Up close and personal with Tweezy

Look who I found, sitting on the rose that covers the pergola on the back deck!

It is "our" hummingbird. We call him "Tweezy" because of the buzzy, chirruping noise he makes. He talks a LOT. He could give Ozzie a run for his operatic money. Usually he hangs out at the top of the elderberry tree at the back of the yard, with excursions around to the laurel hedge on one side, or the oak on the other side. I've never seen him perched this close to the house before. He sticks around all year. I was a little worried about him during the "big freeze", but he seems to have done just fine.

It is hard to see his colour, because he is backlit on a foggy day, but in the picture below I caught him with his head turned, and you can see the red crest that ID's him as an Anna's hummingbird. (You may need to click on the photo to open it up in a new window at a larger magnification to see this.  Trust me, it's there!)

Frosty jardin vignette

We've had a week of sun, which has encouraged the croci and other early spring bloomers like this primrose. Sun, at this time of year, means frosty nights. It is very pretty just before sunrise, and then there is a magical hour or so as the shady bits hang on to the frost and then are outnumbered by wet sunlit bits. While I was checking out the primrose, Harriet was on the other side of the yard, licking melted frost off the grass.

She decided to join me.

And Oz, who'd been hanging out on the roof of our neighbour's shed, decided to get in on the action too. He hates to miss a party. He picked his way along the fence, yelling, and then jumped down to join the fun.

Then both cats decided that was enough hanging around in the shade, and indeed, even the sunny, wet grass was not entirely to their liking. They made a beeline for the driveway...

...where we all stopped to admire the snowdrops.

Aaaaaawwww, tiger!

New toy

I got a Flip for my birthday. Ozzie and I decided today was the day to start documenting the garden. Hmmm, can anyone say, "Reading Break?" I feel guilty enough, though, that I haven't taken the time (yet) to learn how to edit out the boring bits or tone down Ozzie. Sorry.

Happy Friday the 13th

OK, this is not what is happening in the garden right now, but I've been meaning to post these lovely snow photos for quite some time. Mum took these shots just before Christmas.

Here is early in the morning December 21, after the big "storm":

Later that morning, Colin got busy building the requisite snowman, and then he and his folks had to go catch the Coho back to Port Angeles. The next day, the sun came out, which sent all the photographers in the house scurrying outdoors:

Many artistic shots were obtained:
And the demise of Colin's buddy was well-documented:

I'm happy to report that last Friday, February 6, I bought a (pretty turquoise) snow shovel. I had to do it, it was hanging outside the hardware store in the plaza, taunting me. I knew that if I didn't buy it, a great big snowstorm would roll through. And it has been pretty cold these past few days, but no snow here! (When, in anticipation of the big "storm", I tried to buy a snow shovel at Canadian Tire on December 18, the helpful salespeople could find the inventory on the computer (in silico), but not in the store (in vivo). This sort of sums up for me Victoria's meta-relationship with the rest of Canada.)

Who us? Snow?

One minute you're admiring the salvia "maraschino" and wondering at its longevity, and the next you're peering out the back door at this:

December was cloaked in the soft white stuff. What a display! There was a decided absence of cats in the landscape, but when they did venture out, we rediscovered the true meaning of the phrase "pussy-footing". Meanwhile, other creatures did show up, including my cousin Colin, and a friend.

Oak trees are messy

Have just spent a long time moving oak leaves from the top of the driveway down to the bottom, so that the city guys with the big vacuum cleaner can take them away next week. I would be happier about this if our oak tree was a garry oak, but it's not, it's just a normal, messy oak. It does look pretty in the sunset, though:

And the birds love it.  Lots of action this evening.  Here's the robin:

I thought these guys were cedar waxwings, but now that I'm looking at the photos, I wonder if they are grosbeaks. I know, not too similar, but it's hard to see them properly through all the oak busyness.

And here is more of the sunset (and starlings?), through the neighbour's tree (cypress?):

Whoops, I missed October

It was a really beautiful month, with lots of colour and rich, rosy-golden sunsets through the garry oaks. I kept looking at things and thinking I should take this or that photo and post it.  Sadly, I did not capture the brilliant contrast of the spikey green rosemary against the red of one of the japanese maples in the back. Nor did I document the smoke bush, flaming. I did get this shot of the little maple by the pond, though:

And here is the one miniature cyclamen I have in the bed by the back porch:

I love these things, and there are old, rocky gardens in the neighbourhoods around us that are just littered with them.  I want mine to creep like that too, but I may just have to go out and buy a LOT and plant them.  They're much better value than the autumn crocus, since they don't flop, and they last for all of September and October and into November.

"Where did the autumn go?"