Jack’s Walk

©voyager, all rights reserved

People have started mowing their lawns and for the most part the dandelions will be kept cut down. Still, some dandelions will find places to live and thrive and secretly that pleases me. Mr. Voyager and I often wish that we could let our grass grown long and wild and full of colourful weeds, but that’s frowned upon when you live in the city so we comply and cut. Maybe someday people will realize that all that mowing and watering and tending to grass is unnatural and bad for us and the environment.

 

Jack’s Walk

 

©voyager, all rights reserved

It’s a hot cloudless day here with temperatures hovering around 28°. Lovely weather…for humans. Not so lovely if you’re a big brown dog who hasn’t lost his winter coat yet. Jack’s in the process of shedding and, even though his fur is coming out in bunches and bunches, he’s still a hairy beast. So to bypass the worst of the heat we set out early this morning and kept the walk short. Even then, Jack was unenthusiastic and plodded slowly most of the way. He did perk up once we were home though and is now happily sat in front of the air conditioning vent. The forget-me-nots in the photo are blooming madly beside my driveway. I have no idea how they got there, but they’re cheerful and I like them.

Jack’s Walk

©voyager, all rights reserved

Jack and I walked along our favourite trail in the woods today and found lots of  pinkish trilliums. They’re very pretty and look as if they’re a distinct variety of trillium just like the red ones, but they’re not. Pink is simply the colour a white trillium turns as it prepares to finish blooming for the year.

Z Is For Zinnia.

Zinnia.

Zinnias make for wonderful summertime garden flowers, attracting all kinds of pollinators and many birds which feed on their seeds. Snails (and slugs) also seem to like them, not only the flowers but especially the seedlings. It’s kind of a spring tradition for me, sow zinnias and hand-pick snails and slugs around them every night until they grow to a certain stage or until snails estivate. This photo was taken in November, when snails are active again, and some zinnias are still standing.

Oh, what a poignant and beautiful photo! Click for full size.

© Nightjar, all rights reserved.

Jack’s Walk

 

©voyager, all rights reserved

It’s raining today and rather than get muddy on one of our trails Jack and I decided to stay close to home and walk on the nice, clean concrete sidewalks in our own neighbourhood. We haven’t done that in a while and it was fun to check out everyone’s gardens and see what’s come up and what’s been newly planted. Yesterday we celebrated Victoria Day, and traditionally this holiday weekend is considered the safe date to plant outdoors with no risk of frost. That means that gardeners all around get busy and get their hands dirty. It also means the end of spring bulbs and I do hate to lose the tulips. They’re one of my favourite flowers and they come in so many colours, all of them bright and cheerful. To mark their ending I’m posting these beautiful tulips belonging to one of my neighbours. I think they’re a double tulip, but I don’t know the variety.