My Valleybrook Gardens Open House Day

This is the white one like my little pink one – hope mine survives and gets this big. Taken on the tour when we stopped to see one of their small personal landscaped sections.
 
What a blast we had at their Open House on Friday. I had Sheilagh and Angela join me, and Sheilagh phoned her SIL  and MIL and had them join us too. WOW we had such a great day. Just fascinating. A real eye opener to what goes on behind the scenes of a large multimillion dollar operation that supplies all of Canada and many of the States.Took the tour, given by the son of the man who started this place. He was so friendly and answered all the questions anyone asked, quite openly, about their operation.  We even sat in on one of the talks given by a man who came especially for the open house and sends out a garden news letter from Ontario (that I have now subscribed to) about fall flowers, how to encourage them to flower longer and some landscaping, as well as some of the newer plants that are now available – oooh but I was so tempted to get a couple of them – next year? (just have to wait and see if I can find more room in my little flower patches, maybe even talk Elmer into making me another flower bed?  LOL)
All of us agreed it was well worth going to. I was so busy taking it all in, it is a wonder I even remembered to take the pics I did take LOL
So, if you ever come across a plant that says Heritage Perennial, you now know it comes from Abbotsford BC.
 
 My Valleybrook Gardens Open House Day
 
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To view the photo album click this link:
http://www.care2.com/c2c/photos/view/449078385/My_Valleybrook_Gardens_Open_House_Day/
 
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This is the weekend that heralds the end of Summer for most of us. Some schools have already started in the States, while ours here will be starting right after this weekend. The weather is up and down. Some beautiful days, then like today, rain and/or cloudy, low temps. I am quite content for now with it. Just not looking forward to the cold, gray days of winter that seem to threaghten to come early.

Sheilagh and family were home for a week before returning to Allison Lake for their last week of Summer vacations. This time round I am once again taking care of the fish. Poor Sid,  misses them so much, and is not averse to letting me know he/she is unhappy at all. It always fills me with awe at how a fish can show so much emotion and convey the feelings as they do.
While home, they celebrated Laura’s birthday (it actually was while they were gone) Icecream cake and gifts – she was happy!

Sudoku!  The craze right now and one she just loves. See how her face lit up with this gift. even got me intrigued as I have never really cecked into it. Bought myself one of those monthly Sudoku puzzle books so I could try it out and it was fun.

Did I mention Angela bought me a new Luna Hybiscus? A pink one this time. It started out so well, but at the present time does not look all that happy in it’s pot. If it survives the next few weeks I will bring it in and see if I can keep it alive inside for the winter.

I feel I am playing Hookey where my main online sites are concerned. Instead, after an invitation to join one of my Grandsons on Facebook, I have been spending more time looking for the rest of them, connecting with them and some of the other family members who have joined, and playing with all the goodies in there.  I have not even felt much into taking photos – quite a change for me. I know I still have to put the ones I have shown here, plus many more, into proper albums, to share the link with everyone. I just have not felt like putting out the effort and energy for it.  It is almost as if something is bothering me inside and I cannot pin it down, so I play instead

Going to bed last night I realized I had not written about my computer troubles. For about 10 days prior to taking off I have been having nothing but problems. It all started when an automatic download upgrade of my virus program came in. Slow, kept cutting me off the internet, mail innaccessable or it would come in and then I could not reply, and always Firewall Deamon has a problem and has to shut down(still doing this part). After a couple of days of going round and round trying to see what was wrong, I went to the help feature. Said to unplug everything then reconnect after 30 seconds. Did that. No changes. I phoned and a girl told me I had to delete the whole program and re-install. Took me a day to get up courage to do that, find all the registration #’s. Took ages for it to all finaly come up again, and still doing the same thing. Once again I phoned them. This time another girl did the remote assist. Fascinating! I had never done that before, and it was strange to watch the cursor work on the screen and bring up different winidows without me touching it. In the end, after seeing what I was seeing, restarting the computer many times, she called the supervisor over to try. Over two hours working on this. Seemed to be OK, but within minutes of them leaving, it started to do the same thing again. I had such a headache after all of this, I just shut down and walked away for the rest of the day. They did think it had something to do with my Incredimail, and I might have to reload that program. I was not ready to do it, but figured I would attempt it the next morning. Would you believe the mail has been working fine ever since? And I did not reload. I know there is something going on though, as I said, that Firewall Deamon still comes up, especially when I check to see if any mail has come. And my computer is still way slower than it used to be. At least the virus part is working just fine, so I can live with that for now.

I just wrote a long blog and it went to cyberland!  Grrrrr….

what was that all about – now it is all there.

Summer vacations are just about over –

I see I have not said anything in the last month. It was just quiet for me. Most of the time I was taking or picking up family from across the line as they went or returned from their trips. Last week I just had to take off. Guess Elmer and I were at the point where there was just too much togetherness and we needed a break from each other. Angela home, meant I felt free to take off and do what I have wanted to do in a long time – go see what was happening at Allison Lake and get my fill of family there. Also go and see where daughter Jean has been living for the past few years. I also wanted to visit my long time friend in Bridesville, who stays there just for the late Spring/Summer months in her Canadian home (the rest of the year she lives in Baha Calif.)
I have never driven to the Interior myself, even though it is only about 4 hrs away, but it has a lot of mountain driving. Grandson Christopher said he would love to join me. Oh! I was so thrilled to have him be my companion for this. Gave me the confidence I needed to get behind that wheel
The two of us just had a blast! Really had to watch those turn off signs we talked so much   (We did miss one and had to turn back for Jean’s place)
And our timing could not have been more perfect. The family were all together, and this was the inbetween week the Granddaughters were all at Allison – this week two of them have gone to camp Tulahead, so I would have missed them if I had decided to go now instead of last week. My friend Gaye would also be gone next week on a cruise.

This year the big snow melt from winter filled the lake – first time in around 5 years. The children, while happy to have the water so closs to the property again, bemoaned the fact the big sandy beaches left when drier were no longer. The adults were delighted – the fish were once again biting and it was so easy to launch their boats once more.

Here you see my youngest Grandson(from Washington State) and a buddy. He is having such a great time with his cousins, Aunt Sheilagh and Uncle Brian. Said he was not homesick at all, and not ready to go home either  Just wished Dad was there too.

Every day Brian would give him something to feed the Mother Duck and her babies – they would see him coming and swim to the shore. So cute! One morning I saw the resident Eagle come swooping down from the tree on the mountain – was after one of these babies. Too fast to get a pic of, but he was not successful this day.

Some excitement when this Concrete truck showed up – seems one of the other lots has started to build and this was there to pour a foundation.

Taken from the back of Gaye’s home in Bridesville – her yard ends in a steep incline and looks out over a hay field. Just beautiful.

I have put the rest of the photos in an album here. Also trying out that new module on the side.

Hope everyone has been having a wonderful summer.

Oh dear time is going quickly and I seem to have neglected coming in here and saying anything. A lot has been going on and if I do not get it down, it will be forgotten!

This winter more or less damaged my fig tree – I waited for as long as I could to see if it would sprout, but only new shoots from the roots came up, as you can see here. After taking this pic for posterity, I had Elmer cut it down so the new ones could take it’s place.

Here you can see the damage – each branch had been split at the joint. The only reason someone could come up for me was perhaps the heavy freeze, a quick thaw and then another heavy freeze. While the actual wood was still green, it was not growiing any new growth. Made me feel so sad as it was one of my loves. Hopefully the new shoots from the base will do well by next year.

Now all done, my Easter lillies gave a great show for me in June. They are so bright and colorful.

And I was very happy with to see this one flower - these were just bought and planted late Spring and already I had some pretty Astilbe flowers on my pink ones. The others did not flower but are looking good.

Here is Elmer with youngest son Gerry and his children – they treated us to a Dinner in honor of both Elmer’s birthday and Father’s day. As you can tell by the chopsticks, we were at a Chinese restaurant.

The last week of June was filled with school closing ceremonies and assemblies. I attended the ones for three of my Granddaughter’s, feeling very proud as their names were called out for various awards and recognitions of accomplishments for the past school year. They work hard and deserved them.
then the summer started in earnest – both my daughters took off – Angela and her daughter Shannon for California. I took them to Bellingham in order for them to meet up with son Eugene and his son. From there they all went together by car. Believe me I did not relax till I heard they had arrived at my Brother’s home safely, as they chose to drive non stop all the way – 22hrs driving!  I am now in charge of seeing the garden is kept watered during the week while she is gone, while John takes care of it for the weekend

Daughter Sheilagh and her family took off in the other direction – up to their place at Allison Lake, BC.  My job for them was to feed Sid the fish again, and check the rental home they are restoring after their tennant had left it in such bad condition.  At least they were only gone for just over a week, and back to work more on that rental before once again leaving to continue their summer stay at Allison.

We had a couple of 100 F weather days here – just killing temps! The poor gardens and patio plants really took a beating. Elmer and I seemed to spend all our time early mornings and late evenings trying to keep them watered and not dry out too much. The rest of the time staying in a house that was closed up, fans going full out, trying to keep cool. The computer room was just about impossible to work in it was so warm and stuffy.

During this time, Elmer started having major problems with his baby Bronco. He took it in to see what the problem was, they said – tune up! $400.00 and a couple of days later we got it back to find it had not touched the problem. so back again! They suggested more things to  change, another $400.00 with two more days away, and it still had not fixed the problem. Elmer was so upsett and then recalled a similar type of action with our Motor home some years ago which was the thermostat. He told them have they checked it? No. Then do so and change it. OK. We got it back and while the problem was not there now, it sounded like the Bronco had blown a valve with all this messing around. Enough is enough! How much more do we have to put into this? I am not a believer of putting money out constantly on a vehicle just to keep it going when we do not have to. So I did some surfing on all vehicles and what there was out there, prices, gas mileage, comparissons, whatever I could find on different makes and models. Came across the new Honda FIT.  From the look of it, and all the comments and tests this was something I thought Elmer just might like, and the price not bad at all, cheap in fact for what the vehicle had to offer. We talked about it, and decided yesterday to check it out. Result – we gave them the Bronco (no value to them re trade in price but we were not interested in selling it ourselves by now) and came home with a FIT. Now he just has to get used to driving and seeing it instead of his baby.

Goodbye Bronco I really loved you

Welcome FIT – looking forward to getting to know you.

Hope all Canadians had a great Canada Day weekend

America – Happy Birthday. Have a great 

July 1st – Canada Day – Exlog and I went to see the Parade through our town. Between us we did not take that many pics, as most of the floats we saw while there were about the same as last year. But I did take some that I liked.

This one was the biggest hit – the lady said it took her 5 days to work on his coat to get it right for the event.

The Mascot from Boston Pizza was a thrill for the children, giving them all (and the big kids too LOL) a great hug if they wished. Boston Pizza was also bringing out samples of their pizza’s – I have not had any of theirs in ages and had forgotten how good they were. I had also not had anything to eat before we went there, so their treat was so welcomed by me.

Fun to see – but I personaly was a bit disappointed the Peanut van in front did not give out sample pacs as everyone else seemed to be doing – guess I cannot have everything

Taken by Elmer – I liked this float.

I just had to take this horse’s pic – Loved the cute hats they wore for the parade

After about 1 1/2 hours of standing, both Elmer and I were tired and had sore backs so he decided we had seen enough and left. I read later they had some new floats that were outstanding, but never got to see them. Oh well, such is the breaks! I enjoyed my time there and that is what is important.
Later in the afternoon I visited Sid – remember the fish I occasionaly take care of for my daughter? From there I went to spend some time with my other daughter Angela for a few hours.
Later on Elmer and I did go out for dinner to our favorite Smorg. A good day in all, and the weather could not have been more perfect. What more could I ask for?

See the Album of all my pics here

Canada Day Parade 2007
http://www.care2.com/c2c/photos/view/449078385/Canada_Day_Parade_2007___Happy_Birthday_Canada/

Where does the time go? Father’s day has come and gone – hope all the Dads had a very special day, with recognition from his family and loved ones.  We had three things to celebrate within a few days of each other – Elmer had his 78th birthday on the 13th, Father’s Day on the 17th, for which we went out to a restaurant and toasted each other over a roast beef dinner on the 19th when we celebrated 25years of marriage. Son Gerry and three of his children treated us to a lovely dinner at the Chinese restaurant on the 16th in recognition of all these special events in our lives. Wife Barb was not feeling well enough to join us, and we missed her company.

I have to backtrack now in order to keep my days in some kind of order in the telling

These are in the small outside petting section of Devan Greehouse Nursery taken while waiting for Sheilagh to arrive so she could choose the plant she wants for a birthday gift.

One of the Bromeliads (the pineapple family) at Devan – I was so tempted to treat myself to this one, but looked it up on line to see what was needed to take care of it. As it is not one that can be planted outside in our climate and is very finicky where watering, temperature and sunlight  is concerned, I changed my mind.

This and many more flowers are featured in my newest album

Spring Flowers 2007 – Other than my garden
http://www.care2.com/c2c/photos/view/449078385/Spring_Flowers_other_than_my_Garden/

On the last 2 days of May I attended the interdistrict school sports competitions, as three of my granddaughters were competing. Just so happened these were two of the hottest days we have had so far. I felt so sorry for the youngsters as they competed in 90F temps. But they all did so well.

This is Katie on her last try, who came second in the high jump

Here is Katie in one of the longer races – she broke the district record in this one and received a gold medal. She also placed high in the ?athelon placing high in all 5 areas of the competition, coming home with ribbons and two medals. I am just so proud of her.

I could not resist taking a pic of this juice fountain at the reception tent following the graduation ceremony on June 21 at the University College of Fraser Valley. I was the proud Grandmother of one of their grads – my Gson Grant received his completion certificate for Electronics and graduated in full cap and gown this day. Mom, Dad and I were there to honor him and show our pride in his accomplishment. My life has been full of blessings lately.

This peony caught my eye while I was helping daughter Sheilagh work on fixing her rental home. In her neighbors yard, the plant was filled with blooms and I was curious – first because it looks so different from the peonies I have and normaly see. Secondly, while sharing my photos with friends online, they all talked about the beautiful perfume, but mine do not have any. On searching the web for information on tree peonies (as I have bought three to try and grow but know nothing about) I came across the fact that some are specifically perfumed while many are not. So I had to go and smell this one too – it is beautiful! Yes it is one of the perfumed kind.

These are my dark Pink Rhodies – this bush was almost hidden before by the two on either side of it and hardly grown to what it should have. As I lost the one from some form of bug last year, it has oppened up the area and this year this one has done me proud. Maybe now it will start to grow more.

Happy Father’s Day to all the Fathers we know. May this weekend be filled with the love and recognition of  your role in all our lives.

Now that Spring is over, and the Summer flowers are starting, it was time to put my photos into an album and share the link with my readers as promised. I know I have already shared some of these with you, but there were many more photos of all my bounty this spring.
Enjoy
 
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To view the photo album click this link:
http://www.care2.com/c2c/photos/view/449078385/Flowers___Spring_2007/
 

Oh My but it is June already! Almost halfway through this year!

May had some happy times, such a busy month really. First the wedding, then off to Calif. I came back in time for our next celebration – the graduation of a Grandaughter – the last of Angela’s children. Does seem strange all her little ones are grown up now.

Here is my proud girl as she leaves with her certificate of Graduation.

And here she is as she walks the walk to show off her beautiful prom dress before heading off to her night of fun. Congratulations Shannon, we are so proud of you.

This is the month when many of my late Spring plants went into bloom – I have so many and will be putting them all into an online album soon, but am sharing a few here

My pink and red Peonies – just beautiful this year, sadly they do not last long. (I went and bought the white one too last week, hope it grows as well as these)

I just had to pick some of them and bring them in to enjoy – these are mixed with some wild growing Penstemon herb flowers that are a left over from the neighbors behind us, coming through the fence.

My Iris were awesome this year – these flowered for the first time. What a show they made while blooming!

Of course, as the sun shone all week, and the temps were perfect, I had the gardening bug! Spent a small fortune (as usual LOL) and have bought quite a few new plants, some I have never had before, some I have had long ago and wanted to try again, some same types but different colors and some to replace the few that did not make it through the winter. I am running out of flower space

Daughter Sheilagh also celebrated her birthday on the 25th – Angela and I took her to Devan’s Greenhouse and let her choose the plants she wanted as her gift from me, then on her birthday proper, I went across the line to Sumas with her and Brian and treated us all to a delicious Mexican meal – they do serve the best!

It may not look like much but this was an Avocada/beef Tostada with refried beens and rice – so yummy and way too much for me to eat it all. (or maybe I had eaten too much of the home made taco chips and salsa they bring before the meal )

I also attended two days of interschool sports where three of the Granddaughters competed. They did well! I enjoyed cheering them on, but the heat was something else. At least I had the forethought to put a lot of suntan lotion on to protect myself this time, and glad I did as even then I seemed to break out with some heat bumps on my arms. Wondered too if I was going to be able to walk the next day as I am not used to being on my feet and doing so much walking as I did then. But I survived and did not suffer as I thought I would. Something must be going right for me