flowers – Seclusion 101 with AnneMarie

Changing Seasons

September 7, 2020 by annemariedemyen, posted in nature

It is hard to find a lot of ‘positivity’ in a day that rings in at +5 Celsius and the world is turning a nasty shade of Saskatchewan greige but it is there if you look hard enough.

Kat and I geared up and went for a 3.67 kilometer walk around the neighbourhood. That was hardly a record for us this summer but it is a good 3.67 kilometers further than we used to walk on a daily basis. 😋

I have no idea what this is – the colour leaves something to be desired but I thought those hairy balls were cool. Baby tumbleweeds maybe?

I don’t know what these little cuties were either but they were blooming along the path in our neighbourhood park.

Time to get out and start harvesting everything I can from the garden. There is frost in the forecast for tonight so we will have to cover anything that isn’t ready to pick. 🤦

Have a great day! If there is heat and sunshine anywhere, get out and enjoy it! Send pics🙄

Garden Update

July 6, 2020July 6, 2020 by annemariedemyen, posted in nature, Uncategorized

We finally got a couple of decent rains this week and plenty of sunshine. The garden and flower beds are taking off now. Dan finished a couple of his little projects and we have a new regular visitor.

The frog duo got their horns painted up.

Tinkerbell got decked out with new skirt and wings.

Hope everyone had a nice weekend. Stay safe and have a good week. 😉

Random Moments

July 2, 2020July 2, 2020 by annemariedemyen, posted in life

Dan had the day off to celebrate Canada Day yesterday. We did not do anything too earth shaking but we (mostly he) got a few things accomplished and we got caught up on a few holidays.

Dan got the water pump/fountain on the pond so the birds could drink safely.

We popped the cork on our New Year’s champagne and toasted my retirement at the beginning of June

And we feasted on Dan’s Father’s Day supper of steak, shrimp, corn, mushrooms and baked potato.

Wishing everyone a particularly special day today🌞

Monday!

June 22, 2020June 22, 2020 by annemariedemyen, posted in nature

Monday is here and the sun has finally returned. Other years, I would be at work glancing out the front windows of the office, to see the sun across the street. The office faced straight north so the sun was never on our side of the street. Now I am retired and the sun is mine to enjoy every day that it shines.

I was just out watering the plants. Being out in our yard is so relaxing. I love nature. I love all forms of life – except for a few people. For the most part, I ignore people I do not care for but I do struggle with those who are arrogant or cruel.

I prefer to focus on the people and other life forms that I love.

I am not sure if rocks are considered a form of life but I love them. We have several rocks around our yard and Dan is supposed to be getting a BIG one from one of his friends shortly.

We have our first tomato! It is a beefsteak, so hopefully it grows a bit before it ripens or it will be Kat’s first tomato of the year.

A couple of these blossom have finally opened all the way. They have the strangest texture. They feel like tissue paper.

I bought this Hosta for Dan years ago. We have probably moved it four times but it has finally found its happy place. It is huge and getting bigger every year.

Dan is refinishing a couple of our frogs. He still has to paint the horns gold. I don’t know when I became a hoarder but I hate sending anything to the landfill – even rusty old frogs. 🙄

Have a good week, all! Hopefully I will have pictures of peppers and cucumbers to share soon.

Starting to Bloom

June 9, 2020June 9, 2020 by annemariedemyen, posted in nature

It seems like the flowers are taking their time this year. I have lots of plants with buds but not a lot of blossoms happening yet.

Grandpa’s Bleeding Heart is doing okay for a first year.

My Mother’s Day geraniums are still fairly prolific

Kat and I found some flowering shrubs in the park on our extra long walk yesterday.

This plant has been trying to bloom for a few days now – almost there!

I should probably we pulling the blossoms off of my chives but they are so pretty.🌞

My petunias are being beaten senseless by the wind this year but I love the way Dan painted my little Dollar Store fairy. 💖

Dandelions are not in short supply – I have probably pulled out a thousand of them so far this year – but being a kid at heart, I still find them to be sunny and cheerful.

I hope everyone has a few flowers to brighten their day – today and every day.

Garden In!

May 22, 2020May 22, 2020 by annemariedemyen, posted in life

I planted the rest of my seeds and seedlings yesterday! The garden is mostly peppers – bell, Hungarian wax, and a variety of hot peppers and tomatoes – San marzan, Roma, Tiny Tim (for Kat), Beefsteak, multicolored and Better Boy. We also have a few cucumbers, onions, zucchini (for Kat), peas, carrots, lettuce and radishes and a few herbs. I also have my flower planters done. Most of them are perennials but I add a few annuals to the mix every year.

Garden area. The hanging planters and the Bleeding Heart were from the grandkids for Mother’s Day

Day Lillie’s that we got from our neighbour this week

Dan’s ‘Tree of Enchantment’ would be a little more enchanting if it grew a bit this year

I love this planter. I bought it for our patio to slow the grandkids down, but now their pool is too big to share the patio.

Currant Bush – there are going to be more currants than bush this year🤷

Now I can start the rest of the yard clean up. Dan brought out the water hose yesterday so now I can dig out the pressure washer for the patio and pond. Then, I can start giving all the planters a fresh coat of paint. I am so excited for all the time I will have to spend outside in our yard this year!

Spring 2020

March 20, 2020March 20, 2020 by annemariedemyen, posted in life

I love spring. Spring is the my favourite season of the year. Spring brings an end to winter in Saskatchewan and announces the arrival of summer in Saskatchewan. Spring is always the best!

This year, warm spring weather and the beauty that comes with it will be more important than ever. With social distancing and isolation to stop the spread of this horrible virus, people need to get out into the sunshine and fresh air to keep healthy, physically and mentally. We still need to keep a safe distance from others but that will be so much easier out of doors – especially in places like Saskatchewan where we have an abundance of wide open spaces.

My heart goes out to those who live in large crowded cities and are confined to small apartments. I can’t even imagine. For those who cannot get out to enjoy the coming of spring, I thought I would share a few photos from spring seasons gone by. In the days to come, I hope to get out to take some new photos of spring 2020. I will share the best ones I can get.

For many people around the globe, this year is unimaginably challenging. It will most likely get a lot worse before it gets better, especially in places like North America where the virus is just arriving. I believe that at times like this it is more important than ever to do what we can to share kindness, hope, faith and beauty with others. 🥀

173 Days to Retirement

February 3, 2020February 20, 2020 by annemariedemyen, posted in life, retirement

Only 173 more days to go! I wonder if I am going to make it. It is not that I do not enjoy my work. For the most part I love what I do workwise. I am just tired! Tired of going to work in the dark, tired of being cold, tired of looking at dirty snow, tired of winter in general and tired of ongoing issues at work that are really hard on morale.

Today I decided I had to pull myself out of this funk so I started a new bucket list. It seemed like a good idea at the time. Bucket lists are good. Looking forward is good. Challenges are good. I got as far as 1. Defrost my freezer. That was not good. 🤦

In lieu of a new bucket list, I decided to go through some pictures of spring flowers in our yard over the past few years. I cannot wait for the months to go by so I can start planting again! I love spring!