Lavender Fields


Grandparenting, one of the greatest gifts that God has bestowed upon me.
Purple Hill lavender farm.
Colours of lavender and lilac, mauve, and violet. Purple, light purple, pale purple, and dark purple. Pale purple, with a hint of pink.
Lavender lemonade from the Bank Cafe. Made with lavender from the Purple Hill lavender farm.
Pollinators busy at work during this International Pollinators Week.
Grandpa and Grandma, chilling with Cooper, and breathing in the sweet aroma of lavender fields. Photo by Cooper’s mom.

There are so many great places, so close to home, to explore and discover, in this great country of ours.

My Strawberry Patch Kid

Yummy, yummy, yummy!!!!!
In my tummy, tummy, tummy!
Every picture tells a story…..about a little boy and his love for tractors!
You take one step forward, you put one leg up, and one leg over, and sit on your …… ! You put one leg down, settle on your feet, and over the table you went!
Just going shopping……..down the strawberry aisle……everything was fine…….until the last mile!
Finding the best strawberry
in the strawberry patch!
Strawberry Fields Forever!

Locust Blossoms

Our black locust trees are loaded with blossoms…..
Ten years ago, on the day of our daughter’s wedding, the flowers were even more plentiful. Blossoms, beautifully white, hung over the garden beds below. Flowers and blossoms, mingling.
Pea like white flowers, dripping from the boughs and the branches.
Bumble bees, drawn by the sweet honey musk scent of the flower, assemble into a buzzing orchestra high in the branches above the ground.
So many blossoms, so many bees, so much honey, in hives located in other trees.

Forget-Me-Not

Forget-me-not upon a wishing well…
Wish upon a wishing well, 
A pocket full of sand.
I picked a bouquet of forget-me-nots.
They wilted in my hand.

An old apple head doll,
Pinched and pruned,
and impeccably dressed.
Lay on the floor
for a well-deserved rest.

Soft tiny triangles of fabric
Filled a plastic bag
'Merry Christmas,' she said
And my heart began to sag.

And the dresses drifting down
to the ground, turn into mud.
Triangle pieces
Land with a thud.
A field of forget-me-nots
And the water is wet.
And the rain is wet.
Yet.
My tears run dry


That old familiar tune plays on...and on....and on...and on.
And time passes by.

The Carden Plain.

Hiking an old cow trail…..

After traveling down a stretch of Wylie Road, through long flooded areas, dodging springtime potholes, and smooth gravel sections, we decided to hike a length of the Sedge Wren Marsh. So very pretty and noisy with the songs of the birds that we could not see. Narrow like an old cow trail, spotted with board walks and flat rocky spots.

I didn’t photograph the poison ivy growing alongside the path.

We loved our time exploring parts of the Cardin Plain, a large limestone plain with wetlands and woods, and large grassy meadows.

Flowers everywhere…

Walking through God’s Garden.

So many colours…

Praise smoke, Labrador violets, early buttercup, and western service berries were a few that we could identify.

On Bluebird ranch, the cattle called moooo, while the Canada Geese nested and rested all the while watching you!

Bluebird Ranch, a part of the Couchiching Conservancy, is a working ranch. We witnessed several herds of cattle, all who boldly stared us down as we quietly called their names.

The birds who posed for us…

The bird songs that we listened to may or may not have been the voices of those pictured above.

By far, my favourite flower of the day…

My favourite flower of the day, the brilliantly beautiful scarlet Indianm paintbrush. With this paintbrush, God painted a garden like no other.

So incredibly beautiful!

Mother’s Day brunch at Barrie Hill Farms

Mother’s Day brunch…

Belgium waffles, with blueberry and strawberry sauce straight from the farm.

Topped with a great scoop of whipped cream. Yum!

Barrie Hill Farms

This is one of my all-time favourite places.

My summer doesn’t properly begin until I have picked a heaping basket of sweet, red, luscious strawberries. I have started my summers this way for the past forty or so years.

A tradition I plan to continue for many more years.

Asparagus, fresh from the field.

The wagon rides through the fields, though, have changed in the past forty years.

There are rules now. Please remain seated, and definitely NO jumping of the wagon

The jumping off, running to get back on, jumping off, running to get back on, jumping off, running to get back on, jumping off…….days are over!

Loose, on the farm….

Udder nonsense.

Udderly ridiculous.

Udderly strange.

Udderly different.

Udderly familiar.

NO moo…………RE!!!!!

Matching sweatshirts…

A vendor find! A positive in a world that needs more positives!

Happy Mother’s Day, from our home to yours!

Dandelion Honey

It’s almost this easy!!!!!

Separate two bouquets of brilliant, yellow dandelions from their grooved leaf funnels.

Remove the stems, and the green pieces.

Add equal parts, sugar, and water.

Then, reduce, reduce, reduce

Just a little bit more! I totally agree with Winnie the Pooh.

Dandelion, honey!

Smooth as honey.

Sticky as toffee.

Sweet as ever!

With a little hint of lemon.

Honey, honey, honey!

If you don’t like this multi-purpose, beneficial little plant, stop making wishes.

Every time you breathe upon that little ball of fluff, you are sending anywhere from 55 to 175 seeds into the air.

And somewhere, at some time, someone will be harvesting this overlooked and mistreated bright yellow flower!!!!

Down by the River

The River
I wanted to walk to the river today,
Just a little over two kilometers away.

But I could not take that first step.
My shoe, it would not move.

Somehow, over the years,
I have lost my groove.

As the tears rolled down my face,
I silently cried.

Like ketchup on a plate
Of old French fries.

I know the day will come
When into the river
My toes,
Will drum.

Until then
I will contemplate
How I ended up
In this ridiculous
STATE!!!!

Happy Earth Day

This little boy is one ring old!

The stump upon which my little grandson sits has 135 rings old.

This stump is all the remains from a once majestic ash tree.

The 135 rings would have numbered many more, if not for that tiny, emerald green, ash borer.

The stump of an old ash tree
that died prematurely.
Coniferous and deciduous together….

Rebirth on the forest floor. Room for conifers, deciduous, and many more.

The earth, left on it’s own will flourish.

Grow where the squirrels have planted you!

Happy Earth Day!!!!!