The other day when I walked out onto the balcony, I happened to look down upon our “water feature”, a small pool I had once dug. I noticed how the reflections of the ferns were nicely silhouetted against the mirror-like surface of the water, and I had to take a photo.
The image looks like some deep pool of water in the jungle, surrounded by all of the encroaching plants around its edge.
You can see my paintings at: davidmarchant2.ca
This sad-looking house plant is really quite remarkable. Twenty-five or thirty years ago it belonged to one of my co-workers at the Forestry Office. It started to look really bad, so they decided to toss it.
When I heard about it’s death sentence I asked if I could have it and got it. I knew that often if you just cut the top off of plants they will send out new shoots, so I whacked off about the top third of the plant and took it home.
It sat in the corner of our dining room for ages, just a sawed off stump, but eventually, as I had hoped, it sent out new shoots which became the two thick forks you see at the top of the trunk, rich with foliage. It continued to grow in the corner of the dining room, but last year it got to the point where it was just too tall, unbalanced, and malformed, so I decided to finally shuck it.
Before I got around to doing that, my soft heart intervened and I decided to once again just whack off the top. This time I didn’t have much faith that it had enough life in it to re-sprout. After I had whacked it, I put it back in it’s dark corner in the dining room, where it was regularly watered. It sat there, unresponsive for half a year.
The last time I looked at it, it showed no signs of life, so I thought I should dump it, but didn’t get around to doing it. Yesterday, my wife directed my attention to the plant, and I was utterly amazed to see the big green sprouts forming near its top.
The plant took its time, but it seems, it’s not done with being alive.
Take a look at my paintings: davidmarchant2.ca
Last week after the jam I took the photo of the moon coming over the mountain. Driving home last night after the jam, when I got to the portion of the road that runs along the Fraser River, this is the view I saw. It was nice to see the colors of the sunset reflecting in the Fraser.
As the days get shorter, it won’t be long before it will be totally dark when I drive home from our jam.
View my paintings at: davidmarchant2.ca
Even though we have a big garden at home, my wife also grows some things in a box at the Open Gate Garden (McBride’s Community Garden). In her box she grows carrots, beets, cabbage, sunflowers, and some flowers. I accompanied her there yesterday to help her water it and took this photo of all the things she has growing. Everything is looking pretty vibrant and healthy.
Take a look at my paintings: davidmarchant2.ca
These beautiful horses were all lined up beside the watering hole. I put the viewfinder of the camera to my eye and was carefully composing the photo. Unfortunately, with the other hand I held the long leash with Kona on its end. Kona had not yet noticed the horses, but when she did, she erupted into loud barking, which panicked horses. It was at that instant that I clicked the shutter of the camera, so instead of getting a nice shot of the horses by the water, I got this unorganized blur of activity as they scampered away. Thanks, Kona.
Take a look at my paintings: davidmarchant2.ca
Living in the Interior of BC has taught me to be very aware of the changing of the seasons. Today we woke up to fog, which often occurs in the autumn, so even though we still have a month before it officially begins, it was a reminder that fall is out there in the distance and coming closer.
That is always a bit sobering while we are in the midst of what always seems like an endless summer. Seeing fog this morning prods me to get busy with all those things I have been hoping to achieve this summer.
You can see my paintings at: davidmarchant2.ca
Nothing compares to the taste of home-grown vegetables, and we are finally seeing some rewards for all our greenhouse labors. The tomato crop has been coming in for a couple of weeks now, in fact, we have already picked enough tomatoes for my wife to can some of them for the winter. More are on the way.
The other thing I grow in the greenhouse are peppers and chilis. Below is one of the green peppers, which will soon be picked and used on one of our Friday Night pizzas.
