Cat wants out?

Well, she thinks she does. I'm out there, aren't I?

Not much of a day for it, though, Harriet - honest. It is wet and drippy and it is trying to snow. Here is one of our epic garden puddles.

And here are some brave croci, each dealing with their own puddles.

Elsewhere, the croci have less water but more mud to deal with. Actually, it is kind of amazing the deer haven't eaten these...yet.

The Christmas rose is a couple of months late, but doing OK. Deer don't like hellebores. Pricklies.

Deer don't like shastas either, which gives these croci some protection. Shastas really are amazing thugs - look at the winter foliage!

What a brave kitty! Admirable!

"What the...?! Did you know it was snowing out here?"

Ottawa jardin

I recently spent six weeks hanging out in the nation's capital, visiting with a special jardin and its chat.  Was supposed to be working, but did some playing too, and some weeding and pruning. All accompanied by cocktails. Here is a snapshot of a spot in the Ottawa garden that gets a warm glimmer of sunset, and has a nice anvil to hold your negroni.

July sky!

The annual Canada Day project

This is a small pile of dead buttercups. It represents just the first 10 minutes of this year's July 1 long weekend project. I confess, I only spent the better part of a day doing this, and my back and shoulders and arms are now telling me that was quite enough, thank you very much! 

Supervised by Oz, who was a little concerned I might be heading toward the catmint with that trowel... 

...I headed under the apple tree, by the back deck, to deal with this:

It's actually really pretty, right?  Except that this lovely little shady bed was being absolutely choked by those sweet buttercups.  The keen-eyed among you will also note the handsome variegated leaf of the devil incarnate, goutweed. Believe it or not, there is very pretty fern, lilly-of-the-valley, geum, saxifrage, and sweet woodruff under there, along with the hellebore and brunnera.

Here's the discard pile by the end of the day ( well, photo taken the next morning, but still):

And here are the views all that digging opened up (note one sparkly blue toenail for scale):

The poor old sweet woodruff is pretty trampled. I'm hoping with some warmth and water (and no buttercups) it will make a recovery.

And the catmint got off unscathed.

Well, that's alright, then.

New Year's resolution...

...is to stand up straighter, even though it seems to be against my nature. Whatever it takes.

Ah, New Year's Day.  A time for looking forward and looking back. For getting the best view while staying close to the pretty lights and the heat vent.

Those of us willing to look outdoors were treated to the optimistic early blooms of the viburnum and the stalwart rosemary.

Merry Christmas

 Well, it's been a merry old time here.  We put the tree in the kitchen this year - an interesting experiment that has allowed us to monitor with unprecedented immediacy the yuletide phenomenon of cats-behaving-badly. Bless you, all those O&H fans who sent along the nip!

(click on the photo to see carnage more clearly)

"Who, me?"

As usual, it's pretty easy to tell who's been naughty and who's been nice. H is clearly the junkie, although O certainly did his share of drooling on the tissue paper. He just doesn't quite get the debauchery part.

Outdoors, it was busy being December.

 And at the end of the day, all's well that ends with a cat in a box.

Happy Solstice!

C is for...

Well, yes, cats, of course. But also columbines, which were in their prime at the end of May.

"Well, sure, but cats are the real deal, no?"