Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Wish You Could Smell Those Lilacs Like I Can




My daughter's friend from Alberta who calls in the middle of the night just called again and woke me up. This has to stop! The kids can be downstairs partying and making lots of noise and I never wake up but the telephone wakes me up and each time leaves me with a thumping heart.

I can't believe how big the blossoms are this year on both apple trees and lilac trees. The blooms are very large and full. I've truly never seen them this way. It's so weird writing about them and seeing their picture and, at the same time, smelling them since I have vases of them all over. Lilacs are one of the worlds greatest smells.

Another great smell is the beach. I've been there the last two days and the smell is incredible! The road has been graded so I'm able to drive down. I needed rubble to redo my back beach so I got several pails and started repairs today. I will be finished tomorrow and will probably want to tackle the side but will fight the urge until next year. I'm exhausted from it all and am just a little pissed at having been woken up.

Monday, May 29, 2006

New Photographer

Started mowing the lawn after lunch but have stopped because of a shower. I had planned to walk to the beach afterward so that may be out. After the skirt fiasco yesterday, I've decided to take a walk every day. With the stereo still in the shop, I'm not getting my usual dancing in and I'm not losing that belly I gained over the winter after quitting smoking.

I dicovered a wonderful photography site, Joseph Holmes, that I'd recommend a look at. I've put a permanant link in also. He has a great eye and lots of expensive equipment.

Sunday, May 28, 2006

In The Pink

Nature sure is beautiful. I don't know what kind of apple trees these are and they may be only decorative but they certainly are pretty.



Had to work for four more unpaid hours today at the Board AGM. The things you have to do to keep a job in rural PEI! I've gained a couple of pounds since I quit smoking four and a half months ago and I tried on four skirts today before I found one that fit. That's even more depressing than the unpaid work!


Uploads for today are two versions of Father and Son. The first is by the writer and who we know it from, Cat Stevens, and the other is by Johnny Cash and Fiona Apple. That one surprised me. Johnny has done covers of plenty of songs but that he is singing with Fiona Apple is the surprise. I love their version.

Saturday, May 27, 2006

Changing Again




A friend of my daughters woke me up about an hour ago (2:30am) calling from Alberta and I can't get back to sleep. The field behind my house has cattle in it for a few days. I love seeing them there and I provide some entertainment for them too.

The daffodils are gone from the garden and the irises will only be here another day or so. Other things are popping up but I don't know what they're called. Photos of these plants are on the photoblog. With both of these plants if you keep deadheading they will last most of the summer.
Wonder if that might work for me.....a new head, wrinkle free, only happy thoughts, to get me through the summer.

I'm attending a potluck tomorrow and looking forward to the variety of food. I've made a rice and bean salad. It's very pretty with the purple rice I bring home from Ontario and five different kinds of beans, red and green peppers, white and green onions, celery and cucumber. It will also taste as good as it looks. Yummy treats ahead.

Lila Downs has a new album, La Cantina. Click on the link to check it out. I already had a couple of cuts from it but just found out last night that they were from a new album. It's Mexican old fashioned, traditional music which I love. I'll upload a couple for you to hear.

Friday, May 26, 2006

Off Balance Living

While reading my blogroll this morning, I read about these condos in Japan. I absolutely love the look of them but think the idea of keeping people off balance is really weird. Read the article and let me know what you think. I think keeping in balance is hard enough.

Thursday, May 25, 2006

Leela, Lizz and Pansy


There is no flower happier than a pansy. I have some this year that are called gigantus; big, huge ones of the standard colours. So pretty and great garnishes as they are edible. Always thinking of food, I am.

Another version of A Change is Gonna Come to upload today by the young, fabulous soul singer, Leela James. Also I've found a lovely new singer named Lizz Wright. She has an album, Dreaming Wide Awake and from it, I've uploaded the old standard, I'm Confessin'. She's very mellow and melodic. She does a great version of Taste of Honey that has some really nice acoustic guitar work. If anyone is interested I'll upload it too. Any requests of anything?

Putfile is having problems again. I'll keep trying to upload these songs but don't know when it will be fixed.

Wednesday, May 24, 2006

Trivializing and Triviality



Spent the night with these girls, S-friend, Iona and Kali, last night. My best friend is home from a wonderful Cuban adventure so we trivialized and caught up ten days of separation. I ended up staying in town because of a bar owner's error. I could have come home but who in their right mind is going to throw a beer away. Certainly not moi.........

Spent the morning with another friend whose circumstance makes me realize the triviality of my problems; not as harshly as my friend who lost his son on Saturday but a lesson just the same. We have to hang in there and hold on for dear life. Upload for today is Neko Case - Hold On, Hold On

Tuesday, May 23, 2006

Home to Me




Yesterday I went on a mission to help out a friend who had no transportation and a great need for Ibuprophen. We had one of those days with big, dark, ominous clouds that were scattering showers here and there and scattering sunny patches around as well. I got two photos and my camera batteries died. I managed to squeeze one more out on the way home. I would have taken many more because it was so beautiful. What I found most appealing were the patches of sunlight surrounded by shaded areas. Apple and cherry blossoms are blooming now and the leaves are still those pretty shades of lighter greens. The grain fields are having us look as green as Ireland and I'd say there is no finer place to be right now than Prince Edward Island.

Sunday, May 21, 2006

Vases Are Fragile



Well! Just two days ago, I showed you this vase that I love. I put a lovely bouquet of apple blossoms in it, snapped a few photos and was taking it outside to get a few more in the sunlight. I put it on the floor to open the door and it just broke up. I think it must have had a crack because I put it down gently. It didn't even bump, just broke apart.

As you can see with the photo of Bella it will still stand which is good. I could try to fix it so that it would work from the opposite end; I'd just have to take the sharp edges and points off and not put too much water in it because of the crack.

That's the kind of week it's been....just one thing after another.......I need some peace!

The Waifs


I thought I'd count to see how many songs I have on Putfile. I have ninety-eight. Being the way that I am, I have to round this up to one hundred. This gives me a chance to write about The Waifs, who have been my favorite band since I saw them at the Stan Rogers Festival in 2001.

The Waifs are from Australia and consist of sisters, Vickie and Donna Simpson and Josh Cunningham. They now have a bass player and drummer but for years were a trio. The sisters have incredible harmony, having grown up singing together and Josh is an incredible guitar player. They all write but Donna is my favorite writer of the three, writing many women-centered songs like The Haircut, which I uploaded recently. Josh and Vickie were a couple but are not any longer. The band is on a break right now as the girls had babies on the same week in October.

They were Bob Dylan's opener for two of his US tours a couple of years back. If Bob thinks they're great.....what more can I say. They've also won many Australian awards equal to Grammy's or Junos here in North America.

I saw them live at Stanfest then in Australia and they have an energy that is unsurpassed. They were the big hit at Stanfest that year and do the same at festivals everywhere they play. I have all of their albums but uploaded them in a different file format than I should have. I do have one disc of last year's double, live album, A Brief History, uploaded correctly so I am uploading two songs from that to make my one hundred.

I've put up Lies and Gillian, both sung by Vickie Waif. Gillian would have been a good choice for Mother's Day with it's line, "Gillian, if you weren't my mother, I'd make you my wife." I love this live version because the audience really gets into singing the chorus without Vickie and love themselves for it.

I could go on and on about the band but someone told me my blog entries are too long so I'm trying to shorten them. Anyway, check out the band's website and if you ever see one of their albums, buy it. You'll not be disappointed.

Heck, as I sit here listening to the album, I have to put up number one hundred and one. Josh's song, A Brief History, tells the story and is a great cut.

Just checked out the website myself and they are finishing up the maternity leave and are playing the Edmonton Folk Fest on the 12th of August.

Cuidado, out!

Life is Fragile

How to keep your problems in perspective.....spend the evening with a friend who was just informed that his 18 year old son was killed in a car accident. Truly does put things in perspective.

A friend gave me this very large vase for Christmas a couple of years ago. It is reversable ........can be used upside down from how it is pictured here. Cool, or what!?!?

Saturday, May 20, 2006

Ponds and Ponies

Out in the countryside yesterday and snapped a few photos. Our red soil is very beautiful. The green looks like an island in the red. Horse tracks in the field of red, a no-no to the grain grower.

Look at that...a little island. Fiddleheads all around this pond but too late to pick. I bought some this week at $4.99 a pound. I believe they were $7.99 last year. Doesn't matter to me. Must have fix....fiddleheads!


Met some new friends, Milo and Smiler, small little ponies who want to run free but are not allowed. Mouths full of hand picked grass will have to do.

Friday, May 19, 2006

Clarke

Clarke has been here a year. His birthday is Dec. 23 but he moved here, with my daughter, at five months old so it's an aniversary of sorts of his life here in PEI. He's a pretty special guy.


On the day they arrived last year it was about five minutes to three. I am an avid Oprah fan and her program was coming on. I greeted my daughter and her kitten at the door and hugged them both. I then ran into the den, flopped onto the couch, flipped on the TV and settled in for an hour with Oprah, calling my daughter to come and join me. Well Clarke got in faster, jumped up onto my outstretched legs, gave me this sweet eye-contact look, then snuggled down and slept for the hour. I fell on love....hard! Within a few days I had told my daughter that if she ever had the need to move away again, that was ok, but Clarke was staying here.....for ever!


His coat is very, very soft; pretty much like an angora cat. When I first saw him, he looked almost oily but it's because his fur is so, so fine, it clumps together. He is considered to be medium haired but it is different lengths in different places. He loves to flop over and have his belly rubbed and that is with anyone, even strangers.

He gets on well with Bella and Kenz. He is a boy and a bit of a bully at times but he's basically sweet all around. The girls had a time with a real bully and find Clarke pretty mild so actually seem to like him. I love when all three are together in one place, on a bed for instance.

As I previously stated he is not a great tree cat. Last summer he had been missing for three full days and nights. I had given up hope. I went to hang clothes on the line, called his name (after calling a million times in the three days and nights) and heard a far-away answer back. He was way in the woods behind me at the top of a huge spruce tree. I have no idea if he'd been up there the whole time but after gentle coaxing, with me standing directly against the trunk and directly below him, he slid down. He was one happy cat, and I was a happy cat mama.


Anyway, I'm glad he is here with us and I think he likes it better in the Prince Edward Island countryside than in Halifax/Dartmouth. He'd better like it here, cause he's not leaving.

Thursday, May 18, 2006

Sweet As Pie


I'm missing my little grandchildren. I talked to this little guy on the phone on Sunday. He loves to talk about Grandma's cats. I've asked my son to show him the blogs since there are lots of cat pictures there.

It took me five days to get the bubble photo of my little granddaughter. She was always blowing bubbles but they would burst by the time the camera snapped. I'll be seeing them again in person in about six weeks. Ahhhh!

Uploads today - Ben Weaver - More Than I Miss You and The Haircut (Live) by the Waifs

Ben Weaver is married to Donna Simpson of my favorite band, The Waifs. I usually call her Donna Waif. This song is more country than I usually listen to but I had to check out Donna's husband last year and this is what I found.

The reason I've not put any Waifs on is that Putfile won't let me. I've just managed to get a live version of my favorite Donna Waif song but I like the studio version of this song better...just can't upload it. I'll put up some more live Waifs soon.

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

We Are All Differently Abled




Clarke has deficencies in the tree climbing department. The girls are acrobats and can jump from tree to tree. They've been that way since they were young kittens. Clarke just isn't like that and I guess never will be. He certainly has his strengths; just look how cute he is and if you could just feel how soft he is.

Anyway, twice in a week he ran up this skinny oak and couldn't get down; well he could but put up a great fuss once he got up there and wanted me to climb up after him. He tries to walk to the ends of the branches, almost falls, freaks out, climbs higher and just plain old acts stupid. After a while I went back in the house out of frustration and when I came back outside, he had come down.

Last night he started to run up that tree and I said, "Clarke, don't climb up there, you'll get stuck." He stopped and jumped down and straight over to me. Good Kitty!

Tuesday, May 16, 2006

He Looks Hot!

I need a nap like Clarke. Look how relaxed he is. Spent the morning gardening at work and I'm exhausted. Waking up several times a night with night sweats doesn't help. I've a meeting tomorrow to get things underway for the year; am I up for this? If the garden is exhausting me, I'm in trouble. I have work related calls every day now but of course am not getting paid.

We are supposed to get a bit of badly needed rain this evening. I hope we get a decent amount. PEI even had a forest fire last week. The gardens look nice but are parched. My microclimate's calendar in nature, a crab apple tree always blooms on June 1st but it will probably bloom tomorrow or the next day. We are definately having an early spring.

Monday, May 15, 2006

Yes, More Flowers



There seems to be a blogger problem this morning. I've waited over about 20 minutes and my 1st picture is not uploaded yet. I don't think I'll update the other blog right now like planned but wait an hour or so.

I hope no one is tired of pretty flowers and trees yet because I can assure that there will be plenty more to come. Our winters are usually so long; our springs are usually so cold and wet; and this year is very unusual. On Friday, our local CBC weatherman stated that one year ago it had snowed ALL day! Even June was cold and wet. So this year, even though we desperately need rain, I am enjoying our warm, dry spring and passing it on. Also, if it wasn't flowers, it would be cats.

Upload today: Monday, Monday, Monday by Tegan and Sarah

Sunday, May 14, 2006

Peek A Boo

Spent yesterday afternoon sitting in the sun with friends drinking beer. Nothing like it to lift the spirit. A bit of a headach happening this morning so uploads today are a couple of versions of Sunday Morning Coming Down. I like the Johnny Cash version.

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there. This day's for you. I once had to eat two salads for breakfast in bed. Still makes me smile.

Saturday, May 13, 2006

Me and My Mom

My youngest son is home from Halifax. We're going to Mother's Day brunch tomorrow. The kids tend to do anything they can to distract me from my thoughts on Mother's Day because it is the most difficult day of the year for me. I loved my mother more than anyone. Don't get me started.

Last year wasn't so bad. I got through the day without a tear......the first since my Mother's death in '98. We're not counting the whole week leading up to Mother's Day. Or the week after.........the week of her birthday. Someday I hope to be able to cope with her loss a little better. I've been very weepy this week.....every time I hear the phrase Mother's Day and every time I hear the date May 19th.

I have a friend whose birthday is May 19th and I thought I might offer to help him celebrate. Anyway, tomorrow I am going to brunch with two of my kids and hope to get through the day without turning into a blubbering mess like I am right now.

Friday, May 12, 2006

Pastural Beauty - More To Come

The new leaves emerging from the trees, in colours from lime green and red to everything in between are making this Island simply gorgeous. I've been out and about the last couple of days and I swear, it's prettier than autumn. Soon the tulips and marsh marigolds will be gone
and our famous lupins will be covering the ditches from one end of the Island to the other.

I planted one row of the work garden today and will do another tomorrow and got my lawn mowed at long last. Repairs totaled $450.00. It's no wonder I rage against machines.

Thursday, May 11, 2006

Que Sera Sera

I'd used this vase to hold the daffodils I took to trivia on Tuesday. It was still sitting on the table filled with water; perfect when my favorite ex walked in with her annual bouquet of marsh marigolds. That vase is always so perfect for them and also for lilacs.

Uploads for today, two songs with the word sera in the title.

Wednesday, May 10, 2006

Something Fishy



Our trivia bar serves the best fish and chips in Charlottetown, so they say. This is a photo of an order. We found it pretty funny when it arrived in the shape of a fish. That open mouth was perfect for ketchup lipstick. I had pasta.

Forty Daffodils

Tuesday, May 09, 2006

Rambling Along

Bella doesn't get featured as often as Kenz or Clarke in the photo department because she's a little more shy than they are. You can tell that's so just by looking at her. A scaredy cat.

I didn't plant my work garden yesterday because the person who tills for me wasn't available. We have arrangements for today but it is really windy so not a good day for planting those tiny lettuce seeds. It is sunny and 16 degrees but what can you do? Tomorrow is supposed to rain but if it holds off till afternoon, I may get a row in in the morning.

I've been eating fresh asparagus from my garden since Saturday. Nice fat, yummy stalks that I cook just a little so it is still basically raw but bright green and crunchy. Here's a couple of stalks I'm cutting today. Yum!

Trivia tonight. I'm going to bring big bouquets of daffodils for my friends again to replace last week's. I have so many. They are much nicer in vases than in gardens. I could cut around forty from the back garden and from a distance it wouldn't make a difference to the look of the garden. Just realized our trivia master didn't get any last week. Must make sure she does tonight. Hmmmmm....I wonder if it will help our score?