Contemplation

“Contemplation is any way one has of penetrating illusion and touching reality.”
~Parker Palmer “On the Brink of Everything”

Solar Powered

Portulaca Purslane     Sun Rose or Moss Rose

Blooms in the sun but curls up and sleeps in the shade.  Sort of like me.

Weekend Paddle

Weekend Paddle

We finally dug out our paddles and headed out on the water on Saturday.  Paddled from Secret Cove to Smuggler’s Cove and to the end of Wescan Inlet.  Lovely day. Felt so good to breathe in salty air and hear the seagulls overhead.  I hope this is the start of many lovely summer paddle days.

True Love

Rose Campion Lychnis coronaria

Love is not determined by the worthiness of the object.
Love is determined by the giver of the love.
~Richard Rohr

Poppies in the Rose Garden

Poppy

We didn’t remember planting poppy seeds but apparently we did. They are filling in the spaces between the rose bushes. This is the first one to bloom and we were surprised with the amazing colour of it.  I wonder what colour the rest of them will be.

Backyard Gossips

Grateful

“Some people grumble that roses have thorns; I am grateful that thorns have roses.” ~Alphonse Karr

Life Is A Rose Garden

Rose Garden June 18

We’ve survived much,
and created beauty out of it
and now we get to live in the centre of it all.
Our needs are simple and few,
We are very blessed.

©2001 Sharron R. McMillan

Love’s Transforming Power

If there is a secret to love’s transforming power,
surely it must lie in its uncanny ability to call forth who we truly are.
~Richard Rohr

Feeding Time

Red-breasted sapsucker feeding babies in a hole in a cedar tree

Red-breasted sapsucker Sphyrapicus ruber

Frequent visitor in our woods. Subspecies of yellow bellied sapsucker on the Pacific Coast.  Food: Sap, fruit, arthropods. it drills neat rows of holes in bark of trees, later visiting the pits to lick up sap with its brush-like tongue. Squirrels and hummingbirds often gather at the sap wells also. The Rufous Hummingbird is closely associated with the Red-breasted Sapsucker. It nests near sap wells and may follow the woodpecker around during the day, feeding at the wells the sapsucker keeps flowing.

Nest: Nest in cavity in dead tree or dead branch. No nest material added to cavity.

ID: Males are beautiful with red heads, necks and breast. Females are generally brown with light throats.

Voice: Call a harsh mewing “waah.” Drumming a distinctive slow irregular tapping, easily imitated by tapping on a tree with a stick.

Egg: 4–7 white eggs

Historically shot as an orchard pest; protected now. Populations appear stable, but forestry practices that remove snags may decrease its abundance in particular areas.

Practise Stillness

“It doesn’t hurt to engage in some kind of disciplined practice, such as meditation or prayer. Silent sitting becomes a magic carpet that rescues us from identifying with every neurotic thought that pops into our minds and every emotional distraction that threatens to abduct us. When we purposely build periods of reverence or stillness into our days, we practice gazing through the eyes of love, and we get better and better at seeing love everywhere we look. Your practice may take the shape of twenty minutes a day on a cushion or aimless solitary walks on the beach. It can look like kneeling in a church or a mosque or simply like following the flow of one breath to the next with your full attention.”
~Mirabai Starr

Pantry Update

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Before:  Old boards on the walls and ceiling, ugly dirty shelves, clutter and disorganized

After: New plywood painted white, clean new shelves, organized and decluttered, all ready for the new canning season.

Garden Delight Rose

Garden Delight

Bramble Berry Flowers

                                                      Creeping Blackberry Rubus ursinus

We call them bramble berries. They are wild and grow throughout our yard on stumps and on the ground.
Berries ripen earlier, are smaller and have more flavour than Himalayan. Nice in salads.
Means: Lowliness, envy, remorse

Pinks

Pinks (Fire witch) Dianthus Feuerhexe

Planted. Perennial. Evergreen.  Compact, mounding habit. Shear when blooms fade to keep shape. 8” tall, 12” wide. Full sun. Heat and humidity tolerant.
Flowers: Fragrant single magenta pink. Blooms most of the summer. Remove faded flowers for continuous blossoms.
Leaves: grassy blue green foliage.
Eldest daughter gave me a pot for Mother’s Day 2008.  They didn’t like the window box, it was too dry, and the wash tub on the stump was too shaded. Now they happily bloom in the round bed on the path to the front door.

Meaning: woman’s love