Come. Welcome to my garden.
Gently push the white gates, walk through the archway and immediately to your left is my strawberry patch. I see some ripe ones--help yourself, they’re for the taking. Peter fertilized them well this year--neighbour Bill, says, "fentilize," who knows, maybe that's how you say it in Dutch...? Ha!
This is the path that Peter put down so Bill's wife Rita and I can tiptoe across to each others home for a game and a cup of coffee.
Now follow the path that leads past two young apple trees. But all you will see is just a couple of apples. How sad is that! According to Brian Minter, we didn’t have enough honey bees this spring; I should have used one of my “dormant” paint brushes to pollinate the flowers. I tried that method with the peach tree a couple of years ago, when I noticed that there weren’t any bees around. And it worked! We had a good crop that fall.
My gardener...Ha, ha.
...and my window washer--that's what he's doing right now.
Beyond the posies: Celosia Caracas (deep Pink), Argyranthemum (lighter pink) and the yellow ones...? lost the tag, and against the wooden fence six blueberry bushes are growing. Come July they will be ready for picking. What has put a smile on my face is when Caleb (grand-son, 8.5 yrs.) has picked some to add to his cereal bowl. They will be there for him again this year when they come to visit.
I think this photograph was taken at the corner of Portage and Main (downtown windy Winnipeg).
Yes, these are our wonderful grandkids--Zachary (11) and Caleb (8.5). Zachary did his grade two piano exam on Monday, June 24. Way to go Zach!
To the right is our larger pond. We had some gold fish swimming around at one point. Then, one day, while we were gone for the day, Helga Pankonin, brought some more from Butch and Renata’s large pond. What a pleasant surprise awaited us the next morning! Sooo many fish! At least twenty-nine now...! But, alas, one by one, they too disappeared. Raccoons became our regular nocturnal visitors. They would come late at night or early in the morning until all the fish were gone. So sad...But a pond covered in screen does not agree with me...
...This spring we saw a family of six raccoons trying to catch something that wasn’t there--the parents must have remembered the “something” from their past.
Last week we saw one huge one making it’s way around the inside of the pond.
The time was 5:30 in the afternoon and he didn’t seem to care that we were observing him from the music room window. He must have been very hungry...
"No luck, old boy...!" And so he meandered away.
The peach tree is growing beside our covered deck protected by the overhang. In the Fraser Valley we have to keep our tree sheltered from the rain--the leaves and peaches don’t like getting wet.
She always needs "fixin'" after the coons have come for a visit.
The “Ina” water fountain statue--she came named that way--we bought her in 2008, at Cannor Nursery, on Chilliwack Central, after my sister, Erica, died of breast cancer at the age of 65. To her I added my mom, who died of Lymphoma in 1975, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, while visiting my brother, Juan. She too was 65...As you have guessed, I do not like the number 65!
Last week we saw one huge one making it’s way around the inside of the pond.
The time was 5:30 in the afternoon and he didn’t seem to care that we were observing him from the music room window. He must have been very hungry...
"No luck, old boy...!" And so he meandered away.
On the right side are growing the Zapallito plants that my brother, Juan and wife Marta, sent me in the spring. It's a green squash almost like a zucchini but round and VERY delicious! Stuff them, bake them, and oh so good!
The “Ina” water fountain statue--she came named that way--we bought her in 2008, at Cannor Nursery, on Chilliwack Central, after my sister, Erica, died of breast cancer at the age of 65. To her I added my mom, who died of Lymphoma in 1975, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, while visiting my brother, Juan. She too was 65...As you have guessed, I do not like the number 65!
Bending toward the pond is the Weeping Cypress Tree that Peter’s siblings gave us in remembrance of Erica.
Alex and Martha chose a very appropriate tree at Minter Country Gardens, in Chilliwack.
...Today, I too feel like that weeping tree. The thoughts that chased around my head as Peter and I sat in the doctor’s office: Another x-ray...?; Will I have to have my lung drained...?; Will I have to stay in the hospital?
• Monday, June 24--After seeing Dr. Connors, I did have to have an x-ray, and in less than an hour they had the results. It showed that there was fluid buildup around my right lung--same as last June--and the reason for all the pain I have been experiencing these last few days. And so, my second round of Bendamustin and GA-101 is postponed till next week...? Did he say that a CT scan might be helpful to see what’s going on in there? Tomorrow morning we will hear from the doctor.
• Monday, June 24--After seeing Dr. Connors, I did have to have an x-ray, and in less than an hour they had the results. It showed that there was fluid buildup around my right lung--same as last June--and the reason for all the pain I have been experiencing these last few days. And so, my second round of Bendamustin and GA-101 is postponed till next week...? Did he say that a CT scan might be helpful to see what’s going on in there? Tomorrow morning we will hear from the doctor.
• Tuesday, June 25--And now it’s today. And so we wait, and wait...and wait...for the phone to ring...
We just got a phone call from Dr. Connors. He and the radiologist compared the x-ray with my last CT scan and they came to the conclusion that the pain I am feeling is a “healing” response to the chemo treatment; things are shrinking. So tomorrow and the next day we will go ahead with chemo. That’s all very good news, and all I have to do is take Advil for the pain to get the inflammation down.
• Wednesday, June 26--9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.--chemo.
• Thursday, June 26--9:00 a.m. to 10:15 a.m.--chemo
We just got a phone call from Dr. Connors. He and the radiologist compared the x-ray with my last CT scan and they came to the conclusion that the pain I am feeling is a “healing” response to the chemo treatment; things are shrinking. So tomorrow and the next day we will go ahead with chemo. That’s all very good news, and all I have to do is take Advil for the pain to get the inflammation down.
• Wednesday, June 26--9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.--chemo.
• Thursday, June 26--9:00 a.m. to 10:15 a.m.--chemo
In the mean time we are in Douglas Lodge B&B, on 13th and Cambie. It’s nothing to “write home about,” but it’s a five minute walk to the Vancouver hospital when I'm feeling well and it took longer, when my side was hurting.
I am sitting in a brown wicker chair, the computer on the other, and Peter is lying on the bed--propped up by four fluffy white pillows--eating nuts and reading the latest Mennonite.
But let’s forget about today and continue on our path. The first pond that “Peter built,” is to the left. The water-fall flows from a large, flat, horizontal gray rock, into the pond, close to where the white water lilies float and are in full bloom right now. This pond is much smaller but also much deeper. No raccoons dare come here, although in the past, we have seen the “shy,” long-legged heron standing right next to the pond. Wow...! What majestic lift off! Their wing span must be six feet wide, or more.
A couple of rocky steps up and past the French bistro
table--which we haven’t used at all this year because, first of all, we really haven’t had that much sun, and secondly, if you are on chemo, you’re supposed to stay out of the sun--and right behind are the metal sculptures that we bought and brought home in the trunk of our car a number of years ago, all the way from Altona, Manitoba, designed by our friend and artist Ken Loewen.
And...onto the deck. Here, where we can sit on my cushiony swing and take it all in. We’ll rock a bit and enjoy the warmth of friendship, and if we’re lucky, of sunshine as well. (Vancouver is cloudy and rainy, and I'm sure so is Rosedale).
From where we sit you’ll see hanging baskets spilling its colours in profusion...colours purple, pink and yellow--this years colour theme.
Sure, the deck needs painting, but today, if you are here, it’s far too nice a day for work. Relax and let’s enjoy a cup of coffee/tea. I still have some ginger cookies in the house or perhaps in the trailer...?
"Colour is all around us and things don’t always go the way we want them to, but..."
"There are two ways to live: you can live as if nothing is a miracle; you can live as if everything is a miracle." Albert Einstein
How sweet is this! I took these photos in the spring on one of my PEDEGO trips along Bustin Rd. Marg Bartel's comment: "You must have been thinking about me, because those donkeys belong on our old farm on Bustin Road." Thanks, Marg, I made the correction.
PEDEGO is pronounced like the short e in elegant or hello.
Take good care and we/Peter will be planting some more flowers so you can walk through our garden from now on. I wonder how much I should charge...??? Coffee is included, of course! Just kidding, about the charge!!!
Hilda
PS--What we have feared has come true: Minter Gardens is CLOSING ): This from Andrea:
Click belowIf you would like to leave me a message, just press ANONYMOUS or send me an e-mail, like a number of you have done. Thanks.
And now, back to my book: Paris, by E. Rutherfurd. I did an update in my Book List blog--on the right hand side.
And if you took the time to read all this, you will need a rest as well.
Love to you,
Hilda
