyous profusion […]
There are trees in this picture. They are my excuse for writing off topic about the animated Christmas* windows on Queen Street between Bay and Yonge. You’ll notice I didn’t write: at The Bay on Queen Street. That’s because, to me, these will always be the Christmas windows at Simpsons. For those playing along in […]
In my other life as a designer I’m involved in a project involving Alchemy as a symbol. This got me thinking as I was looking at the little – er, increasingly massive – pile of eggshells and tea bags I’d set aside to add to my worm composter. (The city isn’t getting this good stuff, […]
We’re vain enough to want to play, and flattered that Helen Yoest of Gardening With Confidence tagged us for the Honest Scrap Award, in company with six very wonderful blogs. However, we won’t ask anyone to play along… unless you feel an urge coming on. If that doesn’t seem fair to you, somehow not quite […]