Lobelia at length

Here is my final shot for today... I had a hard time picking a whole plant shot of the lobelia... I'm still not sure... but you get the idea... this is what the whole plant looks like and yes.. its totally surrounded by Nasturtium.

Sage Salvia

... just liked this one... and yes.. Salvia is in the sage family... but this one has much nicer flowers than the greenleafed shrubby sage I have growing from 3 years ago... which I don't think I've seen flower at all this year.

Gaura from the other plant

Here is the other Gaura... also cooperating today

Squirrel Snacks

I don't know what was up with the squirrel... it was digging through the wood chips and racing around like it had just drank 3 cups of coffee. It kept chasing its tail and running in circles and bouncing off the bottoms of the tree trunks... Maybe its been eating my pickled slugs from the beer traps... qui sait?

Lovely Leadwort

I don't think I've put up a picture of this plant yet. I actually don't know anything about it beyond its name "Leadwort" and that it will tolerate partial shade.

Endless Echinacaea

Can you take too many pictures of echinacaea? The light falling on the flower in the center was kind of cool.

Fairies in the Garden

I'm laughing - because currently Tori Amos is singing a cover of "Enjoy the Silence" by Depeche Mode - and while it doesn't go with the flower picture at all - its gets points for being so high school :D and I still know all the words after all these years.... my mind has crazy bits tucked away in corners I have forgotten existed. Its been a funny week for music. I must have switched up the CD in the car to something, not quite as old, but certainly some things I haven't heard in a long time... It is funny how much your taste in music can wander over the years....

Butterfly in the Wind

I have two varieties of Gaura (from the willowherb family - related to fireweed, fucshia and willowherbs) I can't remember which one is which - one has the name "Whirling Butterfly" which describes both one being mainly white and the other being pink and white (I think its the pure white one that is the whirling butterfly variety actually). I haven't had much luck capturing the dainty and butterflylike qualities of it so far.. but today it was cooperating.

Lobelia at Long Last

I promised pictures of the lobelia - and here is the first one. It was actually trickly to photograph - but this is probably the close up that I like the most. Related to North American native Cardinal Flower - found in boggy parts of this area or slightly north of here anyways - this lobelia I believe was a heritage variety (i.e. old fashioned and not bred into something crazy and not necessarily intended by nature - at least not recently.)

Salvia Salvation

The salvia is starting its second round of flowering. The wicked red flowers in the background are my favourite geraniums.

And the green grass grows all around, all around...

One of the hardest things to leave behind is my garden. Not because it loves me as much as the people and dog I'm leaving behind - I will miss them all certainly more than the mess of plant matter I call mine - but because I'm afraid that I'm the only one who loves the garden enough to invest time and effort it needs to keep going - especially if this wet spell passes into dryness... I have these horrid visions of crispy and wilted plants, ravaged unchecked by slugs and aphids and lily beetles (I can't really say anything about weeds.. half of what I've planted is probably considered weeds somewhere.)... So to my family who will be taking over my charges... please water the plants when they get limp - preferably in the morning - but early evening will be okay - and for goodness sake... don't use the jet setting on the hose - soaker works best for narrow beds and shower+center works bests for lots of things together like behind the cherry tree and the main bed. If things are looking munched - you can either try refilling the beer traps for the slugs or putting insect repelling soap on the leaves for everything else - just don't spray the soap on the nasturtium... it says so on the instructions on the bottle. Okay... I'll trust you - as long as you provide me with a bit of photographic proof that it is still alive... :D

Other exciting news... well. Melissa Gilbert is playing Caroline Ingalls (Ma) in a musical version of Little House on the Prairie in the Midwestern States... but it doesn't start until long after I leave - and somehow I don't think it'll travel here at any point.

There are still no spots on the sun - but August 8th is still supposed to be the best hope for viewing the Northern Lights in the near future.

Another one of the cool red and white poppies opened this morning, but by the time I got back it had been pretty much mashed by the rainstorm. However, I will have to post a picture of the Lobelia tomorrow. Its opening up nicely. We have now officially had the wettest July on record at the Airport since 1937.

Otherwise... a side from a zillion things to do and plan and think about and finish up and tidy... life is actually pretty quiet in this end of the world.

My all time favourite painting

Well, I'm not sure that it looks as good on the screen as it does in real life.. but here is probably my all time favourite painting that I did.

Late Arrivals

This African Violet plant was a gift from a close friend some years ago and I have photos of it flowering early last June - but this year it didn't flower until today (almost August) - so about 2 months later. Its in the same location, its getting about the same water - so why it is later this year I'll never know. Perhaps I should give it some food. Still... its as delightful as ever and possibly in need of a new home. Although I'm considering trying to bring it with me when I move - I just have to come up with way of doing it without killing the plant or getting dirt all over my stuff.

In other moving news, my roomate and I are trying to sort out how to get our excess luggage up north. This is proving to be much more complicated than anticipated - so while we are frustrated, we are also glad that we discovered the problem early enough to deal with it - now if only all of the agents would give us the same information and figure out how to ship our stuff efficiently withough needing to store it - then life would be good. Alternatively.. I'm not sure that it wouldn't be cheaper to drive it to Winnipeg than it would be to ship it... or even Ottawa... hopefully this will work out. I'm going to mostly pack my bags today - so I can have an idea about the weight and size of stuff before starting into talks with the air cargo folk. On the other hand, if I think of the number of times I've moved somewhere with only a dufflebag a backsack and a guitar.... then I can probably relax and figure that I'll survive regardless.

Wildflower Wonders

Here is a slightly more all encompassing view of the wildflowers

Stars of Hostaville

I think I might just nominate these for the coolest hosta flowers. Although it is hard to tell from the photo, they are actually quite large and they look a bit like stars.

Some other stars to be nominated:

Best Colour: Sundown Echinaea
Biggest growth: Raspberry (no shocker here)
Best comeback from near death: Serviceberry
Most popular with the bees: Catmint
Most Popular with the slugs: Lupine
Nicest leaves: Coleus
Most flowers on one plant: Mallow (zebra and pink)
Most aggressively invasive: Strawberry (we are up to 4-6 flowers now)
Most entertaining leaves: Nasturtium
Best Flowers in the Shade: Jacob's Ladder
Bushiest Plant: Lemon Balm
Most plants planted: Echinacea
Least Growth: Bunchberry
Most Eaten: Lupine
Biggest Surprise: Blood-Spattered Lily

And now back to our regularly scheduled programming...

Wordles and Upgrade's

A few weeks ago I saw these really cool Wordle things on Reflections in the Snow-Covered Hills.

Here is one based on my last post, which honest, I didn't write just to have a post with lots of cool words in it.

In other blog related news, my brother and I are working on a plot to make it possible for me to use the snazzy new blogger templates without playing guess how CSS works - since, I have too much on my plate to spend much time mastering CSS. However, we did manage to get my cool title banner up, but as you can see its a bit of a hack job, since I haven't replaced the actual banner, just made a picture pop up above it with some help from my brother and fair bit of guesswork based on some CSS samples at this site. That said - things may or may not change in the next 2 weeks - I'm going to try hard to keep the URL the same, and hopefully we won't have a repeat of the last time we played with my blog which required me to reattach every picture I ever posted to their respective posts manually - which took probably in excess of 20 hours over several weeks and we nearly lost the whole thing (not to mention that my URL was snapped up by a BOT and I never managed to retrieve it.....) Well, hopefully this time things will go smoother and the tools at my disposal will be worth any hassle in the interim - but if I disappear off the face of the internet... I promise to claw my way back as soon as possible.

The Road From There to Here

Once upon a time, long, long ago, in an era before I had a thesis or a boyfriend or a gym membership - I used to paint small watercolours paintings. This is one of the first ones I painted, say in 1998 or 1999, on the back of a small cue card. Several years later, not to mention a small, but decent library of watercolour books later, I never managed to create more than a handful of pictures that I liked as much as this one. I guess that says something for beginners luck. I feel that the inukshuk is a very powerful and appealing symbol. To me - it represents both the journey and the landmarks that tell you whether or not you are going in the correct direction. It is associated with culture of our First Nations People - it speaks to me of their knowledge of love of the land and their own journey. I can close my eyes an picture this great stone structure standing firm through the worst of storms to perform its duty to guide them safety to their home - enduring year after year and season after season and as for myself - I have chosen a more convoluted route through life, so I'm always looking for some symbol to reassure me that my choices are sound. I know that there is more to it than that for the Inuit, and I'm looking forward to learning their vision of this symbol - but this is what it says to me.

I was flipping through my artwork when I was packing to move - and I find it definately reassuring that moving north in the right direction. Why else would have I painted so many pictures of inukshuks (ooh.. that isn't the right plural is it?), northern lights and igloos? (Granted the other half of my pictures feature mountains and trees) Of the five of my paintings currently hanging up - one is an inukshuk beside a cold looking river with mountains and a sunset in the back ground, 2 feature a lone pine tree on a small island - one with a sunset in the background and the other with the northern lights, 1 is a picture of a lone snag in a clear cut (from my tree planting days) and the last is an individual in parka with a sled in the winter with assorted spruce trees and the northern lights. So, you get the picture (ooh... bad pun) - my artwork says I'm finally following my heart to the place that my eyes and soul long for...

When I lived in Kashechewan, I used to love teaching art to my Grade 8's. Art was often a double period on Friday afternoons - where everyone was usually calm and relaxed and having fun and, if I do say so myself, we did some cool stuff. As for me, after school ended, then my art would begin. I'd head home and continue painting while I cooked supper. Sometimes - it was the start of the plan for the next week, but often I just painted or drew whatever called to me and it helped me unwind after a long and busy week of teaching. I miss the meditativeness of painting. Most of my stuff isn't that good - in fact some of it is downright awful. But I think that made me a better teacher - because I could say to my students - I love to draw and paint and sometimes it turns out good and sometimes it doesn't, but I do these things because I find them relaxing and fun and I enjoy painting the bad ones as much as the good ones and I don't let my lack of talent stop me from keeping doing something I enjoy - I just keep trying to get better and when something good happens - then I know I'm on the right track. I think that saved me from a lot of discipline issues.. because no one had to feel bad if their art work didn't come out great - because art was about learning and trying new techniques and no one was expected to get it perfect on their first try.

So - I have two weeks to go and one of my biggest jobs is to explore my own teaching philosphy and how I think it'll work in the North. I know that whatever I plot and plan from here will need serious retooling when I get a feel for what my students need, want and thrive on - but for now - I can take some time and think about who I am, my strengths and my weaknesses and how I can take both of them and put them to work and what I think makes a good classroom and learning environment. Not that I haven't been thinking about this for months - I'm sure half the time I fall to sleep mulling teaching over in my head - but I need to gather those thoughts into a coherant manifesto and then evaluate what they add up to.... and then maybe make up a rubric to give them some kind of letter grade (okay.. I'm kidding about the rubric). For the most part, I already have a good idea what kind of teacher I am - I've been that teacher on the ground - this is more about thinking about where I want to go from there - which parts to keep and which parts to slowly chisel away at and shape into a future me...... building on what I've got to be something more. So, I guess I have two weeks and the rest of my professional life to work on perfecting and building my perfessional persona and philosophy as a teacher and so...on that note... away I go.

New Duo of Daylillies

The peach daylily is the centerpiece of the bed. and the orange one is the 2nd of that shade and planted near the back of the bed. Speaking of duos - I saw Batman: The dark knight yesterday and while I'm not quite sure I'd peg it for getting the Oscar for movie of the year, it was certainly worth seeing in the theatres. I really want to see Pacshedale (sp??) with Paul Gross. I have no idea when it is out or if it is even already out.. I guess I should look that up and see if there is any chance of seeing it before I leave.

Nasturtium Math

Well.. I waited and waited for the Nasturtium to do something... then there was one flower on one plant, then one on each of two plants and then two on each... now there are gobbs of flowers on this one.. yet only 2 plants out of about 10 are flowering, but once they got going... they got going.

Bee on Lamb's Ears

Well, Erin.. here is another fellow for you to identify... he had neat markings.

Coreopsis

Here is a shot of one of the current inhabitants of the wildflower garden.

Susptect Plants Removed

It still doesn't have me convinced that it is poison Ivy, but even if it were virginia creeper, some other vine or a Manitoba maple.. I didn't want it and waiting hadn't helped me identify it yet. So, I put on the rubber gloves, armed myself with a doggie bag and systematically removed ever plant in the garden. One I did find appeared to have whorls of 5 leaves - as one would expect with Virginia Creeper - so I'm hoping that is what it is... but it can also cause dermatitis, so the gloves were still a good idea.

Sunshine on a rainy day

Well, a brief moment of not rain following more days with at least one episode of rain. Yesterday was the only sunny day in the last week, and also the first time I'd driven up to Guelph in a while. Took the backroads home, which made for a nice drive. Today.. it is threatening to rain - but it hasn't done anything yet. The wind just has that sound and feel that I associate with weather before rain.

Lots of exciting garden news...

• everything is in the ground - yeah!! I'm sure a few of the plants that had been waiting in their little pots for weeks to get planted are happy and a nice rain should really do them some good at getting settled
• I removed the suspected poison ivy - although I did find one of the bigger plants that had 5 leaves increasing the chances that it was just demented Virginia creeper - as opposed to something more sinsiter.
• things are starting to look chewed on again. Since its supposed to rain I held off on spraying the leaves... but I did reset my beer traps.
• the lobelia is nearly in flower
• the chamomile is flowering
• the wildflower garden has a bunch of flowers all at once and is finally looking like a garden rather than a collection of leaves.
• The strawberries which only produced 2 flowers all summer have gotten another 2 unexpectedly
• Two new colours of daylily are open in the daylily bed
• The first tomatos are starting to grow into tomatoes The plants are getting absolutely huge and I did some more staking today
• I'm still waiting for obediant plant to flower
  

Orange Light

The first orange daylily in the daylily bed.

Campanula Champion

After having no luck with my campanula - two plants have simultaneously flowered. The drops of rain were a precursor to a recently ended thunder storm...

Twinkle Twinkle little wet star

Horoscope: "Even if you woke up with a frown, you will end the day with a smile as you realize a certain problem is, in reality, opportunity in disguise. A modicum of creative thinking is enough to produce a miracle." The Star

Well... I could definately use a miracle, so I guess I should start digging for that modicum of creative thinking. I guess buying a lottery ticket is pretty uncreative... but has the potential to make for a nice miracle.

Yesterday brought another 20 odd mm of rain and today we've had a few showers and thunder storms, but I"m not sure they'd be hitting the weather station I've been watching. I guess we'll have to see what else the day brings in terms of rain. The sky is still grumbling and dark - so who knows.

Day by Daylily

This one is another stray daylily hanging out in the front yard and being a nice mix of yellows and oranges.... as for the rain we've officially smashed the June-July record for this area with 8 days left of July. At last check, the total for the airport was at 159.4 mm for just the month of July - but that was before this mornings 3 or four rainfalls being added. Here is the Star Article.

Party on the Nasturtium

Ah.. the things I've forgotten - I'm going to call them mosquito hawks, but I'm certain that they have a real name that I should know...and have long since forgotten.

Another Daylily

This one is not actually in the daylily bed - its hanging out with the big kids in the center bed. In fact, I must, with embarassment, admit that I didn't really realize that this was a daylily when I bought it. I think I thought it was a dwarf lily - which I suppose amounts to the same thing - but its nice and it is little realative to the others.

Brown-Eyed Girls

Actually, this post should be tittled - musings about blogging.. but hey, this one should get more hits. These aren't the ones I planted last year, these are new ones procured on sale from Canadian tire - mine are nearly open, but still not much to photograph, although I did take a picture anyways.

Back to musing about blogging. I started blogging because two of my brothers were blogging and I guess I wanted to join the club. When I started, I had these aspirations about creating these wonderful mini essays on important issues - but the kind of time commitment that entails would have limited my posting to oh say - once every 5 years if I remembered how to post after that length of time. In fact, its the ease of posting from Picassa coupled with my purchase of a digital camera that has allowed me to keep blogging for just over 3 years. Someone might notice that the archieves here only go back to November 2005, but in actual fact my first blog entery is dated June 10th, 2005 - and is located on my MSN space blog that I have finally given up writing in - because for the last 2 years I've mostly written - please go read my real blog. For the most part, I blog for my own benefit. Occassionally, I blog to share pictures with folk I know - but all along - I write whatever is in my head and not likely to come back and haunt me - save for the occasional proof that I really do better when I have access to a spell checker (but using it through Picassa has tended to crash my attempts at blogging and while they likely fixed that bug years ago - after losing a few too many posts - I just am out of the habit of checking.) [So... I don't fel the least bit guilty if I'm currently boring your to tears, since mostly I expect that folk look at the pictures and ignore my writing] In fact, blogging has accomplished something that all my grade school teachers failed to do.... get me to willingly keep a journal of sorts. Wouldn't my grade 8's have a laugh to know that I secretly had sympathy for their journal loathing, but it was one of the best tools I had for getting writing out of them and as I continued in school - I actually came to appreciate journal writing. At least in Gr. 12, Mr. Ellis had us do really cool things with journal writing. The one that stands out in my mind is the day that he played the song Northwest Passage by Stan Rogers and then told us to write about whatever thoughts the song had inspired in our pretty little heads. I have no idea where my grade 12 journal is - I most certainly haven't thrown it out - but as to which box it is carelessly filed, I have no idea. Little did he know, I would spend my final year of highschool playing that song on my guitar and singing it over and over while dreaming of moving to Thunder Bay. My heart still soars when I hear that song - and here I am headed ever closer to the NW passage myself. Maybe I should give just a little bit of credit to Mr. Ellis - easily the coolest English teacher I ever had - for pointing my footsteps in this direction at some point in my journey or at least for exposing me to Stan Rogers.

I'm well aware that I account for a stunning porportion of the hits on my blog - partly because I use it as a bookmarks folder and flip to it when I want to visit various places - particularly other blogs - but also because I often find myself flipping through my archieves - sometimes just for fun and sometimes when I want to find a particular picture that I've moved to storage and sometimes just for the trip down memory lane. Its good to remind myself about those rare times I've escaped the vicinity of my computer to places where there is wind and trees and stuff. I also like to read the statistics on my blog - particularly the keywords that have led people here - lately mostly flowers and provincial parks - but occasionally stranger things. There are a few pictures that get a lot of hits too. One of the more disturbing is a picture from a childhood sleepover - I don't know what keywords got folk their as it comes through google images usually - but the picture itself is more interesting for the 80's paraphenelia than it is for the sake of a bunch of kids in their pj's. There are constructs, jelly bracelets, bracelets made of plastic lacing, an alvin and the chipmunks sleeping bag, a national geographic picture book, some fisher price toy and a 110mm camera.... and 5 kids making stupid faces at the camera, which is amusing enough.

Okay.. enough musing for one day... it all sounded better in my head when I was musing about it in the first place while walking the dog... now it just sounds goofy.

Mystery Wildflower #6 or 7

Okay. I guess I've lost count and truely I haven't a clue what this is - although aster of some variety is my first guess with a guess of buttercup family for the second - although that accounts for a good chunk of what is out there. Its been so wet that everything is a bit floppy. I really really need to get some more twine and actually stake some flowers or rather tie them to the stakes I've so carefully placed. My zebra mallows, in particular, need this to be done before they wound themselves flopping over ever time they get wet and the ditto for the pink mallows.

Ding Dong The Hosta Bells

I had fun trying to take this picture squatting with an umbrella.....

A brave new lily

This little red daylily picked a wet day to join us. I went out in hopes of getting some pictures of a rainbow, but in spite of heavy rain mixed with blueskies, there was no luck for me.

Pummelled with Rain Again

This graph was borrowed from Environment Canada's Real Time Hydrometric Data Website to show you that we got enough rain to raise the water surface of a nearby stream by 0.8 m over 3 days. Today we had two more serious rain events. The website is lots of fun. There are a tonne of streams across the country with data and its actually quite useful in a flood situation. I recall a prof nervously keeping an eye on it the last time that I was in Fredericton around flood season, owing to a low lying cottage downriver.

Yesterday, only a trace amount of rain was recorded at the airport, but here there was a good bit more - in fact after quickly checking all the local meteorological stations I was actually quite surprised by the variation in recorded amounts of rain. The day we go 50 mm - some nearby stations got about 25 while one recorded a total of 69 mm. Weather is cool - what can I say and definately no need to water for a few days.... its pretty soggy here. I picked the stream above because I knew it would be dramatic - this particular stream has a tendancy to flood - although - aside from some agriculture and roads - the stream is fairly unscathed. Nearby 16 Mile Creek on the other hand is highly chanalized through Milton (i.e. - flowing through a not-so-natural- concrete structure) - and doesn't appear to have a station.

Anywho... for those of you up north... there a good chance of northern lights tomorrow night and maybe even tonight - so look up if the clouds will let you.

The Dangers of Drinking

Drinking can be the death of you, particularly if you are a slug or an earwig guilty of devouring my daisies, roses or devestating my lupines. So, I set my trap using Lakeport Beer. This is not because Lakeport Beer is unpleasant tasting, but because a can of Lakeport is cheaper than anything else available in the store and it isn't so foul that I can find somewhere to dispose of the leftovers. I've only set my traps twice, but the Lupine's are starting to recover now - so I'm feeling good about it. I did find it more effective on slugs compared to earwigs. I think I only caught 1 or 2 earwigs - everything else was slugs.

The final total for precipitation yesterday was a whopping 51.2 mm, after 28.2 the day before bringing us to a grand total of 130 mm for July (the average for July over 30 years is around 74.4 mm). This follows a June that saw about 110.4 mm (average is 74.2 mm) and a May with 68.8 (average is 72.4 mm) which is a touch low, but probably not all that statisically significant. So, there are 10 days left in July... it will be interesting to see what that brings - there is still a fair bit of rain forcast. What makes this a bit interesting is that the EC 6 month forecast suggested a slightly hotter and dryer than normal summer and so far, this hasn't come true. (which is great for my lawn because I refuse to feed it potable water unless there is a dire temporary need.) So, everything is looking great. The asian lillies are fading out, but the day lillies are fading in and the echinacaea is putting on a real show, soon to be joined by lots of brown-eyed susans.

The advice to everyone from my favourite horoscopian is to "steer clear of self-criticism and excessive worrying about problems that cannot be solved." I suspect that this is good advice in general, but I'm particulary guilty of both lately, so I'm going to try to take it to heart.

Cheers

Hosta-ile Software and other news

In happy gardening news - most of the hostas are in varying stages of flowering and one of the neatest parts of having a variety of hostas is seeing just how different their flowers can be. The one above has a bud that looks like pinapple, and individual flowers pop out from the bottom out. There were also 2 new wildflowers, however I didn't get good pictures yesterday when they came out and the rain last night pretty much ruined them. One of them in particular was a really neat looking carmine and white poppy, while the other was a simple, but elegant white poppy. Of course, the really neat looking one fell apart this morning when I tried to take a picture. So, I'm hoping that that there will be another one later that I promise I will take a picture of. Otherwise, there wasn't a whole lot going on in the garden this morning... except that I did manage, in a record half an hour, to finish planting all but 2 of the remaining plants to be planted. I would have planted them, but they were in the front and I totally forgot about them. I have a few other chores building up too - the lawn needs mowing (although with up to 30 mm of rain in the next 48 hours - I think that'll have to wait) - my mystery weed that I am concerned may be poison ivy needs to be dealt with very soon to prevent whatever it is from becoming a permanant visitor and since I'm still unsure - I'm going to have to assume it is poison ivy and to the gloves thing and hope I'm not allergic or that it isn't poison ivy. I'm holding the squirrels responsible if it is though. :P I also should actually tie some plants to the carefully placed stakes and improve the staking of my tomatos before some disaster occurs.

In space news, yesterday, after almost a month of being spotless a cycle 23 spot was confirmed (#1000). Unfortunately the solar cycle that is supposed to be spotting up the sun any time now is solar cycle 24... so... I guess we'll still have to wait. See the link for details and pictures and stuff.

In earth weather news, Baker Lake reached 29 C yesterday - not a record, (the highest recorded temperature in the last 30 years was 33.6 C) however it was higher than the max here 28.7 C and 11 C higher than the normal maximum temperature for the date. Definately not a day for wearing parkas and big winter boots.

Lastly, I'm trying, a bit anyways, to learn a few words of Inuktitut. So, here is the word for today:

Qanuippit? meaning "how are you?" and pronounced something like con-hwheat-peat. If you click on the link it will take you to a Inuktitut Language Learning Site - Tusaalanga Inuktitut - where if you click on the words - then a recording of how they sound will play.

Cheers,

Jennith

Polly Wog in a Bog by BNL

I sort of thought that this song went with the theme of my blog - I picked it up from the BNL webpage.

These guys played one of the first concerts I ever went to - which involved sitting on a blanket in the pouring rain on the grass seats at Canada's Wonderland. While I've moved around a lot in my music tastes over the years - I still give them credit for being one of the most original and interesting bands ever. And heck, who else sings about Pollywogs in bogs...

Blog Tag, I'm it.

Well, this is my first time ever been blog-tagged or even part of a blogging community and I have to say its kind of cool.

So the original challenge was to ask "your significant other to tell you three things that they know about you and then publish this information on your blog. You also have to pick more victims and then go to their blogs and leave them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged. The comment must end with the word ‘pthththth’", but its transmuted to leave the significant other part out or at least make it optional. I was tagged by Kennie from Tales of the Arctic.

So... 3 random factoids about me:

1. I can actually touch the tip of my nose with my tongue. Unfortunately, this was my only weird talent as a child which was tough because my best friend could roll her tongue, cross one eye, shake her eyeballs and dilocate her shoulders at will - leaving me just a little outclassed.

2. I, with the help of various friends, created no less than 4 languages and 3 alphabets as a youth, and I can still speak a bit of NOYB and a bit of Yamish. I do have to admit that one alphabet was an adaption of Tolkein's Rune's and the other based on the idea of Ogham, but I rearanged the pattern to make it easier to remember.

3. I have stood in a stream on a dark and freezing winter night wearing nothing, but chest waders (and long underwear, jeans, 3 pairs of socks etc) and a tshirt with my arm in the water nearly to my armpit, all in the name of science.... Now I know -26 C is warm for Nunavut in January... but its ruddy cold for playing in a stream.

Now the last part, who to tag?

Way Way Up for being one of the first Nunavut Blogs I started following
Shelley from The Big Move for having an excellent appreciation of flowers
Gabriel from What a Life because its been way too long since he's posted anything
Geoff from Coast of Araska because he got me into blogging in the first place
and Colin from Grog! for aiding and abetting him.

I guess I should go leave some comments now...

Daylily of the day

And here is the new one for today!

Yesterdaylily

Okay.. new colour that opened up yesterday.

Wildflower from seed #4

A nice red poppy :D

Wildflower from seed # 5

Forget-me-not?? I'm not sure.. but here it is.

Bees on Blanket Flower

:D...

Hello Yellow

The last major job for the year was to clean up an area along the fence and plant it with purple and yellow coneflowers - its almost done - I'm just short about 2-4 plants, but it looks much better with all the weeds gone :D.

Welcome to the Bee Buffet

On my lunchtime tour of the garden to see if there is anything (mostly wilting) that required immediate action I snapped a bunch of pictures capturing the action at the Bee Buffet - although this large fuzzy bee (I know - I'll have to as my SIL for the scientific name) was hanging out on this lovely purple coneflower - the catmint and beebalm are far more popular - but also harder to get a picture of...

There is some concern about massive declines in bee populations in certain areas of North America.. so I'm glad I can do my bit and provide some good eats - and I appreiciate their pollination of my flowers in return... :D

Heuchara in the Shade

Good shade plants are hard to find - and this one has been flowering away for well over a month bringing much needed brightness to a terminally shaded area. Yeah for Heuchara - (in particular raspberry ice heuchara).

Another new face

Bryan finally made it into to this world safe and sound and healthy. He's already learned about holding dad's hand. Congrats guys...

Pink Mallow

Here is the next new face in the wildflower garden.

Milestones and Hurdles

Today has been a wacky, but good day. I've been clipping along on my model - I'm not as done as I'd hoped this morning, but if you'd asked me yesterday at lunch if I'd be as far as I am now, I'd have laughed at you....

I've been trying to follow a few rules to keep me functioning - 1. I have to exercise every day and 2. I have to go to bed when I start feeling sleepy and 3. I have to try to eat healthy, no matter how much thesis writing induces cravings for chocolate - I at least have to try and satisfy it with carrots and apples first. So, today I went swimming for the first time since staying at the super 8 in Midland ((I wish I had a picture of the pool to post). This one was taken by a talented photographer - the reality is slightly smaller than I'd hoped from this picture. That said, I have nothing negative to say about the hotel. The service was A++, the price was reasonable, the room was amazing and it included a decent breakfast. -- But I've totally digressed))

So, today I went to the local 25 m long pool for the evening lane swim - something I only do occasionally because I'm too fast for the medium lane and not fast enough for the fast lane which sometimes makes swimming frustrating and its super crowded (oh.. and once upon a time I was a lifegaurd which has left me with an aversion to being cold and wet). Today, after the first 30 minutes, it actually cleared out and it was actually pretty decent swimming.... and I swam 42 laps - 1.05 km and while I think I'm going to have some unusual muscles sore tomorrow, it was a nice switch from aerobics. On my way to the pool, I zipped into Sears to pick up a obusform pillow on sale - and just happened to stop to check out their dress sale - for the most part nothing I could afford really called to me, until on the last rack I found it... the perfect little black dress - on super sale and in my size! So, what the heck - I don't have anything coming up before I move to the land of parkas and insulated rubber boots to wear it to - but there are some things that you just don't walk away from even if you have no immediate use for them... and someone has got to get married eventually and now I will have a proper dress and I won't have to race out shopping for it.... Of course, when I told my friend... she wanted to know what evil being had kidnapped Jenn and replaced her with an imposter... but hey... I hate shopping for clothes - so when something finds me... really... best I get it over with.

But really, what made today an absolute treat was a feeling of sucess after so many days of frustration with this software. I'm getting sleepy, so I'm going to have to obey rule #2 - but hopefully if the last part phase 2 goes well, I should be well into phase 3 by the end of tomorrow - leaving me the last phase for the next couple of days because its a bit more fiddly. But once that is done, I just have to finish writing it up an then its all about editting, fixing, and I may even get to go to Algonquin, paddle a canoe, hike my favourite trails, swim in the Lake of Two Rivers..... and there you go - an incentive that can't be beaten.

Good night,

Jennith.

Dawn of the Daylillies

Here is the first flower, from the third plant to flower. I can't wait for the who bed to erupt in daylillies even though they could still benefit from increased sunlight.

Wildflower Seeds Bloom #2

So two of these have bloomed in the wildflower garden. In other gardening news - I think we should have another colour of daylily open today too. Otherwise, not much is new. There is a bit of digging here and there and I'll have to get out my feeding gear today or tomorrow, but otherwise - its going well.

In other news - I finally had a major breakthrough yesterday and after hitting a major road block, I've manage to move quickly through the next few steps. I'm hoping to have the ugly part done to day and initial results. The next messy part is schedule for sometime tomorrow - if I can hang on to this pace there is still a hope for summer...

Yesterday's horoscope:

Rather than assume that something must be going wrong, try working on the basis that it is actually all going very well – but you just can't yet see why this is. Soon, you'll discover that there is a most inspiring reason why things are as they are.

I can't imagine what is inspiring about grueling days of frustration, but I'm very glad that things are moving much better today - which brings me to today's horoscope:

You are discovering what is unsatisfactory, a sign you are on the way to putting things right. The more swiftly you face what needs to be faced, the sooner you will fix it.

And this seems to be bang on - I think I've had a nice preception shift - or at least I'm a lot more optimistic than I felt a few hours before... and hope will hopefully lend me some much needed wings to fly over any remaining road blocks.

Open you eyes.... open your eyes.....

Well - Brown-Eyed Susan - you are planted and ready to grow - so open your eyes to the wide and wonderful world. My darling sibloid dug a nice little bed and I planted some echinacaea and Brown-Eyed Susan there - unfortunately for this particular plant I think I droped it in the process of planting it and may have snapped off the flowers. I tried some staking in hopes that the woinded stalk will be okay, but if it isn't tonight... I'll bring it in and stick it in the vase of wounded plants with flower buds.

Garden View

A couple of people asked me to put up a non-closeup of the garden. I've been waiting for one that does it justice, but it just isn't going to happen I don't think. This one isn't too bad though. A nice close view of the main perrenial bed and you can see the daylilies in the distance and even a corner of the woodland garden.

Things I didn't plant

Well, I didn't plant these - at least not knowingly - but they have a quaint authenticity that I appreciate. In the background is some vinca (aka periwinkle) and the other vine is either less fancy periwinkle or honeysuckle.

On the topic of spontaneous authenticity -I'm in the library and I can see/hear some sort of children's program in the distance - I doubt these kids know each other save for siblings and a few pairs, but they are crammed together on the floor, poking each other, giggling, making faces and showing off their ability to perform semi-double jointed feats.... and they all appear to be smiling - so kudos to the guy running the program... he even has them raising their hands. Sometimes I wish I was a kid.. I think sitting on a floor cross legged listening to someone read me a story and being able to impress people by touching my nose with my tounge or my wrist with my thumb or crossing my eyes... well.. it sounds blissful compared to having software that stubornly refuses to complete your requests often crashing.....and then leaving me to sift through piles of vauge documentation that has yet to inform me of which stupid little semi-colon I've forgotten in a line of programming... Sigh...

First of the wildflowers

Here is the first of the wildflowers seeds to bloom. I took a picture of the second this morning, but I haven't downloaded it yet. I have this bad feeling that I've already posted this picture... so my apologies in that case.

Summer is Birthday Season

Where is the fire extinguisher?? Here is one of my sibloids birthday cakes with a small inferno going - although he's doing better than the rest of us.... There is one birthday we are still waiting for... and for all I know he's on his way into this world and I promise - pictures to follow here and more likely on the proud father's blog. I took Alex to a local watering hole to play pool. I feel a bit bad in retrospect given that this is his first post birthday bar trip that he had only a single beer and I had.... a diet coke (it was a good diet coke though and I'm sure my car appreciated not being operated by a drunk or left in overnight in that neighbourhood!) However, after not being excessive in drinking we did do something evil - we ate McDonald's at 2 am. But.. we did split 1 order of fries... so slightly less evil. Caloriewise I think it is 3 beer:1 order of fries - maybe even 4....

A Salad PIcture for December

I'm posting this here for myself in 6 months when I will be able to fully appreciate what a luxury this fresh, green salad is... I mean its wonderful now, but scarcity and price make the heart grow fonder.

Speaking of my move - I looked up the climate normals for Baker Lake to see if I needed to get my winter boots before leaving or if it could wait until Christmas. The average daily temperature for December is -28.4 C - slightly warmer than January and February, but not much. I'm thinking boots before I go for sure. Its funny - I have probably a better than average set of warm clothes - I already had a parka and a selection of weights of long underwear (6 years working as Campus Police which often involves 6-8 hours walking about campus in the winter - some of that was in Thunder Bay too - not exactly toasty at 2 am in February) and I had a decent pair of winter boots, but I've had them since 1996 - so they were already slated for replacement as I've worn right through the heels and they leak. What I lacked were a number of basic household items having sold a good portion of my stuff when I moved back here and having had no reason to replace any of it yet. But I think aside from the boots and maybe a pair of skidoo gloves I'm ready for my move or as ready as I can be without knowing what I'm going to miss.

Looking over the climate data again, perhaps the most telling number is that the highest temperature ever recorded in October was 9.7 C and its expected that there is at least 1 cm of snow 22/31 days. This makes October sound a lot like December here - actually it makes it colder. The average daily temperature for December in Toronto is - 2.9 C, compare that to the average daily temperature for October in Baker Lake (-7.5 C) which actually leaves Baker Lake consistantly colder in October than even January or February here. Comparing to Thunder Bay (Daily Average October Temperature of 5 C) and Fredericton ( 7 C) and Toronto (8.9 C) - its a lot colder. For Kashechewan there is no climate normal data, but Moosenee (on the coast but somewhat south) October is 3.4 C while Landsdowne House (similar latitude, but much further from James Bay has a daily average October temperature of 2.4 C) I suppose when you look a place up on Youtube and get a tonne of blizzard movies - you should just assume you need winter boots. So, I guess, I'd better enjoy my salads while I can and work on getting those boots.

Latitudewise - Toronto is 43 40.8', Fredericton is 45 52.2', Thunder Bay is 48 22.2', Kashechewan is 52 17.6' and Baker Lake is 64 18.0'.

You want me to go outside when its that hot - whatever!

Here she is - actually probably preparing her please feed me table scraps - I never get anything good face for supper. However, the AC vent is right behind her and definately a favourite place to chill especially after a walk.

The Coolest Geraniums Ever Have Flowered

Yeah!!! They did make it through the winter.

In other news, if you can see the sky there is a 30% chance of norther lights Ottawa and north.

Portuluca in the Rain

Really cool little plant. This flower may be melon but there is another on the same plant that is a red-purple colour. A different plant today produced a yellow, a fushia and an orange flower today. I'm not sure how the plant does it. Its also grown a huge amount since planting - 5 stars for this one. I'm glad I finally got some in the garden.

Blood Spattered Lily

I don't know the real name of this lily - but it really looks like something died messily nearby. It does make for a nice patch of bright colour in that corner of the garden - even if it wasn't the peaches and cream that I was hoping for.

Johnson Sings the Blues

The flower may be blue, but the sky isn't - I'm about to be chased inside by the rumbling thunder, soon to be followed by the 2nd downpour of the day.

Nasturium

Here is it.. the first flower from the nasturium. One pack of seeds equals many plants :D

Sunspots on a rainy day

Everything got a good soaking today - including our poor dog - although I think she appreciated the cooler weather. So in honour of the gloomy weather I threw up this sunny little Sundown Echinacaea. I've only observed the garden through the kitchen window today - so I don't know if there is anything new or exciting. I did notice that a few more lillies were open. Yesterday there were signs of digging in the box on the deck rail and something completely dug up a viola which I tucked back into the dirt, but I don't know how hopeful I feel about its survival.

There are still no sunspots on the face of the sun - however - there is official word that this is completely normal and all the folk theorizing global cooling due to reduced solar activity can give it a rest for a while as Nasa expects the solar maximum to occur sometime in 2012. In the meantime, the sun is going into its third week of spotlessness, however the rate of the solar wind is up today and there is a 30% chance of auroral activity in the next 48 hours - at least if you are a bit further north - Say Ottawa at a minimum. I'm tempted to road trip, but I unfortuanately have other things I need to do... so perhaps some of you northern folk will have to let me know how it went. Here is the forecast from the Alaska University.

Today, I'm officially 1 month from heading north - where I won't need to consider road tripping when I want to see the nothern lights!!! Here is to lots of sunspots and auroral events for me to photograph in the coming years. :D

Jennith

The Day the Lilies Bloomed

So, far only the 2 yellow daylillies on the back corners of the bed have bloomed. I'm sure they are getting a bit more shade than they'd like owing to the crab apple tree's ongoing expansion - however, most of the other plants are finally starting to send up flowering shoots... so hopefully pictures of red, salmon, peach and orange daylilies to follow soon. In the meantime, this one plant is making up for the rest of the bed. Today, I also found the first nasturium flower - orange and yellow hiding under a mop of wobbly foliage and curly stems. The beebalm is slowly unfurling and the next mystery plant has flowers buds - but no flowers yet. I did assume that it was a returning blanket flower, but in fact I now believe it is the dwarf brown-eyed susan. Hopefully, I'll find out soon. In the wildflower section, the seeds have produced a mass of greenery and now a few flower buds. I have no idea what to expect - but some guesses include: buttercup, poppy, asters, chickweed and willowherb - but really - I'll have to wait for the flowers. I'm also still waiting for one last overwintered geranium to flower - because I'm hoping it is one of my favoriteones with white petals and pink edges - the buds show promise that this is indeed true. Also there is finally (several months later than last year) a single flower bud growing on my african violet.

Otherwise, nothing new to report. I'm going to procure a can of colt 45 for the slugs and earwigs and I'll have to do something about the powdery mildew on the columbine. Its another day of bright sun and warm temperatures today and that can bring quick changes.

Bound for the Barrens

In exciting news, I have been officially added to the Nunavut Blog ring with a month and a day before take-off. This is definately one of the biggest shifts in direction in my life - and I'm extremely excited. I'm excited to call myself a teacher again and I'm am also glad to be returning to the north.

Above, my grandfather is canoeing in some lake up in the barrens, possibly with the aid of a caribou - and herein lies the source of my northern blood - that itch for the great silence of solitude, the sense of wonder for the shimmering of the northern lights and my appreciation of wilderness. Was it in my mother's blood having been born in the light of the midnight sun herself or merely a childhood of stories about life in the barrens. All I know is that I have a sense of the rightness of my current direction - and most days you can't beat that.

I'm slowly gathering bits of knowledge about my new home - the internet is good for that. You'll notice a few things on the righthand side. There is a list of Nunavut Bloggers whose sites I've been visiting - I'm sure that this list will continue to grow. The first link in the list "NUNAVUT BLOGS" is a fairly extensive list of northern bloggers offering you everything from commentary on their day to day life to more details bits about the land and the communities themselves. There are some absolutely achingly beautiful photographs of this harsh land of delicate detail. Kluglanoch Corner has a large quantity of beautiful photos and Tales from the Arctic is another really good one off the top of my head, but there are several more and probably some that I haven't even stumbled across yet.

As for the northern lights, I've heard that July 11th or July 12th are the next most likely dates - but I'll keep you posted on that.

Jennith

Hosta La Vista

Here is the first hosta to flower.

Peaches and Cream?

I'm sure that this was supposed to be a "Peaches and Cream" Lily - it (cough) appears to be another colour entirely.

The Asian Lily Openeth

After waiting with much anticipation for these guys to open - here is the first of the second shade of lily to open in the centre bed.

Sundown Echinacaea

These flowers have slowly been filling out and gaining colour. They are one of 3 shades of echinacaea that I'm growing.

Mullein - Jackie Hybrid

This is still one of my favourite additions for the year. In the background you can see two types of "tutti-fruiti" yarrow - one in a soft reddish melon and the other in a crimson.

Blanket FLower

I added just a few more things to the garden yesterday - finally getting the Astilbe, Iris and Hosta planted that I've had for quite some time. (Growl at the dratted clay for making this a considerable chore). I also picked up quite a few different types of blanket flower. I can't remember what this one is called - but I also got a yellow one, a burgandy one, and an "oranges and lemons" one. They added some much needed yellow and red to my pink and purple perennial bed.

Mystery Solved

This is my new mystery plant - for a while I assumed that it was brown-eyed susan - becuase I did actually plant some in the vicinity of this one - however, my new guess is that it is Mondara and I have finally got my beebalm after much trying and ending up with lemon balm. It is definately a mint with its nice square stem and slightly fragrant leaves - and so hopefully the flowers will open soon for final identification.

Daisy Fleabane

This was the once mystery plant - now identified as daisy fleabane - although that may not be quite its exact name.

Astilbe Stuns

Well, here is a much needed burst of colour in the summer for my woodland garden. Its currently in good company with the heuchara and the Jacob's ladder.

Public Enenmy #3 - Random Weeds

My first thought is that these seedlings were Poison Ivy - however upon further investigation it seems likely that this is a Virginia Creeper seedling. It can also cause dermatitis in some people - but it is less evil that poison ivy. The other random weed is of course the dreaded maple seedlings - which I'm still battling at this time.

Here is a fun site called "Is it Poison Ivy?"

My last thought for the day is that its been over 2 weeks since there as been any sunspots - so much for my taking northern lights pictures. For those who are keen - the best guesses by the forcasters for the next month and a half are July 12-13th, and August 8th... otherwise... all is expected to be quiet....

The Killer Bunny about to Bolt

Public Enemy #2 - The Dreaded Killer Bunny

Okay - this fellow, unlike my earwig friends - is hard to hold a grudge against. He is probably more destructive and I don't like the places I've caught him hanging out (although he hasn't seemed to have eaten any daylilies yet) - however... so cute is he - that he melts any anger I bear towards him. He's actually pretty small - so I'm guessing he was born this spring. Hopefully, he keeps my plants out of his stomach or I'll have to let the dog chase him around a bit so he finds some other garden to hang out in.

Fly Boys Discuss Next Mission

Okay - I really have no beef with the flies - at least none known. Just thought they'd fit in well with the earwigs.

Earwig Eats the Daisy

See - I'm not kidding and we won't even discuss how many I found in the center of some roses....

Pests #1 - The Earwig

I think a shocking amount of the insect problem's in my garden can be blamed on the earwig - certainly the roses and the daisies have been under seige. All my life I've defended the lowly earwig to my campers. I tell them not to kill them because they are only ugly - not harmful and to save their murderous urges for things that bite - like mosquitos. Little did I know.... Still at camp really - aside from grossing out even "Nature Girl Jennith" once and a while (nothing like putting on a "clean" t-shirt" only to have 5 or 6 wriggly earwig crawl out... or putting your hand into an innocent looking oven mitt only to feel squiggling at your finger tips) - they aren't known to bite people or as the urban legend insists crawl into peoples ears. I'll post a picture of one munching on one of my daisies shortly.

The Kindergarten's Were Playing with my Geraniums

Well - maybe not quite - but who would of thunk that I'd find splatter paint geraniums!!

Promises

Gemini (May 21 — June 21)
Do not be bullied by someone's controlling ways. Psychologically, emotionally and even materially, you stand to benefit if you follow your heart's path. A tricky time of your life is nearing completion. Deep satisfaction approaches.

The Toronto Star

Here's hoping thats true.

Today I woke up dreaming that some horrid virus had struck leaving us cut off in the north and sort of how that played out. I woke up overly warm and quickly moved to close my window - realizing too late that I'd put my glasses in the path of the window, rather than on the ledge - so all in all a sketchy start to the day. However, the gentleman at Walmart fixed my glasses and I was able to pick up contacts. I found an inexpensive and perfect watering head for our hose - so long as it stands up to use, then I'll be gald not to have forked out for the more expensive one - as I like the features on this one better.

My attempt to reduce my earwig population by enticing them to drink themselves to death has not resulted in any changes in the earwig population. It has taken out a very small number of slugs. If anyone has some really gross beer they wish to donate to my garden, I think I'll try again.

The mystery flowers seem to have lilac coloured centres - meaning that they aren't dwarf brown eyed susan's as I'd expected (I did plant some of those last year.). I'm still waiting to see what they are.

In bloom today: Catamint, Echinacea (white and purple), pansies, daisies, mimulus, columbine, hosta, showy evening primrose, yellow daylily, orange daylily, fern leaved bleeding heart, jacob's ladder, bricknell's geranium (purple, blue, and white), heuchara (raspberry ice and purple), tomato, snapdragons, begonias (fiberous), Geraniums, yarrow, daisy fleabane, mullein, thyme, lupine, lamina, roses, asian lily, guara, lithodora, rock rose, lipstick strawberries, bunchberry, astilbe, ajuga, osteoperinum, salvia, new ginea impatiens, and I'm sure a few more that I can't think of off the top of my head.... I almost am tempted to go work on the porch outside - it might be good for my brain.

New Mystery Plant

Not sure what this is going to be... but its nearly open, so I'll let you know when I do.

Climbing Jacob's Ladder

This is one of the best new plants that I've learned about this year - and now its flowering. The leaves are pretty cool and it has thrived in terms of growth - but the flowers leave me even more impressed.

Sprung from seeds

Everything on the right hand side of the photo (well most of it) was grown from seed. Except the mint and echinacea (returnees from last year), rose bush (long time resident) and bushes in the background that you can't see. On the left hand side is a box of annual that I planted this year and behind are 2 zebra Mallows and a Brown-Eyed Susan that I planted this year. I'm curious as to what exactly is growing fom the wildflower seeds that I sowed. One is near flowering... I'll keep you posted.

Echinacacaea Alone

Echinacaea Entering

3 more echinacaea flowers nearly in bloom.

Roses in Reverse

There is a new single out by David Usher - "Kill the Lights" available on itunes - and there is my unsubtle David Usher plug. Its a pretty decent song :D. Today was a nice family day - and while I didn't get a sunburn, nearly every muscle in my body hurts.

Forestry Practice

I went to battle with the closing canopy in our back yard, hopefully buying our cherry tree a few more years now that it is only shaded on 2 sides rather than 3. I cut down the tree growing through the fence that the city told me to get rid of. It was this particular tree that was shading the cherry tree from the side and the top. Hopefully, the tree will look a bit healthier now that it should get a lot more light. Its made a small gap in the canopy in that spot, but there are 3 small maples on the other side of the fence that will fill it in shortly, and then the cherry tree will be in trouble again. I also trimmed a few small limbs off the lower part of a few of the silver maples, which should give the center perenial bed a touch more light in the morning. I put up some hangers on the maple that had been growing through the fence and hung a geranium basket from it. Its actually worked out not badly. I'm a touch worried that I was outside too long and may have managed to get a nasty sunburn. So far I'm okay, but I was out for quite a few hours. Granted that our backyard is still fairly shady, but I was in the sunny part a fair bit. I'd better get back out - with my big floppy hat and sundscreen and get the flowers watered. I skipped out on the gym, but I think 5 hours of cutting, sawing, climbing, hauling, baling, sweeping and pruning should make up for it - especially if I do a couple of squats and sit ups. I'll come back in a bit with a few more pictures of everything all tidied up.

Water Supply Woes Whereever I Wander

It seems, with the notable exception of Fredericton, NB's grade A+ water, I can't seem to move to a location where there isn't a problem with the water supply. I happened to be living in Thunder Bay (pop. 125,000) when E. Coli levels in an aging resevoir on the west side of town (owing in part to contamination from a large goose population) resulted in about 50 % of residents being on a boil water order for over 6 months. Then I moved to Kashechewan, infamous for its ongoing drinking water issues (due to inadequate maintenace of sewage pond outflows, the water treatment plant and overall flaws in the design of the systems given the tidal nature of the Albany River, the presence of dam building beavers, and the actual population living in the town of Kashechewan (pop. 1500-2000) being double the capacity of the water treatment plant). Now I am moving to Baker Lake, and it appears that there are several concerns regarding the safety of the water supply. I understand from other articles that recent improvements have been made to prevent contamination to the lake from the dump during the spring flood. Today, I stumbled across an article on the CBC website citing concerns by the Hamlet's Mayor regarding historic fuel spills on the east part of the town. Although, there has not been contamination of the drinking water supply yet by the slowly moving plume of hydrocarbons, future problems are possible. It appears that these spills, like those in Attiwapiskat occurred when a federal agency was in charge of delivering fuel to the community. Sigh - that water resource engineering degree might come in handy afterall. I'm thinking that it might be fun to work a bit of groundwater hydraulics into one of the senior courses - as much as I really don't like the idea of my future water supply being at risk, I think it would be cool to turn it into a real-life, relevant teaching opportunity. So, I guess I'll add that to my list of lessons to design in my spare time.

The movers have come and gone and now there is just over a month before I leave. (YIKES!!!) The move went pretty smoothly - the guys were professional and efficient and the weather was perfect - sunny, calm and cool - so we carried out the process on the driveway which is way nicer than it would have been had there been stairs, doors, and furniture to work around. I finally found insulated rubber boots in my size at Canadian Tire - I suspect that there isn't much demand for serious warm wear for women, since everyone seems to have way better selection in mens gear - and I had to get my boots in boys sizes - but I think that is the last major thing I needed. I will need good winter boots, but no one carries them in June for some reason. Hopefully as I get closer to the fall they will start coming in... Its definately been an interesting experience moving up north - and I haven't even left yet. *mental musical interlude* Due North... thats the way I'm headed..... Due-ooh North

Mississauga Fireworks

A few more firework pictures...

The City Centre on Fire (works)

I think I missed out on a good chunk of the display as it was on the far side of the building, but it made for some interesting pictures. Fredericton still has some of the best Canada Day fireworks going, but it was better than missing out completely.

Canada Day Thoughts

I inadvertantly dressed in red and white this morning. I wore my red rad pants - more to combat mosquitos on the hike than because I thought about it and a white t-shirt - again to discourage mosquitos rather than as an act of patriotism. Turns out - I could have worn shorts, the bugs really weren't that bad, but I wasn't overheated either.

I can't believe it is already July - I don't remember June happening - it just seemed to fly by. So here it is - only a month and a bit before I leave - my food is done - save buying a few thing to bring with me, my stuff is 97% ready for the movers this week which leaves me with 3 things to do - finish my thesis, pack for the plant and then tidy my room so it can used by everyone else next year. Thats a lot of ground to cover - which makes today's hike a bit of a treat and my mom is making me go see a movie with the family and watch fireworks... which means that I off to tackle the first because until it is squared away I really can't do anything fun and its summer and I really wouldn't mind getting at least a few nights of camping in and maybe a trip up to Ottawa/Kingston to see all the folk there.

So... today may be mostly holiday, but I'm hoping if I really crack the whip for the next week or so, I might have some time before the end to squeeze a bit of holiday in before I head up north. So... cross your fingers for me.

JP

Saint John's Wort

The coolest thing about these plants is the pin-sized holes in their leaves that you can see when you hold them up to the light. Another plant I'd love in my garden.

The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind

Its nice having a camera that blurs the background again.

The only butterfly I caught

Well, the swallowtails, admirals, monarchs and other large butterflies were not cooperating, but this little guy did sit still look enough to get photographed.

Butter and Eggs Please

Wildflowers are so often underestimated - few of the fancy plants match this one for sunniness.

HAPPY CANADA DAY

Daisies on the edge of the escarpment at Mount Nemo. Today was the last day on my pass, so I got up early and took a short hike on the Bruce Trail. I won't be renewing my pass this year because I'm moving so far away, but I guess having the pass run out now will push me to hike in some new places.