How could a
third of a year pass so quickly when things seem to going so slow?
Another
mystery….
Of
course Canadians talk about the weather….
April was a
little colder than we hoped (mostly because we wanted summer RIGHT NOW!!). Much of the month has been quite windy, and
there was even frost on the garage roof on April 26. Regarding the wind, my walking partner and I
walked through a provincial park in mid-April, to find a lot of trees snapped
off halfway.
Wildlife
still endures….
Fortunately,
Mother Nature was still prepared to make progress because our first wildflowers
opened on April. We had Sagebrush
Buttercup and Western Spring Beauty in bloom, which has persisted throughout
the month.
(I just
love the names of these…)
Mountain Bluebells,
Woodland Stars (no pic), Lemon Weed and Arrow-leaved Balsamroot followed by
April 18, to be topped off by Narrow-leaf Desert Parsley.
The first
Calliope Hummingbirds arrived May 16 (males of course) to be followed by the
rampaging Rufous Hummingbirds a week or so later. I need to make some modifications to the
feeders, because we had bears taking down a couple last year, so unfortunately
all of this year’s birds are trying to monopolize the one feeder up so far. Never get in the way of dueling
hummingbirds.
On to the
earlier theme of a cold April, we finally got some rain April 24/25, bringing
us up to a humongous 39.8 mm for the first 4 months of the year. Those days were really cold, and the
hummingbirds ended up just sitting on the feeder for long periods of time,
without the energy to move or fight.
Somehow they make it through every year, but I have to admire their
toughness.
Covid
Update
Both Brian
and I got our Moderna Covid shots the third week of April, but little has
changed in terms of access to amenities or socialization. Spring always is a happier time of year, so
that has helped keep the morale up.
Flowers
in the Valley
Not only
spring wildflowers are abundant, but the first cherry blossoms opened the
beginning of April. Different varieties
bloom at different times, and with different colours, so some orchards looked
like a patchwork of white/pink/deep pink blossoms with every variation in between
representing themselves. Only a few blooms
were left at the end of the month, only to be replaced by apricot blooms coming
in. You cannot be depressed driving in the valley with this happening.
Brian and I
are both working out and puttering at home, getting things done after some time. I just made placemats from material I bought
only 14-15 years ago—why rush?
How a
gardener amuses themself during Covid lockdown….
Now that
spring has arrived, it is time to groom our landscaping gravel. It’s nice to be outdoors, but a little
time-consuming. What to do? First, you give every landscaped plant of
yours a personal name. Then you talk to
them while you are removing pine needles and grass heads around them. Then you imagine conversations between
adjacent plants….. What can I say? I stopped talking to myself weeks ago due to
lack of intelligent conversation.
Whatever works.
Hope you
are surviving in the midst of whatever Covid is throwing to you in your area. Things will get better, but it has been a
much longer haul than any of us anticipated.
Thanks for visiting!
