Positively Prehistoric Bug!

This fellow was not fazed in the least by the camera clicking right in his face.
He turned this way and that, as if to show off just how very fine he was.
He has such an intelligent expression, he almost looks...um...like... aaahhh bug.

A Little Piece of Heaven.

Sometimes Eden is rocky and wild, with cold water and windswept pines. And it doesn't matter if it is day or night, beauty surrounds you.

In the cooling water,
a boy at dusk with a stick,
a girl on a rock with a book,
small boys running free,
the setting sun,
the rising moon,
late day light illuminating the smooth warm rocks,
still water and silver clouds
boys absorbed by their book in the dim light of a flashlight.

When we ran away from the heat of Hades this is where we ended up.

Graffiti and a Secret Garden

Yesterday my sister took us to Graffiti Alley. This is a back alley just south of Queen street running between Spadina and Portland Ave. Here in Toronto they have a dastardly mayor, Rob Ford, who has a mission to 'clean up Toronto'. (He's a jerk) So he is having all graffiti removed, including, as it turned out, some commissioned art paid for by tax-payers money. Which of course he had removed with tax-payers money. (That was an embarrassment).

Anyway, here is a place where graffiti artists are thumbing their noses at The Establishment.

(Apparently there was an image of Ford himself that someone had painted with the sign 'remove me' by it. Clever. He has been removed, but only unfortunately from the wall. Hope you enjoy the walk and the garden.

SO... here we go:

You'd think Joseph would be excited by a graffiti walk. Nope. It was the 'walk' part that killed it for him I think.

We saw some very cool images..

And I really liked the vines growing down over the graffiti

Sometimes the words seemed out of place in this setting

Joseph was a little concerned that this image might just jump out on him.

Yikes.

BIG walls of horses

And someone who expressed Joseph's sentiments about the whole thing.

We saw lots of cool cartoons, with the yellow bird being a regular feature.

Hope this guy doesn't need to get a criminal background check.

We liked the yellow bird in this one. It's so happy.

I liked the smoky-ness of this one.

We are in Canada after all

And a rather nerve-jangled cat.

Joseph being jollied along by his auntie. (Actually, by this time he realized that it was all pretty cool.) AND THEN. SUDDENLY. WE DISCOVERED....

A garden. Right there off the alley. A little inner-city community garden. It was enchanting.

Check out this rain water collection system! This pipe arched down very dramatically and dumped into:

These tubs. The top one had over flow spouts into the lower. All three were almost full. (We're not in Texas now.)

Here is the whole picture. Very cool.

It was a lovely little oasis.

Little gravel paths separated the beds.

One of the only ones we could read: ADORE.

Fierce Owl. And then, finally. My personal favourite:

That's right. "Piss off, ye wee snakes!"

A great interlude. So, Piss off ye wee Ford, is what I say. And thank you for the garden too.

Gone for a Few Weeks

It is always hard to be away from the garden for a length of time. In the summer I worry that it will get all overgrown and weedy, (which it usually does). And this summer I have actually departed without first getting rid of every pesky weed, so I must be slipping in my general weed vigilance. For the last two days I have eyed those darn weeds and willed them to go away, but they didn't listen. I am hoping that this will prepare me for the much longer separation that is going to begin in September. Oh boy, that's going to be hard!

Weed Wonders

I was wandering the sun-baked lands in front of our house (aka the front yard), when I discovered that some things LIKE to be broiled in the sun. This tiny, little, hairy gem seemed fine with the heat and the glare... (Gotta enlarge it to see the white fuzz all over it)

Then I paused by the hell strip, or death strip, or godforsaken area betwixt road and sidewalk, (whatever you want to call it), and low and behold there were these wee yellow flowers sparkling amid the dry dusty leaves, and they made me smile .

Actually, I think they may be the kind of weed that turns into horrible thorny stickers at some point.
Hmmm. Note to self: Do NOT walk barefoot on the hell strip.

Glamorous Gaura

The Gaura deserves a post, because after transplanting her, she has decided to shoot up and be just as wonderful as the ones I have admired around town.

See the the tiny veins running through the petals? The flowers are so small and delicate, and just as dainty as can be.
Graceful Gaura, glamorous Gaura, you go Gaura girl, Glad ta see ya Gaura.
I think all this Gaura is making me goofy.

(Or maybe the fact that I went out in the mid-day sun today to mow the bloomin' lawn has turned me a bit mad..)

Bamboo siblings

The Bamboo Muhli is starting to look all feathery. It looks wonderful in front of its more robust but equally frothy big brother, the silver stripe bamboo, especially in the morning when the sun first shines through the fronds..

Layers on layers of waving stems of differing yet complimentary densities.
Early in the morning before the yard becomes sun-backed and wilted is the best time to enjoy it.

(Only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the mid-day sun.)