Showing posts with label deer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label deer. Show all posts

Saturday, June 13, 2020

Everything's coming up Roses...


I am spending much more time in our garden during the pandemic...
focusing on the flowers and plants.
Listening to the birdsong 
chatting with fellow gardeners on the street.

Many of us are dealing with the urban deer and their voracious appetites.
One doe visits the front yard every day and has decimated most of the Hostas.


You can see in the first picture that its looking quite big!
This is what is left of Sum and Substance a large variety of Hosta.
I watched her eat two "salads."

She's nibbled the hydrangeas and some of the rose blooms despite the thorns!

We are going to build a fence...

Constance Spry and Paul's Lemon Pillar Roses
on the pergola at the entrance to The Humble Bungalow Garden.
High enough that the deer cannot reach all of the blooms.


Constance has a very deep rich fragrance and Paul's Lemon Pillar is a more sublte citrus scent.


The Heart Flag hangs in honour of all the frontline and essential workers.

Jude The Obscure 
(my favourite David Austin Rose!)
a stunning repeat blooming apricot rose with an amazing 
and
intoxicating perfume.

The pink rose in the background is the McCartney Rose
a hybrid tea rose 
rich scent
repeat bloomer.


Sir Paul!


William Shakespeare
our only red rose in the garden.
"In joy or sadness, flowers are our constant friends."

~ Okakura Kakuzo ~


Roses growing at the Cottage on Pender.

"Flowers grow out of dark moments."

~ Corita Kent ~


No scent to speak of but very attractive.

"It’s ok to feel delicate sometimes. 
Real beauty is in the fragility of your petals. 
A rose that never wilts isn’t a rose at all."

~ Crystal Woods ~


Are you a gardener?
Do you have urban deer or other wildlife dining in your garden?


My current book borrowed from a friend.
What are you reading?

Take care and thank you for dropping by The Humble Bungalow Blog.

~ Be Well and Be Kind ~


Wednesday, August 30, 2017

Random stuff on Wednesday.


~ The Humble Bungalow ~

The garden out front has many plants and flowers.

Among them are yellow rudbeckia flowers 
a variety of yellow, pink, and red roses.

Limelight hydrangeas
Hostas
grasses
lime kniphofia
lavenders
boxwood 

The deer have been by munching on the Hostas and the Hydrangeas so the new garden help suggested that we try spraying with BOBEX...
it is all natural but is very stinky and it deters the deer from chowing down on the plants that have been treated.



Our tiny entry hall is rather cluttered,
it is where we hang our coats
store our brollies
hats.

Inside the picnic basket are winter woolly scarves and gloves.
No room for a wardrobe and no closets...


This wee area of the living room is where I write cards.
The quartersawn oak arts and crafts desk has many compartments inside 
which I use to store our address book, stamps, pens, and cards. 

We have such a small living area on the main floor...
about 975 square feet so we need to be careful not to collect too much stuff!
In 100 year old +  bungalows, storage was not originally a consideration.

People generally did not have a lot of extra things...
they were living on limited incomes, credit was not available and so people tended to be quite frugal.

Our bedroom closet is really small and we have to renovate that room someday. Mr. HB will redesign our closet and have some built in drawers installed.

We use the downstairs closets for our out of season clothes.


Trying to keep a minimal wardrobe is my goal but every so often I act on impulse and buy something that is usually something that I already have represented in my current wardrobe.

Buying a variation of something that I already own and don't really NEED 
is a waste of money.

This summer I paid attention to 
what I wore regularly 
what did not get worn often 
and 
what never got worn.

3 dresses were worn regularly and two others hung in the closet.
I wore 2 pairs of pants and the same few tops weekly.

The rest languished away...

 Why have something if it is not being used especially when storage is an issue?

The exercise also showed me that the clothes I wore 
were those that made me feel good wearing them
and  coincidentally 
they are the better quality more expensive items in my closet.

With that in mind, I plan to buy fewer things come the Fall and opt for better quality "investment" pieces.
It seems to me to make sense not to waste the space, time and money 
on something mediocre that is not going to be a workhorse in the wardrobe.

Walking scenery...


Clover Point on Dallas Road
the start of my regular 5 km. walking route.


Midway along the route Ross Bay
looking across at The Olympic Mountain Range in Washington State.


Ross Bay and the trees that line the edge of the historic Ross Bay Cemetery.
Walks have been lovely with the sunny warm weather...
breezes have been slight which I appreciate.


Plainsong was a good book...
a slightly different genre than I usually read but it came with high praise from the gal at the bookstore.
I have reserved the second in the series, Eventide,  at the local library.

In other news...
The scale has responded to the no alcohol regime.
I quit the wine habit last Tuesday.


Several readers have emailed me regarding me giving up alcohol.
My new tipple...non alcoholic wine.
It tastes good and has way less calories than real wine and is less expensive.


The information on the bottle 
may be of interest to you. 

I sip a couple of glasses at night, 
one before dinner and one with dinner.


Willows Beach walk
mixing up the walk locations for a variety of scenery.


There is a tearoom near the playground.
Mom and I used to stop in after our walk along the Esplanade.
I have taken tea here several times this summer and I think of her when I sip my cuppa.


My Mulberry knapsack has been getting a lot of wear this summer.
I love to be hands free when walking and it is the perfect size for my prescription glasses, wallet, lipstick, tissues and keys.

I love the colour of the leather and the details.
It is a sturdy bag that should wear well for many years.

Positively Smitten with this bag...
I like the shape, the brown embossed croc finish, and the clasp detail
it is not too big 
so there is no worry that I would be carrying a too heavy bag and injure my shoulder again!
  Plus it is a bonus that it is a cross body bag.

Perhaps I will invest in this one...
it has been ages since I bought a "new" handbag.
The last two have been thrift shop finds.

Back to the garden...


One of the Hostas that the deer have munched!


Thankfully the giant Rudbeckias seem to be safe from the deer.



Are you familiar with books by Kristin Hannah?
Firefly Lane (2008) is a page turner...
Kristin has a large number of books to her credit
and why have I not read her novels before this?
 I have no clue!

Thank you for stopping by The Humble Bungalow Blog
taking time out of your day to read the blog and glance at the pictures.

Hope that you are enjoying these last few days of August.

~ Be Well and Be Kind ~

Saturday, July 9, 2016

The view from here...


The view from here..

The Humble Bungalow Garden
Hydrangeas in front of the freshly painted exterior of our heritage home.



Since taking this picture Mr. HB has hung up our heritage plaque, 
house numbers, mailbox and the porch furniture is back in place.


The view from here...
the back deck door and steps.


Our first sweet pea bouquet cut from the garden.


I love sweet peas...
their form, colours and scent are all exquisite.

I wonder if anyone makes a sweet pea perfume?

The view from here...
walking snippets


Hollyhock up close and personal
growing on a street just off Dallas Road.


The water was calm, 
not a breath of wind 
the clouds hung like a puffy white curtain overhead.


Two handsome bucks were leisurely munching on the seaward side of Ross Bay Cemetery oblivious to the passing cars...


I stopped and watched them from just across the street.
They were more interested in lunch than taking any notice of me!


More signage along my regular walking route...


The view from here...

We enjoyed dinner out last evening with our friends at the Flying Otter on the Inner Harbour in Victoria.
This is where the local seaplanes take off...
There are the traditional Victoria hanging baskets on the dock.

On Fridays The Flying Otter offer a 2 for one appetizer special 
which I plan to order next time I go...
my BFF had the Tuna Tataki and the crab cakes and they looked amazing!

The view from here...


I started reading a new book by author Elin Hilderbrand.
Her writing style is very engaging and I have a feeling that I am going to want to read her other novels after I finish this one...
they are all set in or near Nantucket.


Our darling daughter and her fiancee are set to elope this weekend and I am feeling very emotional as my " first born ~ baby girl" is getting married.

She and her fiancee will be taking a ferry to a beautiful Gulf Island 
where they have an intimate ceremony arranged to take place in a natural setting.

~ Wedding flowers need to be assembled ~ 

after I pick them from the garden...
I hope my tears do not fog up my glasses too much.

I feel Happiness and Joy for them both...
I am certain that it is
the heart tugging mother's love
that is responsible for my mood.

I will show the bouquet and boutonniere on my next blog post.

~ Be Well and Be Kind ~

Thursday, May 19, 2016

Bye Bye Big MAC...

Good Morning!
I am saying farewell to my old MAC laptop and a sweet hello to my new MAC...


The new one is smaller and much faster...
way faster than the operator at this moment in time.
There is a bit of a learning curve but thankfully with a MAC there is so much familiarity that we can bravely navigate with very little fear.
(I have a very capable young tech just a phone call away which helps too!)

I am going to test drive this new machine by taking you all on my recent walk in Oak Bay.


I walked past one of my favourite gardens in all of Victoria.


If you ever get the chance please visit this magical place...
have lunch or afternoon tea and walk about the grounds
it is a little piece of heaven on earth.


I passed by a quiet lane where this beautiful white wisteria was growing along a cedar fence...
I love wisteria and think it looks so elegant, almost enchanting.


There were 5 deer eating their breakfast in a garden beside the path.
The birds were singing and it was very quiet.
I felt like I was in the country.

I posted a video of one of the deer to my Instagram page and judging by the amount of times it has been viewed it must be worth watching.


I took this "secret path" tucked between two houses.
I am in the area of Oak Bay where I grew up and when we were young "adventurers" we used to pretend that these paths were very secret and known only to the children in the neighbourhood.


I wandered up towards Oak Bay Avenue on a dead end street.
Ah but there is another path that winds itself through the area...
this one is known to many as there has been a booklet published detailing the route...it has been lit for night time use and safety on the rugged rocky steps.


Here is the view from the bottom of the steps...
looking onto a lovely little byway just off the beaten path.


Someone lost a bootie...


The mighty oak has fallen and the municipality knows that the Garry Oak Meadows are better off when the tree trunks are left as they fall...
(they have cut off the limbs that would have blocked the path)


I am hoping that this post will be in the Blogger feed as soon as I hit publish...
if not I need to do some sleuthing to find out what I need to fix.
Please keep your fingers crossed!

Thank you for stoping by...

~ Be Well and Be Kind ~