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I finally caught up with most of my garden chores

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The other day, Monday I believe, Chris and I finally finished all the work in the garden that I’d been putting off for months. Ok well not all of it. I still have a few annuals to plant and some of the roses need pruning, but otherwise the garden is ship shape.

It feels good to have it all done!

We should have put mulch on the garden beds by the end of June. That duty was finished on Monday, along with a nice layer of homemade compost. Our plants should be very happy in this heat now that they have a nice layer of mulch to help hold in moisture around the plants and to keep their roots cool.

We pulled out all our solar lights – some still hadn’t charged yet this year! – and I placed them around the plants where they’d get some sun during the day to charge, but would highlight the plants at night.

Chris also pulled out all our torches. You know just like the ones on survivor. We place a few of those in the garden and add a mix of kerosene and citronella oil to the torches. The combo lights the garden and keeps mosquitoes at bay.

We’re having guests from Chicago this weekend and as long as the weather co-operates I expect that we’ll be out in the garden quite often over the weekend. We’ll probably have a barbecue or two, and if it’s nice spend the evening sitting outside at the patio table talking.

I’m so happy that the garden is done. Now I can finally sit back and enjoy it – this weekend.






Artistic watering cans

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PSHunt
Grab the Scavenger Hunt code.
Photo Theme.
Join the blogroll.
Visit participants.

This weeks Theme is Fake

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When I saw this weeks Photo Hunters theme I thought to myself “what can I photograph that represents fake”. I had no idea. Sure, I could have done some obvious things, but I like challenging myself.

Luckily, my husband and I some time on Saturday to go to Toronto’s 40th annual outdoor art exhibition. My nephew just graduated from the Ontario College of Art – specializing in photography and he had a booth at the art show where he was showing his photos.

He never even shows his immediate family, his parents, his photographs, so we figured it might be years before we’d get another chance to see his fabulous photography so we went to the show.

I had no idea it would be so large! There were 500 artists exhibiting everything from photographs to sculptures in wood, glass, clay, and stone, pottery, paintings, prints, metal artwork and many other forms of art.

I brought my new SLR camera with me and as luck would have it I found some “fake” artwork that would be perfect for the Photo hunter theme.

Now, I know I’m behind in posting my photo hunter photos (on three sites) but I think I found great items to post.

The photo above is of watering cans. Clay or pottery sculptures. They are not functional but they are lovely aren’t they?

I took a lot of great photos on Saturday, many of which will be perfect for this site – funny garden related sculptures. You’ll love them. Watch for them in upcoming posts.

Have you hired a Nanny?

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Many of you that read this blog are not only gardeners but parents as well. I was wondering if any of you ever hired Nannies for your children?

My sister had twins and she had her own business so she ended up hiring a few different nannies until her children were old enough to attend school full time.

I even had a nanny when I was young. I was the last of five children and my mom needed to get back to work with five kids to care for so she hired an older woman to be my nanny. I actually believe my very first memories are of my nanny.

I think that if you manage to find the right nanny for your children, and one that fits in with the rest of the family that it can be a great experience. It allows parents to get back to work and gives them some peace of mind that their young children are being cared for properly.

I didn’t realize this, having no children of my own yet, that there are places on line where you can find nannies. Like this one – Nanny Sydney – that specializes in finding nannies for homes in Sydney Australia. I’d imagine that there are sites like this all over the world.

I know that nannies aren’t for everyone but I just thought I’d bring up my own pleasant experiences from a child’s point of view. My nanny was fantastic. As I said, she was an older lady. Perhaps that’s why she was so good. She really wanted to care for a child. It wasn’t just a job to her.

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