Hot town summer in the valley

The crickets have started singing, the ocean is warming and life is good.

Summer in the valley is a beautiful thing. For once in my life I yearn for nothing. Everything I need is here.

Let the lazy days of mud walking, lake dipping and sleeping under the stars begin!

New colours of joy

At last a chapel worthy of me - one made of wine bottles and candle holders and on an island... pretty close to bliss I'd say!

Visiting a dear friend on the princely isle of Anne with my Mom, what could be better!

Oh of course the giant ice cream cone also helped...

As did my beautiful mother!

New shades of green and a little blue

The view from my kitchen window inspires clean dishes!

The valley is vibrant with colour right now.

I'm blue.

It's suddenly summer, grass is green, sky is blue. Made the first trek to the swimming hole Sunday, ate garden rhubarb pie, drove with the windows down, carried flip flops in the sand. Sweet sweet summer in the valley has begun! Need to try on a new shade soon.

Artistic Nature

Art has blossomed on our Woodland Trails this week. These pieces are part of a community art project being installed by artists across the valley. I am honoured that we have 2 installations on our trails.

There's something so magical about stumbling upon random art in the woods.

The change that the vibrant pink bands cast on the Norway Spruce forest took my breath away when I first came across it.

I quite enjoy how from just the right angle this frame highlights a perfect rotten log, it's a bit of an 'ode to decomposition in my mind - i like it.

Every view from every frame showcases a piece of the forest that people often forget to look at. I've noticed that as humans, we tend to spend way too much time thinking about things and not enough time simply doing, experiencing or observing what's happening to us or to our surroundings.

For me, these frames act as a subtle reminder to stop and take a look at what's happening in our own backyards.

This woven willow is random community art in its true form; it just appeared one day tied up in this great knot. The giant fallen branch is suckering up in the wonderful whimsical way willows do.

Yearning for the simple life...

Each morning when I say good bye to the ocean and drive to work past the farms and orchards I can't help but wishing I could just pull on my rubber boots and head to the fields instead.

I love what I do, and it is important, I just wish I could do less of it! I'm going through my annual panic associated with my staff and world of responsibilities quadrupling in the next 2 weeks. Funny, I tried awfully hard to stay a labourer in this career, but somehow I have skyrocketed to a place of responsibility that overwhelms.

Next time I must remember that for me, success is about feeding my soul and not about racking up accomplishments. My new goal is to do less and live more!

The gates are open...

I hope to see you in the Gardens soon...

And with the blink of an eye

the bbq season began...

I am positively bouncing. Well I seem to have settled down now that I’m sitting in front of the fire with a cup of spiked tea with Baileys, but I was bouncing ridiculous tigger-style earlier today.

Second spring has arrived! Ducks landed, dandelion spotted, shoveled straggling snow off bog boardwalk, raked paths, picked up sticks, kissed the snowdrops. (Would have kissed the ducks but they were too fast and too flighty!)

Life is returning to the Gardens and with it the sparkle to my eye and the meat to my bbq! (sorry cows.)