Granny

What a dark month it has been here on the Witch’s Island. The weather has been cold and miserable and it hasn’t stopped raining for days! Then, last week, my grandmother passed away. She was 96 years old and had been living in a nursing home for the past 5 years but I was still caught off guard when she died.

Granny would always cook a goose for Dad when he came to visit.

My grandmother and I had a special bond but it wasn’t until recently that I realized just how much she had influenced my life. I learned many, many things from her. She taught me how to bake bread and cookies, how to make preserves and pickles (especially Mustard Pickles!), how to knit and make afghans and how to live frugally.

The cottage was a source of great memories like this. Here Granny and Grampy are celebrating his 80th birthday.

Vera was a strong, independent, hard working, intelligent, loving woman who spent her life taking care of her family. That was what made her happy. She greatly missed Grampy, who passed away 12 years ago, and my Dad who has been gone for 6 years. Hopefully, she has found them somewhere now and they are sitting around eating lobsters and teasing her.

My Grandmother Vera, she was a wonderful woman, I'm going to miss her.

I am going to miss her very much but I know that she will be forever in my heart, today and every day.

Putting The Potting Shed To Good Use

Friday was a great day to be outside here on The Witch’s Island. We both had the day off work thanks to the Good Friday holiday and it was also Earth Day so I decided that I should spend the afternoon getting my seeds started for the vegetable garden. Friday was also the sixth anniversary of my Dad’s death and that’s always a rough day for me so I was glad to have something to keep me busy.

After Wednesday night’s snow storm (yes, three weeks into April for crying out loud!) the temperature was back up to normal and the snow had all melted off again. There was a bit of an edge to the wind though so while it was great to get outside I was glad I could get into the potting shed, to dig in the dirt.

There’s no mistaking what goes in this box.

These mint tins are a great way to keep leftover seeds organized.

While I was planting the tomato seeds I started thinking about just how much variance there is in the per seed cost of those cute little packs. The Tiny Tim variety is the best price per seed. You get 200 seeds in a package for just $1.95 or less than a penny per seed. I know from last year’s garden that each plant will produce lots of tomatoes so they are a very good bargain. We also grew Bobcats last year with good success but they are much more expensive. A package of Bobcats contains just 25 seeds and costs $4.35 or about 17.5 cents each.

The trays have all been filled with starter mix. Let’s get planting!

That’s a lot of cucumbers. It looks like we’ll be giving away extras again this year.

We are trying two new varieties this year Tomande ($4.75 for 20 seeds or about 24 cents each) and Applause ($5.15 for 15 seed or about 34 cents each). How can there be a 3400% difference between two varieties of tomatoes? I’m sure that Vesey’s has good justification but it still makes me wonder. I just hope that the two new types will be good producers, too.

The Raiders were very successful last summer.

Okay, you’re all planted. Now grow, my pretties!

Whatever they cost you still have to place two or three seeds together in each cell of the starter tray so you’d better hope they all germinate and grow strong enough to separate into individual plants. I love this part, you know, watering, feeding, transplanting, and then transplanting again into the garden. The watching daily for my little seedlings to sprout is worth every bit of effort. The first one to poke through the soil makes me smile and my heart fills with hope at what my garden will be like this year. All these veggies will be harvested, consumed, pickled, frozen, over-wintered, given to love ones and the local food bank.

While I was prepping the seed trays Hubby was not just sitting back drinking beer. He replaced the top surface of the tractor shed ramp which had rotted out. The original surface had been made with left-over pieces of plywood that he had on hand but 5 years of exposure to the elements had been too much. The plywood was badly rotted and some of the supporting structure was also in poor condition. He replaced it all with pressure treated material and then covered it with adhesive backed roofing roll for added weather proofing and traction. Hopefully, this will last for quite a few years.

He also put the clothesline to work for the first time this year. The bed was stripped and the sheets and blankets were washed and hung out to remove a winter’s worth of staleness and farts that tumble drying just can’t touch. We slept like babies that night!

The new ramp for the tractor shed now has a non-slip surface thanks to some leftover materials from the gazebo.

While I was sowing seeds I had my laundry boy hang out the wash.

It was just so nice to have my hands busy while I thought of my father. I remember the one year he came for a visit and I was dead-heading some marigolds as he was watching. I turned and looked at him and said “You’re not just a pretty face you know, you can help out.” He burst out with laughter and started helping me. The poor marigolds lost their heads, some dead and some new blossoms, but we had fun. Thinking of the look on his face still makes me laugh to this day and I’m laughing and crying now as I miss him so much.

This happy little frog is going to greet me at the potting shed until I can get some flowers for this urn.

I hope your Earth Day was great. Happy Easter and I hope the Easter Bunny found you.

Spring Sure Is A Busy Time!

Well, it’s been over a month since I sat down to write a post and, while I have been feeling guilty, I just couldn’t seem to find the time required. So while my cakes are in the oven and because the rain is pouring down outside this afternoon and the wind is pounding the house I guess that my outside chores will have to wait. Let’s catch up.

In my last post I was looking forward to the imminent arrival of spring but winter was still hanging around. We took a drive to the beach to go for a walk and passed this fox out doing the same thing. Well, the walking part that is, a fox would look silly driving don’t you think? We saw him coming towards us as we drove up the road so we pulled off to the side and grabbed the camera. The fox came right over and sat down 10 feet from the car and let us shoot as many pictures as we wanted. After a few minutes he got bored and walked away but we had a nice visit until then.

This red fox walked over to see if we had any interesting snacks to eat.

He came right over to the middle of the road. I’m glad there was no other traffic.

Here, get my good profile!

Well, if you haven’t got anything to eat I’m not even going to look at you.

And then he was gone.

After the fox left we continued on to the beach but it was very cold and windy. Too cold really to enjoy ourselves so after watching the waves crash onto the shore for a couple of minutes we turned around and went back to the car. The only beach-combing find was this happy looking ball I discovered rolling along the dune. It cheered me right up!

My new happy sunflower beach ball.

A couple of weeks ago we finally held the twice-deferred Games Night and it was a big success. It took me a few days to get the food and the treats ready but it was worth the effort in the end. We had lasagna and Caesar salad for dinner and butter tarts for dessert. We played crokinole, Uno and cribbage and of course I had my trivia/brain teaser contest. The winner of each game got to select a gift package from the “Basket of Goodies”. Some of the prizes were boxes of chocolates, tubes of body wash, a small flashlight, packs of Kleenex, first-aid kits and home-made pickles and relish. They were inexpensive, small items but they were unexpected and a big hit. Surprisingly, the winners were evenly distributed and everybody went home with goodies. I think everyone had a good time, I know I did!

The day of Games Night was spent baking up a storm. We had the butter tarts for dessert.

Only the best is good enough for our guests. Crown Royal and butter tarts, mmm…

Game boards, check. Basket of Goodies, check. Let’s play!

After Games Night came my birthday. Yes, the Witch is another year older and closer to retirement, yahoo! I took the day off work as a present to myself (it was Friday so I got a long weekend) and Hubby surprised me by doing the same thing. We went down to the big city where he took me out to a fancy restaurant for wine and dinner. We both had great meals and then we went home for cake and presents. The best ones were a pair of ceramic toad houses shaped like mushrooms from Hubby and a pair of cowboy boots from my Mom.

Don’t you just love that moment before you rip into a big pile of presents?

Toadstool-shaped toad houses.

My new boots. All I need now are the spurs!

The weather has been improving by leaps and bounds this past couple of weeks and we have been getting outside to do the yard cleanup in the areas where the snow has melted. It really went down much quicker than I expected and now there are only a few places under the trees where any remains. It left behind the usual mess in the yard. Mouse tracks in the grass, flattened pumpkins in the garden, driveway stones thrown out by the snow blower, leaves, branches and cones from the trees, even the eyes and buttons from our snowman. It all needed to be picked up. Luckily Hubby was able to collect most of it with the tractor and the lawn sweeper but it took 4 hours to do it.

If you look closely you can see the remains of the snowman laying on the grass.

This is all that is left of last year’s pumpkins.

We’ve also started working in the gardens. Hubby took the rotiller out of the shed to see if it would start and it fired on the second attempt. While it was running he took it over to the veggie patch to see how dry the soil was and he found that it was in good shape so he gave it a little rip. It sure looks better with the ground freshly turned but now I’m getting anxious to get my starters planted. Yesterday we went to Vesey's and spent over $50 on seeds and starter trays. We bought way more than we need but if you’re a gardener and you see what they have on offer you would probably buy extra, too.

This year the rotiller started right up and ran strongly.

The garden soil looks so rich when it is freshly turned.

We went seed shopping on Saturday!

We got:
• Rutabaga; York
• Cucumber; Raider
• Tomato; Tomande, ApplauseTiny Tim and Bobcat
• Swiss Chard; Burpee’s Rhubarb
• Radish; Cherry Belle
• Carrots; Neptune
• Thyme; German Winter Thyme
• Beets; First Crop, Rodina and Detroit Dark Red
• Beans; Lewis, Gold Rush and Royal Burgandy
• And Moonflowers!

I think we may need to expand the garden again this year!

Anyway that’s what we have been doing lately. So consider yourself all caught up. Here’s a few more pictures including some busy bees happily pollinating the first flowers to show up in the front garden. Enjoy.

The gazebo survived its first winter in good shape. Maybe we’ll get it finished this year.

The front garden is finally out from underneath the snow and the perennials are starting to regrow.

My new toadhouses are outside and ready for tenants.

This bee was busy working on an early arrival in the front garden.

This little patch of flowers was just swarming with bees and flies.

Spring is coming this week!

The Easter Bunny Says Welcome Spring!

Spring is here already on the Witch’s Island and all the snowmen had to go! Well actually it isn’t truly here until March 20th but I’ve decided that the house needed a spring up-date, RIGHT NOW!! I love to decorate for the seasons and this one is another favorite of mine. Well, okay, they’re all my favourites for different reasons. So the snowmen are all packed away and look what has taken their places. There are bunnies and flowers everywhere! Hubby brought me a beautiful bunch of tulips and they have been displayed in the centre of the coffee to help set the mood.

Two dozen Tulips barely fit in my vase.

A close-up of my Tulips.

This little Easter Bunny figurine is pulling his cart around looking for eggs.

This Easter Bunny is apparently hiding the eggs from the guy with the cart.

This guy looks sweet and innocent but he turns mean when his bowl is full of treats. Watch your fingers!

All Ears stays on the kitchen counter as long as possible.

Man, that is either one giant carrot or two tiny bunnies.

This bunny is on the back of the front door and welcomes us back to the outside world after a long hard winter.

A close-up of the front door bunny.

The All-In-A-Row wall hanging is from Country Feelin'. It has multiple sets of pieces to change back and forth for the seasons and, if you're interested, you can see some of them here. This is a set that Hubby and I made a few years ago.

My spring set for All-In-A-Row.

Spring is also the time that we start to see more wildlife around the Witch’s Island. Last week we saw four foxes in the field just on our way to work. We had an interesting visitor to the backyard, too. We took some fast fry steaks out of the freezer early in the week previous and then for some reason we just didn’t get around to cooking them (shame, shame, shame). After a week in the fridge they were too old to eat so Hubby tossed them out onto the snow for the crows. The crows found them almost right away but so did this Bald Eagle.

The eagle was very nervous about being on the ground in the yard and the slightest movement from us at the windows of the house was enough to send him scurrying up into the treetops. The crows didn’t care though and might have even have appreciated the scaredy-cat behavior of the big bird. They worked as a team bullying the eagle and grabbing as much meat as possible. In the end I’m not sure that the eagle actually got any of the steak but it sure was impressive to watch him flying through the yard. Sorry for the poor qualities of the pictures but these birds are fast and he was a long way away when he was in the trees.

This Bald Eagle apparently loves fast-fry steak, especially when it is free.

He may love steak but not enough to fight the crows for it.

Another nice thing about spring is the smell. You know that damp earthy smell that tells you that the soil is no longer frozen as hard as bullets? Sometimes spring is the smell of skunk or the sign of raccoons walking across the remains of the snow. Sometimes it is the first time that you are able to hang a load of laundry out on the line without it freezing into chunks of plywood. Don’t let the fine weather make you forget about your clothesline etiquette, though. You can’t just hang things out willy-nilly. What will the neighbors think? People are watching, don’t you know.

It is also the sight of the first of your perennials poking through the soil, even if they are being paced by the dandelions and other weeds, or the first time you spot the soil of your vegetable garden poking through the scrum of the snow. A week ago we thought that it would be June before the garden was exposed but it is now visible and getting more so every day.

The dandelions are on the way back, too.

Look! That seems to be garden soil poking out from under the snow.

Unfortunately, Herbie, our garden mascot, didn’t make it to spring. The combination of the violent nature of the fall storms and the miserable conditions of the past winter conspired to rip his poor old head off. He was retired from his post this afternoon. Poor Herbie.

Poor Herbie seems to have lost his head.

Enjoy the pictures and close your eyes. I think you may even smell the signs of spring in the air. Yup, it is just around the corner.