Monday Mystery Tree

It's Monday Mystery day and it is also Mosaic Monday. So being the ever resourceful person that I am I have combined both challenges for Monday into one post.

I really do not know the name of this tree that grows wild on our property. This tree is growing beside a run off stream so it is usually always damp there. As you can see it grows fairly big and has nice big juicy almost black berries on it.

The mosaic/collage photo has a close up of the leaves and the berries.



I really hope that one of my blog readers can identify this mystery tree for me.
I live in south eastern Ontario in case it is specific to our area.

Mosaic Mondays was created by The Little Red House. You are encouraged to create and share a mosaic/collage of some photos. Why don't you stop by and see what some other participants have created. Then try creating a mosaic photo of your own and join in the fun.

Labels: Mosaic Monday, Monday mystery

It's a Craf-tea Time Sunday Favourite

Let's revisit a post from the past for this weeks Sunday's Favourite.

Sometimes you get busy on the weekend and don't have time to create a new post. Here is a way to share some favourites from the past.

Happy to Design created this wonderful idea designed to give bloggers a chance to share a favourite post from the past. Stop by her blog and perhaps you will be tempted to join in.

Many of us have been blogging for years and we have published some really great posts...it would be so nice to share them again! There are always new visitors to blogs and they haven't always read the posts from way back when. So her idea is to choose a favourite post, and then repost it for all to see and enjoy again.

This post was originally posted on April 10, 2008. I chose this for my re-post as I've been putting away a lot of my garden art and the teapot totem was one of the things that got washed and carefully packed away till next gardening season.
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So here is one of my favourite posts about some of my craf-tea ideas. Perhaps you will be inspired to create some tea cup feeders or teapot totems over the cooler months ahead.

You know I'm a very craf-tea person and as well as drinking herbal and organic tea I love to create garden whimsy out of tea related items for the garden.

Over the years I've had a few teapots and teacups and when they cracked or got chipped I hated to throw them away. So I came up with ways to use them in a whimsical way in the garden.

There are my tea cup feeders, and of course my teapot totem.


And don't forget to have a look at my mini teaset that I posted for the Challenge of Pink.

I've even been known to buy tea in those little wooden boxes, not really for the tea, but for the box so that I can turn it into a small planter.

I'll soon be putting all my tea thyme whimsy out into the garden once again.


Labels: revisit, whimsy,

Wooly Bears

My digital camera is my constant companion while I'm working in the garden, walking by the water, or just out and about on my travels. You never know when that "Kodak Moment" will happen.

It's time to find the wooly bear.
They aren't really bears at all but caterpillars that will turn into an Isabella moth. It is called a wooly bear because its coloured bristles, or setea, look like the fur on a bear.

In the Fall they are searching for the perfect place to curl up for a long winter's nap. They like to be under logs, rocks or bark. Their body temperature drops considerably so they can tolerate very cold temperatures.
Folklore has it that the black bands of colour determines how long and cold the winter will be. The longer they are the colder the winter will be. If the head is really dark the winter will start out very severe and if the tail is really dark the end of winter will drag on and on and be cold. The wooly bear has 13 segments to its body and they say it corresponds to the 13 weeks of winter. If they are moving south it could mean a colder winter and if they are moving north it won't be quite as bad.
Here you can see the wooly bear stretching upwards. You can see some of the many feet and a glimpse of its head. The colour on the wooly bear changes as it matures. We found this one crawling across the driveway one sunny afternoon.

So out you go and look for some wooly bears, check the length of the bands, record it somewhere and then check to see if the predictions are right about winter.

Check out other bloggers that carry cameras all the time and snap photos of Camera Critters.

Anemones for Friday's Flower

For Friday's flower I'm flaunting some anemones.

The anemones have been blooming non stop all summer and they are still providing glorious colour in the garden.

I planted the bulbs towards the end of May and have been watching them grow and bloom. The weather has been glorious for September and the blooms keep coming and coming.

Freezing Tomatoes

It's that time of year when field tomatoes are plentiful.
They are red and juicy and make delicious toasted tomato sandwiches. They are also very reasonably priced. I buy extras and freeze them.

After washing the tomatoes, cut them into sections and lay them on a cookie sheet to put in the freezer.

After a few hours they are individually frozen and I transfer them to zip lock bags. Freezing them this way means they don't stick together into one big blob.

These are so handy to add to casseroles, crock pot meals, soups and stews. Just take out how many you want and pop them right into the pot. No defrosting needed. The heat will cause the skin to come off and rise to the top and then you can quickly and easily skim it off. The tomatoes blends in with a couple of stirs of the spoon.
I'm not into making spaghetti sauce or salsa so for me this is the best way to save the tomatoes and use them all winter. I know lots of people skin the tomatoes first, but I'm all for time saving methods and this one works well for me.

Getting Ready for the Chilly Days

The overnight temperatures are dropping down to around 5 Celsius so the mornings are chilly. It is still quite nice in the afternoons, up to around 20 Celsius. I'm enjoying these afternoons as I know there won't be many left.

In the garden I've started the cleanup ... cutting down the long front flower bed, emptying some large pots, removing the pots that are beginning to look like the end is near, and bringing in some tender plants to save for next year.

I grew some canna in pots this year and they did very well. But the recent lack of rainfall and my neglect at watering since returning to work has meant they have dried out a bit sooner than usual. So I've started to get the roots out for storage inside over the winter. It is certainly a lot easier to tip the pots out and trim off the roots than it is too dig them out of the ground.


On the evenings I've been knitting mittens for my grandson.

This pattern is a two needle pattern from Bev's Country Cottage. If you put in two needle mitten pattern at Google you will come up with all sorts of places that offer a similar pattern.
They were very quick and easy to knit up. I'll be doing a few more pairs of these as we all know that little boys (and girls) go through mittens quickly. When my girls were little I used to knit two or three pairs all the same colour so that if one got lost or extra dirty there was always another one to complete the pair. It sure did eliminate having a lot of odd coloured mittens left over.

I've also been crocheting some hats which aren't quite finished yet.

Labels: knitting, mittens,

OOTS in Ottawa

For Mosaic Monday I'm sharing some of the statues that were photographed on our trip to Ottawa. This is the second of my OOTS (out on the streets) posts.


This mosaic/collage shows some of the beautiful and meaningful statues around Ottawa. The memorial to the unknown soldier and the present day soldiers is very touching. A favourite is the young lady and man sitting on a bench outside the National Library. Outside the National Art Gallery is a huge, magnificent spider. And believe it or not that round doughnut looking statue is a real coin in the foyer of the Bank of Canada and the entrance to the Currency Museum. It is limestone, and used on the island of Yap (in the south Pacific) and they ranged in size from 10cm. to 3.5 meters in diameter. The small picture in the bottom left corner is a statue of Samuel de Champlain and it was erected to commemorate the 300th anniversary of his second voyage up the Ottawa River.


Thess larger than life statues have to be my favourite on Parliament Hill. This is a tribute to the "Famous Five" women ... Nellie McClung, Irene Parlby, Emily Murphy, Louise McKinney and Henrietta Muir Edwards. These ladies were suffragettes. It commemorates when women were legally declared persons in 1929. There are many other statues on Parliament Hill, of former Prime Ministers, Queen Victoria and the present Queen but if you see only one you need to see this group and have your photo taken with them. There is an empty chair just waiting for you.
The center image was taken from the top of the Peace Tower, which is the center of the Parliament Buildings.

Over at Veg Plotting, VP does an interesting series titled OOTS ... Out On The Streets. She encourages viewers to take photos of gardens that are planted in public places. My first post was about flowers but this one shows some other aspects of being out on the streets.
You can stop by and see others that are participating.

Mosaic Mondays was created by The Little Red House. You are encouraged to create and share a mosaic/collage of some photos. Why don't you stop by and see what some other participants have created. Then try creating a mosaic photo of your own and join in the fun.

Labels: Mosaic Monday, OOTS, Ottawa

It's Almost Pumpkin Time

Fall is coming and so are the pumpkins.
It's the last official weekend of summer. Soon there will be wagon loads of pumpkins for sale and folks will be decorating their homes for Fall and for Hallowe'en.

I never had much luck growing pumpkins in my garden, but I have lots of fun making them, one from crochet and one from plastic canvas. I've been calling our new granddaughter Little Pumpkin, as she is due around Hallowe'en, so I found a neat little crochet pattern on the web and made one for her.
And here is a plastic canvas jack o-lantern that I made quite awhile ago. I thought I would give it to my grandson so he has something to play with when the new baby is getting all the attention.

2sDay Ladybugs

The rocks will fit into the palm of your hand, but you could use bigger ones as well. I made a larger one on an interlocking paving stone as well.

This is such a fun project for kids and grandkids. The hardest part is getting them to wait in between the various layers of painting.

Labels: ladybugs, garden projects

OOTS - Ottawa Gardens

This summer we visited one of our favourite Canadian cities.
Ottawa is the caitial city of Canada and has many, many visitors from around the world. The city is situated on the Ottawa River in Ontario and is about a 3 hour drive from where we live.

The beautiful gardens and planter boxes are throughout the city. This year there was lots of red plants in the gardens and the huge planter boxes were all planted the same. I'm sure even the non-gardening visitors enjoyed these displays of beautiful flowers.



We did lots of walking in the downtown area, from Parliament Hill, to the Rideau Canal, to the War Museum. One of our favourite places was the Byward Market. Walking up and down the stalls seeing all the fresh vegetables, cut flowers, unique vendors, and specialty shops would keep you busy for hours and hours.

Just looking at all the historical buildings and imagining how Canada's future was shaped out was fascinating.

Over at Veg Plotting, VP does an interesting series titled OOTS ... Out On The Streets. She encourages viewers to take photos of gardens that are planted in public places. You can stop by and see others that are participating.

The Little Red House invites others to join in for Mosaic Mondays.
Why don't you stop by and see what some other participants have created. Then try creating a mosaic photo of your own and join in the fun.

Eating Time can be Fun Time

I made these spoon toppers awhile ago and kept them in the craft cupboard and promptly forgot about them. I came across one of them recently and thought they would be the perfect thing to make eating time a fun time for my grandson.

Just pop them over the handle of a spoon or fork and the fun begins.
My daughter suggested that if I made the ends a big wider they would fit over little fingers and be finger puppets. I just might try that.

You can find the pattern at FreePatterns.com I could provide a direct link but you have to be a member of the site to access the patterns. It just means you have to sign up with a valid email address (no cost involved). The spoon topper pattern is under plastic canvas, accessories, kitchen & dining.

Labels: plastic canvas

Perilla

I've been neglecting The Gardener Side of my blog for awhile. Perhaps it was too hot to work in the garden at the end of August (or too wet the rest of the time), and too sunny to take photos, or perhaps I just wanted to finish up my knit and crochet projects that I had on my to do list for the summer.

So today I had better post a bit about my garden or you will think I'm very one sided and only posting crafty things.

At the end of June my neighbour gave me some flats of annuals. Some of the plants were a mystery to me and all I knew was they were annual. Some reminded me of lettuce or edible plant with their fringed leaves. The colouring was a bit like coleus. They looked nice so I planted them in the garden and figured I would do some research on them. You can see three bushy clumps of them in front of the bench.

Thanks to Frances from Fairegarden I now know the plant is Perilla. She had done a post about some plants in her garden and there was my mystery plant. Some research through Google gave me lots of information. It goes by the common names of shiso, beefsteak mint, Japanese basil, or wild coleus.

Both the leaves and flowers can be eaten. The leaves are used as wraps in Japanese cuisine with fillings including rice, chicken or pork. The leaves can be used in salads and the edible flowers can be used to decorate any dish. I'm not sure I'm ready to try it that way yet, for now I'll just enjoy it in my garden.

Just look at the lovely colours and formation of the leaves. They are growing well in a north facing garden. I discovered it is an herb used a lot in Japan, Korea and south east Asia. In some places it will grow as a perennial. I'm still waiting for the spikes of lavender flowers on mine, and keeping my fingers crossed that I got them into the ground in time. The plant readily self seeds and I'm hoping to collect some seeds from the blooms if and when they come.

Adorable sweater

I recently finished knitting this adorable little sweater for a new granddaughter that is due towards the end of October.

I used an old Sirdar pattern that I purchased in England before our first daughter was born. And now that daughter is going to be the mom to the new little girl, and they will have both worn the sweater knitted from the same pattern.


It used Sirdar 3 ply yarn, which our local yarn store (lys) carried. It seems the bigger stores that stock yarn don't carry 3 ply now, at least in my area. As you can see I used white and a pale lemon. It was such a soft, delicate yarn to knit with on British size 9 or 3.25 mm needles. If I just want yarn like Red Heart or Bernat to make afghans I usually look for the sales at the bigger stores, but when I want a special yarn I always go to the lys. If you are ever in Belleville and want to get your yarn fix, be sure to visit The Knitting Nimrod. It will make your day.

Labels: knitting, granddaughter

My very own Cobra Head

Not to long ago I entered a give away at May Dreams Gardens to win a Cobra Head garden tool along with about 60 other people.

Wow, was I surprised to get an email from Carol saying I had won. In fact everyone that entered the contest won one because of the generous offer of the people who make Cobra Head tools. I was so pleased to get my package in the mailbox this week.

Thank you very much. I now look forward to using this great gardening tool.
Watch out weeds!