T.L. Morrisey

Monday, August 29, 2022

A garden is an oasis

People talk about their backyard decks as being like an additional room off the house, that it's an extension of the inside of your home. The more comfortable the deck the more inviting it is and the more it will be used. Of course, the deck is there at the cost of your garden, your backyard is covered over with wood, stairs, garden furniture, a barbecue, an umbrella, chairs, and more, maybe a few garden gnomes and a small pond with fish in it and a fountain! If you have children or want to socialize outside then you'll want a deck.   

When I walk around this neighbourhood I see a lot of cars, driveways, roads, parking lots, trucks, front lawns and some gardens, a backyard area behind the houses and between adjacent streets, some birds and some people. Then, I return to my garden and it seems an oasis of peace and quiet, flowers and plants; if you plant a perennial garden you've invited birds and insects and maybe some nocturnal urban wildlife to visit or live in your garden. Mother Nature will appreciate your effort!

But a Canadian cottage garden, like a deck, is also an extension of your home; you can see your garden when you look out of the window and the more pleasant you've made your garden the more time you'll want to spend there. Your garden is also like a room just as a patio and deck are like a room, but they are otherwise different. Our backyard used to have an apple tree (it's still there), some raspberry canes that had been neglected, weeds, and grass; it was not particularly welcoming but it was good enough. It was good enough but you didn't want to spend much time there. Something could be said in favour of a weed garden, uncut grass, a neglected space, a space that has gone to seed (literally). It must have been about six years ago that I began to transform our backyard into a garden and since then it has become what I wanted, a cottage garden, an oasis of sorts, with perennial flowers, a place where many birds visit the bird bath or just fly over, a place with lots of flowers and lots of insects. 

Each of us can make something of beauty, in some way we can restore some peace to life, affirm life, restore some goodness to life. Everyday we are surrounded by change as though change has some kind of merit in itself; I believe that not changing has some merit. Government has taken over many (most?) aspects of life and, frankly, our society is worse today than it was ten years ago when the current government was elected. Are you better off today than you were in 2012? Obviously not if you live in Canada; high inflation, more homeless people than ever before, we're afraid to get sick because our medical system is falling apart, the national debt has never been as large as it is now, a prime minister who has no moral compass, and Quebec moving relentlessly to separation from Canada. We used to discuss things and we respected that other people had differing opinions; however,  discussion is a thing of the past as people are cancelled or yelled at or otherwise shut up. Intolerance and outrage prevail! 

My only complaint about my garden is that it's too shady; I planted hostas where it is most shady. I've learned that many perennial flowers don't need either direct sunlight or sunlight all day; gardeners have to adapt to what they actually have.  







Sunday, August 28, 2022

Butterflies visiting . . .




The interesting thing about this photograph is the butterfly's proboscis, it's
the long tube extending from the butterfly's face to the flower on which it sits,
and is used to extract nectar from the flower. You can also see the butterfly's 
antennae, the two protruding wire-like appendages on its head. 



Saturday, August 27, 2022

Crow visiting . . .

I played the recorded sound of  crows, a few minutes later this young crow seemed to drop out of the tree above the bird bath. Had he heard the bird sounds? Or was it just a coincidence...







Friday, August 26, 2022

Cardinals visiting . . .

I wondered, if I play bird sounds (found online), will the birds respond? On my IPhone I played Cardinals singing, a minute later I heard real-life Cardinals responding; then, two Cardinals flew over my head and (see way down below) you can see one of the Cardinals sitting in a tree after I played "Cardinals, bird sounds", that's what you Google to get these sites, one in particular, "all about birds", is the site that I used. Cardinals are friendly birds and they aren't particularly shy. The first photographs below were taken when a Cardinal swooped down and sat in the bird bath. The final photos below were taken on the morning of 20 August from our dining room window.  


This Cardinal arrived after hearing the recorded Cardinal singing





This Cardinal responded to the sound of recorded Cardinals, he sat in a tree above me





Wednesday, August 24, 2022

Honey bees on the corner of Mayfair and Terrebonne

For several years I've seen honey bees in the hydrangea bush on the corner of Mayfair and Terrebonne. I like seeing honey bees having been a beekeeper years ago, and most summers they're in my garden. By the way, this garden on Terrebonne is especially nice, it's probably one of the nicest gardens around here; it's not a typical garden, more of a cottage garden.  








Thursday, August 18, 2022

Review in the Montreal Review of Books

Ken Norris sent me this link, a review of our three new Ekstasis Editions books in the Montreal Review of Books. Great to see the review and many thanks to Robyn Fadden who wrote the review.

Here is the link, https://mtlreviewofbooks.ca/reviews/vehicule-poets-farkas-morrissey-norris/?fbclid=IwAR31auEvflf89eeI_V6jJeOffNzzhBzDGRB9HzTfJ_bKen1ErOiWSAl_dGs




The garden's progress: mid-August

When August begins the days grow shorter; now it's getting dark by 8 p.m. There is also the smell of August in the air, it's something I've noticed since I was a child; that smell of August coincided with shorter days and told me that summer didn't have long to last and then it was back to dreaded school in a few weeks and the end of my freedom. Now, the insects are singing at night, I hear them before bed around 11:30 p.m. and again at 5 a.m. I used to think fireflies were finished their business by mid-July but this year I saw them at the beginning of August; they say it was a hotter than usual summer but it seemed an average summer for heat except for the fireflies. Now we are on the downward slide to fall.








Tuesday, August 16, 2022

Down at the Village Shopping Plaza

The Village Shopping Plaza is boarded up; cement barriers keep people from parking their cars in the large parking lot behind the buildings, no one is dumping their garbage there anymore... But you can always depend on someone to change the plans. Looks like someone has entered the building with a ladder, not sure if this was done by the owners or by someone else. As far as I know we don't have squatters around here, but maybe we do. 












Update as of 23 August 2022...

Note the surveillance camera on the window on the right

More junk piled outside