Cottage Weekends

Peter works with a couple who own a cottage on Fairholme Lake. They've been on sabbatical (well one's retired, the other is off) this past school year and we've been able to rent their cottage on two occasions. Peter and I went away to celebrate our 3 year anniversary in May. It rained most of the weekend, hence my cosy position on the couch. Above is the fire pit off the deck.

Between after lunch nap and pre dinner nap, we managed a walk up the road.

Here's the view from the cottage deck - you can just glimpse the lake, centre right.

The deck! (It was too cold for sunning, no matter how inviting the picture looks!)

Then, in June, we went back with the kids, and friends of ours John and Monica, and John's son Owen. See superstar kayaker below.

There was a paddleboat....

which, we discovered after, had a leak!

I stayed on dry land and go the fire going - which helped keep the mossies away.

Monica and Claire enjoying the afternoon.
Group shot of the living room.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

When we moved in last June, this garden bed didn't exist. The grass came right to the side of the house, so everytime I look at it, I think of the magic of creating something - beautiful - from nothing.
Once the snow finally melted, the bulbs Claire and I planted last October started to emerge. The little crocuses (?) were up first, bringing some welcome colour to the bare garden. You can see the grass is still patchy and brown, still recovering from it's winter blanket of snow.
The sticks in the front of the shot below will ultimately become roses, but right now they look a bit dead. We planted two evergreens - I think the back is some kind of cedar and the one in front is a yew (not 100% sure though!) so give us a bit of year round green.

Other bulbs that are emerging are the hyacinths - which are in the middle and to the left, the crocuses run down the right side. Front centre are actually garlic chives which do well over the winter, and are a great companion plant for the roses.

These two shots are from mid spring. The hyacinths, purple and pink on the left, have bloomed (gorgeous fragrance!) and are starting to droop, but the tulips are just coming into their glory. We had a very wet May which kept the tulips going longer than usual. The crocuses have died off, but their leaves remain, and you can see the roses starting to fill out.

These last two shots are only about a week old, and already there's been more growth. The bulbs have all but died off, but the roses are coming into their own. They'll give us colour and fragrance from the summer months right through to first snow.