It's 10 C this morning, 15 March 2025; spring is here and winter has come to end. This was a winter we are happy to see the end of, very cold, a lot of snow, and hard on all of us. Right now the garden doesn’t look like much, it's still winter, it's still covered with snow, but soon it will be green and full of flowers, birds will be at the bird bath, life will return to life.
It’s June and with the warm spring weather the garden is thriving; some days it feels more like mid-July. Below are some photos taken on June 4, 2024.
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| The garden has assumed an identity of its own, and I like weeds, I like insects visiting the garden, I like an aspect of the unplanned assertion by nature. |
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| Foxglove |
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| Hostas |
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| It's not that I am particularly fond of hostas but that the garden is 85% shade, and as we know hostas grow best in the shade. |
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For ten years I had someone cut the grass for me and then, without warning, their business is now "temporarily closed"; so this purchase was hasty and almost impulsive. I used to push a hand mower, one purchased by my mother back in 1963 when I was expected to mow an enormous lawn, I think that mower ended up in storage and I used a gas lawn mower, and eventually I did use the old hand mower here where we've been living since 1997. Losing the person who used to cut our grass I decided I would cut it myself, good exercise I thought... And I didn't want to buy a gas or electric lawn mower, not for a small lawn as we have. So I ended up buying a Fiskars hand driven lawn mower. It does a great job but 1. it was very expensive ("a fool and his money are easily parted" eh?), and 2. it is very heavy to push; as for cutting the grass, it's great! |
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| The welcome appearance of weeds. |
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| Miniature iris |
The entrepreneur who wanted to build a 12 story mixed condo/commercial building on this site was defeated in a referendum.The fact is this is a poor location for luxury living, it's beside a huge rail yard with the noise of trains shunting, trains coming and going, and cars and trucks entering and leaving the area; as well, the small strip mall across the street from the proposed condo has never been a success, it's maybe half occupied, so who will shop at the stores in the proposed condo/commercial area? And, finally, this is a low density area of single family dwellings, not condos, not apartments, but families with parents, children, the elderly, working people, all living in homes they rent or own; it is an isolated location unless you have a car. The local residents are hostile to the proposed building they attempted to impose on their neighbourhood, they voted against it; who would vote in favour of a year or longer of construction -- danger to their children caused by large trucks, noise, and dirt -- followed by a needlessly large 12 story, or even a six story, building looming over one's home and community and an influx of strangers? How does that affect one's property taxes? How does that affect the quality of one's life? It doesn't. The age of the 12 story complex in this area has come to an end, but what will be proposed next?
