Summer Breeze

This week's blog post is written by My Michelle.

It’s funny how here in Ontario, we seem to quickly go from winter right into summer - not that I am complaining - as this winter for some reason, seemed just a little too long.  Richard and I love to garden and see the perennials start to shoot up as the days get a little warmer, the sun a little brighter, and we spend more time out of doors.  No matter how full the garden was last year, we always like to head out to the nursery and end up coming home with a trunkful of new plants to go in just that spot, that is missing a little something.  We always try and switch it up every year with a slightly different colour scheme on our patio - this year it’s white and green in the front yard, and tropical in the back with lots of ferns.  We are trying a magnolia bush and jasmine plant in our front planter - smells divine - we’ll see how it all goes.

May is kind of a bittersweet month for us.  It was in May that we lost my father to a battle with lung cancer. It was in May that Richard’s mom unexpectedly passed away - both were gone too soon.  It was also in the month of May that my mom had her stroke. This month we also lost a colleague from our tennis club that has been very upsetting for us both - we often saw her on our walks around Newmarket and stopped to chat with her, in this case we spoke with her just the day before she experienced a brain aneurysm and passed away shortly thereafter.  It was ironic at that time, that she was asking Richard how he was doing and wishing us both the best, not knowing what was to come her way, the very next day. Life can be so unexpected and yes, unfair and frankly we are starting to think we should hop from April right into June and skip that month, which hasn’t been the best in recent years.  

This month (May) Richard was discontinued from a clinical trial due to progression of his disease and as he shared last week, we are going through the workup for another one.  We just keep hoping that something will work, give us more time together, and importantly that Richard will continue to feel good.  It is tiring for him and we just can’t seem to catch a break. 

All that being said - Richard and I are more the “glass half full” kind of people.  We look for, and try to find the optimism in most things.  We are not letting cancer hold us back - we’ve planned a cottage vacation, we are planning a getaway for our anniversary (lock down permitting of course), we are planning for some small reno projects at the house and continuing with our basement clean up!

But when that summer breeze beckons, and the pool is sparkling, the deck cushions and loungers are out and the perfume from the flower garden hangs heavy in the air - outside we go, coffee in hand and breathe in the day.  I’m not particularly religious or spiritual, but isn’t it kind of comforting to think that just maybe that light summer breeze that lifts your hair and rustles the leaves in the trees, is like a soft memory passing by.

“Summer breeze, makes me feel fine….”

Let’s turn May around into more positive memories and celebration of life.

Love Michelle

XO

Green Thumb Distraction

One of the ways that we have been keeping ourselves busy and distracting ourselves from our current 'situation' is through gardening. Michelle and I have always loved to garden. We have spent many years collecting, purchasing and dividing our perennials to create gardens around the house. We have been fortunate to have participated in a few perennial swaps over the years too, so for the most part we have not had to purchase many of our plants in our gardens. This is great news as we have alot of gardens throughout our property. Perennials are definitely the way to go. We both take great pride in making sure our backyard gardens look good at all times. This can  be somewhat time consuming but we have never regretted our time spent planting, weeding, watering or admiring the results of a day's work.

We love our trips to the local nurseries to check out the latest plants available. Each spring we make our annual trek to a variety of local nurseries to check out the beautiful blooms and backyard oasis products. We could spend a day and a fortune in them. Luckily we have good self control (for the most part) and usually leave with only the items we were coming in for in the first place (but not always)!

Gardening is a great distraction from life. You focus all of your attention on nurturing the soil, arranging the plants, caring for them and watching them grow and change throughout the year. This takes you away from your everyday worries. It becomes a daily task to keep on top of it all. It is great to see that when you select a good variety of flowers and plants to place in your garden, you will have a variety of blooms throughout the seasons. That is the goal, having a forever blooming garden. 

This year our vegetable garden has never been better. Last summer I built Michelle a three tiered container garden and she has filled it to the brim!  With themes for each section of course 

- salsa garden, herb garden, and a variety of different lettuces patch.  We were lucky enough to get our veggie plants early (as it seems that many people decided to take up the 'garden hobby' this year during our time spent social distancing). Our middle son Josh also got into the action, starting some of our plants from seed and contributing jalapeno peppers, romaine lettuce and basil.  I must say that there is nothing better than picking your own fresh tomatoes, peppers, onions or lettuce straight from your garden and making a wonderful meal with them, sort of like our own mini farm to table! Talk about fresh from the garden. Our oldest son Jon, thinks our vegetable garden should be bigger and we should be more sustainable, but our little "victory garden" is all we can handle at this time!

We have come to peace with sharing our veggie garden with a variety of little critters that help themselves to the lettuce and cherry tomatoes on occasion. Can you believe this! As I sit here in my lounge chair by the pool writing this blog post, a squirrel has just ran by me with a large green tomato in his mouth. I kid you not! If only they could help weed once in awhile!

Gardening takes patience and effort. The constant watering and weeding are endless. I swear that some of the weeds grow back before we have even finished the loop around the garden. In the hot, hazy days of summer, it seems that the weeds are the only plants that are flourishing. At one point this summer our grass was almost completely brown with small green patches (of weeds) growing sporadically throughout.  The darn things!  I must say that there are few things more satisfying when gardening then surveying your work when the weeding is done!

As a family project this summer, we have decided to create some stepping stones for our garden pathway. When the kids were small, given I was off in the summers, I would come up with a summer art project to help spark their creativity and help to keep them busy for a few days. When they were younger, we made mosaic tile art. This year, Sophie suggested that we return to this form of art and create mosaic tile stepping stones for the garden. Surprisingly, the boys were also game!  We have all the supplies ready to go. Our hope is to get them done over the next two weeks and before Sophie goes back to university this fall. They will make a great addition to our garden and will be a lasting memory for us all.

Whatever you are going through in your own life, might I suggest that you consider gardening as a therapeutic, natural way to deal with your stresses and anxieties. Trust me, you will not regret it. And if you don't have a green thumb, start small. Plant some hardy perennials like hostas in your outdoor garden (trust me, you can't kill hostas)! It has helped us to deal with our daily emotions, has given us a beautiful backyard view to admire each day, just a great place to start the day.

Happy gardening, we'll keep going with the never ending challenge of the weeds and the tug-of-war for the tomatoes with the squirrels!

Richard