pea blossoms

With all this hot weather we've had in Toronto, we came back from Montreal to pea vines a good foot taller than when we left, and with blossoms starting to form. I think they are my favourite thing to photograph in the garden.

montreal

Sorry I've been gone so long! I went to Montreal with Andrew to visit my brother over the long weekend and just got back last night. My parents were there to visit too, and we all chipped in to build a deck on the roof of my brother and his girlfriend Miranda's beautiful apartment in Outremont. We also did an awful lot of walking and eating delicious food. It was SO CRAZY HOT! Like, 35 - 40C hot. And we spent most of our time on the roof in the blaring sun. But it was really fun and I can't wait to go back. I didn't really take a lot of pictures, but here are a few highlights:

Dad and Andrew making beams with Mont Royal in the background.

Some Waito family bonding.

Delicious dinner on the deck.

Adam looking at his awesome new deck.

My favourite tiny treasure at the Musée Beaux Arts.

Underground in the Métro (I forget which station).

Mmmmmm... canalés.

Sunday evening

We had our first spinach salad from the garden tonight (with delicious barbecued hamburgers). 

We took a walk through the neighbourhood as the sun set...

... where we saw this amazing wisteria that had crept out from its yard and wrapped itself all the way up a streetlamp post.

yet another new header

As much as I liked that big reflected leafy thing I had going on for a few days, it just didn't seem to fit with the rest of the blog very well. So now I'm trying this. I think I like it better. This is what I see when I look up from my backyard. What do you think?

green and pink

new header image... maybe?

I'm trying a new header image. Well, it's the same photo, but modified. Any thoughts? Is it too much? Too big? This reflected plant image thing is kind of a long standing obsession for me. (like this for example) I may change it back, or change it to something else, but let's try this for now.

*edit
 I changed it - but this is what it looked like:

another neighbourhood kitty

Another neighbourhood cat was visiting me today. This guy's name is 'Mini Meat'. Yes, that's right, Mini Meat. And I also had another visit recently with the cat from my previous post, and according to its tag its name is 'Take a Penny'. What's with these names? I wonder if they come from the same house? Anyway, this evening Mini Meat came right up on our deck and was nudging his head against the screen door. I brought my camera out and he just wandered around the yard posing for me. Delightful!

special package

I ordered some specimens from an Ebay seller in Prague and they arrived today. They were packaged so carefully - each one wrapped up almost like a surprise ball (except without all the treats hidden throughout the wrapping - so not really). It was like a little ritual opening each one. This one is a copper crystal.

perfect day

I have so much I'm supposed to be accomplishing inside today. 

But how could I possibly stay inside on a day like this?

And the tulips... oh the tulips...

lilac

The lilacs in my yard are blooming weeks early.