December Surprises

These days you never know what the next day brings, 

so many surprises we get.

One day we walk in the brightest sunshine, the air cold and crisp.

The last "Nor'western" covered the dunes with snow.

This is the weather I like the best.

Blue and white are my favourite colours anyway.

*

The next day - you wake up to

 another storm 

this time out of the South. 

Bringing low hanging clouds, pouring rain and 

soaring temperatures up to 12C (53F)!

My birds go from getting pelted by ice pellets

 to nearly drowning in all the rain.

Poor little things.

*

After the rain stopped I checked my vegetable garden

remembering one row of carrots that I forgot to harvest in late September.

Would they have survived all these weeks with frost down to -14C (6.8F)? 

Well, it looks like they did!

We had them for dinner and they were like pre-frozen vegetables but still good.

And another surprise for December 22:

 A Dandelion was tricked to believe spring has arrived. 

It opened it's flowers over night.

It will be in for a surprise - 

we still have many weeks of ice and snow to come.

OR?

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Translation

Der Dezember hat viele Überraschungen bereit. Einmal scheint die Sonne und wir geniessen die Kälte, dann wieder rollen dicke Wolken heran und es giesst wie aus Eimern. Ein Sturm folgt auf den anderen. Die Vögel müssen Graupel und Nässe erdulden, die armen Kleinen.

Heute habe ich neugierig in meinem Garten gegraben, hatte ich doch im September vergessen eine Reihe mit Möhren zu ernten. Ob sie den wochenlangen Frost überlebt haben.

Tatsächlich, die sind zwar angefroren aber durchaus noch essbar.  

Das wechselhafte Wetter hat einen Löwenzahn zum blühen gebracht.

Er glaubt wohl der Frühling ist ausgebrochen. 

Kein Wunder wenn die Temperaturen auf 12C steigen. 

Doch er wird sich noch wundern, 

wir haben noch viele Wochen mit Schnee und Eis vor uns.

Oder?

Early June Gardening and Dixie - update

Here is our newest addition to our garden!

A beautiful Rhododendron.

It is Peter's gift for our 31. Anniversary.

It should be hardy enough since the stock comes from Haaga in Finnland.

Hence the name: "Haaga"

How it "glows" in the sunshine.

Not much to look at in my vegetable garden. May was too cold and nothing really 

grew. I always get fooled into starting too early when the weather

turns warm, but it never pays off planting before

June 10 in this part of the country.

 In the front there are several sorts of beans and (not yet) corn.

Rear left is peas and carrots.

Top right is planted with kale, cabbage, lettuce and radishes and 

lower right: tomatoes and more lettuce.

The green covered area in the back is a patch with potatoes.

 The tender ones still get covered up against the cool nights.

An impression from one of the hiking paths here in the area. 

A quiet little pond tucked in the deep woods.

 About 60 years ago kids used to go skating on this pond and even further down

in history it supplied ice for summertime use, 

stored in a nearby ice house.

June 10 - Dixie is 10 month old.

A big change from 4 month and 10 pounds 

 to 10 month and 61 pounds.

"I remember you from last fall!" she seems to say

Visiting with Debrorah and Ken and their poodle girls

"Summer" and "Rosie"

Update on the garden front

This morning I had a nice walk across the nearby campground. 

I was all by myself. So peaceful.

Soon they will open for the season and this opportunity will be gone until Fall. 

I was giving Dixie her walk and watching birds at the same time. 

Because of the chill in the air the birds were not very active.

Just a few Yellow-rumped Warblers were chasing bugs in the air. 

*

Back at home I decided to do some work in my garden, 

because it seemed to not getting anywhere. 

It also grew in size and I will now be able to grow potatoes in the back.

I finally got the fence around and the rose arbor up. 

(by the way: this is not our house, no-one is living there)

And I added another small bed, for my perennial herbs

Then I planned my square-foot garden bed.

I started this way of gardening several years ago and I like it.

Growing something different in each square.

At the end of the day I got the first seeds into the ground. 

Hopefully there will be some green to show in a few weeks from now. 

And -

not to forget - the hummingbirds are back! 

The first male one arrived on May 5th at my feeder and 

a few days later I saw the first female.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Summer is near, even if the temperatures are still on the cool side.

On the other side: there are no nasty black flies around yet!

Translation

________________________________________

Nach einem entspannenden Spaziergang quer über den nahegelegenen Campingplatz habe ich mich endlich an meinen neu geplanten Garten gemacht. Er ist etwas größer ausgefallen als ursprünglich gedacht, aber nun kann ich noch Kartoffel anbauen.

Der Zaun ist endlich aufgestellt und auch der Rosenbogen. Ein Beet für die Kräuter ist auch dazu gekommen. Am Ende des Nachmittags habe ich dann endlich die ersten Samen in die Erde gelegt. 

In ein paar Wochen wird es hoffentlich etwas grüner aussehen.

Die ersten Kolibris sind auch schon angekommen. 

Es wird langsam Sommer. Die kalten Tage haben allerdings einen Vorteil:

Man wird noch nicht von Mücken und Fliegen geplagt!
Photos: Kronwaldsänger, Kolibri

Early November Days

(Deutsche Übersetzung: siehe unten)

November is here again. 

The busy summer season is over and there is 

more time for contemplation. 

Time to take up following other bloggers again,

and time to write something on my own.

The sorrow about Molly still lingers in my mind, 

I try to let go, 

each day a little more. 

Some day I will change my header photo. 

But not yet.

Redirecting my thoughts.. 

..to gardening.

The garden that has to be cleaned up.

 All the flowers that have to get repotted for wintering

..to hiking

Taking walks in the woods 

and along the coast line. 

These walks have a calming, healing power.

Some time I walk alone, sometimes with hubby 

and sometimes with friends.

..to bird-watching. 

Through fellow birder friends I have learned to see 

a lot more than just birds.

The latest storms for example have brought unusual guests. 

Blown out of their migratory ways by fierce gales.

Yellow-throated Vireo

Yellow-billed cuckoo

Poor things. I hope they will find their way back 

to their winter homes before the cold sets in.

..to the new addition to our family. 

A rescue puppy. 

That will definitely keep us 

from growing roots on the couch.

More to come.

Cargo ship in the Passamaquody Bay near Eastport, Maine.

______________________________

Auntie's Translation

Schon wieder ein November. Die hektische Sommersaison ist vorbei und man hat wieder mehr Zeit für andere Dinge.
Blogs lesen oder selber Einträge schreiben.
Molly ist noch oft in meinen Gedanken, doch jeden Tag gewinne ich ein wenig mehr Abstand. Irgendwann werde ich auch das "Headerphoto" ändern.
Meine Gedanken schweifen:
- zum Garten, der aufgeräumt werden muss, und zu den Blumen die für den Winter umgetopft werden sollen.
- zu ausgedehnten Spaziergängen durch den Wald und entlang der Küste.
Die Seele baumeln lassen.
- zum Vögel beobachten. Durch gemeinsame Freunde bin ich auf spezielle "Gäste" aufmerksam gemacht worden. Sie sind durch die letzten Stürme aus ihrer Zugbahn gerissen worden und hier gelandet.
Hoffentlich finden sie ihren Weg ins Winterquartier bevor die Kälte einsetzt.
- zum neuen Familienmitglied, einem jungen Hund aus dem Tierheim.
Der wird uns bestimmt auf Trab halten. Mehr davon später.

Letztes Photo: Tanker in der Bucht bei Eastport (Maine).

November: tomatoes and flowers

An unbelievable temperature for November 3. 

17C (62F) at 3 PM.

I went out to finally cleared up my veggie beds 

and could still harvest some 

cherry tomatoes!

Even the dill that I planted had seeded itself and new dill plants

were growing up already.

Too bad that I had to uproot all the pretty flowers. 

 Nasturtium (Tropaeolum polyphyllum)

 Pot Marigold (Calendula officinalis)

 Borage (Borago officinalis)

Cosmos (Cosmos bipinnatus)

But colder temperatures are predicted for the next couple of days.

We need to get back to normal.

October chores

The first cold October winds are chilling the air. 

Nights are getting pretty cool. 

High time to think about 

winterizing the garden.

No, it didn't snow here, yet.

While there is already talk about the first snow storm in the province of Alberta we are a little better off here on the East-coast.

That's how it looked like today! Way better.

There are still flowers blooming in my garden but time is there to give the flower beds the final "hair cut".

 I did the one's at our local Motel last week, 

 and today I emptied out all their hanging baskets and window boxes. 

I very much like the idea of "recycling". 

Subsequently all perennials got a spot in a garden bed for the winter, and all tender plants were repotted 

and were waiting to get into the "warmth" of my greenhouse.

I was quite busy all day transplanting and carrying pots around, 

but by late afternoon I got things straightened out.

For the time being the can stay here. I have to get them all into the house for the winter, though. That will be quite a challenge.

Now there is only the garden furniture to store away. 

But that is a task for another day.

_______________________________

Auntie's translation

Mitte Okober ist die Zeit den Garten winterfest zu machen.

In Alberta gibt es den ersten Schneesturm 

aber bei uns ist es noch relativ mild und grün. 

Einige Blumen blühen auch noch in meinem Garten

Letzte Woche habe ich den Blumenbeeten beim Motel einen "Haarschnitt" gegeben, und heute wurden alle Hängekörbe,

 Kübel und Balkonkästen entleert. 

Da ich immer gerne Pflanzen wiederverwende wurden die mehrjährigen Planzen zum überwintern in Blumenbeete gepflanzt. 

Die kälteempfindlicheren habe ich umgetopft und in mein Gewächshaus gebracht. Nach und nach werden sie dann ins Haus überführt. Nun brauchen wir nur noch die Gartenmöbel zu verstauen. 

Aber das ist Arbeit für einen anderen Tag.