State of the Garden

 The Siberian Irises have done fine this year and this one is a favourite.  I can't remember its name - I used to know all of my plants but have lost the tags over time.  This one did survive its transplant from Saskatoon to Kaslo.  It's been a tough year in the garden with all the rain and the bearded irises are suffering from fungal diseases.  If we ever get to have a fire outside (impossible in all this wet), I do intend to burn some of that damaged foliage.  The pots are rarely fertilized - I simply don't want to give them even more water.   Consequently, they are not really blooming all that well.  Hot crops are simply sitting around doing NOTHING and the peas, spinach, lettuce and green onions are relatively happy.  It's drenching down as I write this.  Happy Summer, everyone!

Raindrops Keep Fallin'

 I was surprised to see how long these raindrops remained on the waterlily this p.m.  We've been getting very regular rain (hourly) for the past couple of days, but this p.m. the sun came out and I took this picture at about 5:30 p.m.  We hadn't had rain since noon so these drops are at least 6 hours old.   One thing about the cool and misty weather - the flowers keep blooming for a really long time.  I wonder how many more weeks I have to wait for the sweet peas to start blooming?

45 Trips

 I'm enjoying the new bike and have a set of well-needed fenders on it now.  Since summer simply will NOT arrive, I ride anyway and get spat on by the skies.  No drenching rains that I've experienced yet.  I spoke to someone yesterday who seemed puzzled about the fact that I wouldn't drive into town 3 times when I needed to come in thrice yesterday.  I said that I was trying to be "green" some of the time and I don't think she got it.  However, I realize that it is going to take me 45 trips to town to save one tank of gas.  I'm beginning to wonder if it is worthwhile?  Anyone care to comment?

Our Callie

 I was lucky enough to find this little plant while visiting Sidney in May.  I had to buy it when I noticed that it was named after our granddaughter!  It's done surprisingly well during this cool and wet spring - probably the best of the potted plants I have on the deck.  The basil has pretty much shivered itself to death this week.  I wonder if some of the plants will flower - they haven't even sent out a bud yet.  Where, oh where, is summer?

Borderlines

We visited northern WA this past weekend and had difficulty both entering and leaving the U.S.  This is the first time we've had an experience like this.  Of course it was very easy to re-enter Canada, especially now that we can spend a fortune in another country with only a 24 hour visit.  We had to have our camper van x-rayed to leave the U.S. and wondered why there seemed to be a Red Alert out in a small border community south of Christina Lake, B.C.  Anyone know anything we don't know?