Blogger - What ARE you doing?

So I just tried to do something simple, something I've done countless times, which is to replace the header photo on my blog. I've tried five times now and it is not complying with my wishes. So, I will just leave it for now and hopefully whatever glitch is happening will remedy itself in the next few days and I will try again.

Also, I spent a ridiculous amount of time a couple of days ago going through my list of subscribers to get ready for the loss of Feed burner. At first, it said I had over a thousand subscribers, but of course, most of them were spam porno junk emails which I deleted and deleted and deleted. I then went over to Mailchimp and got a free deal from them and watched a mailchimp video to help me figure out what I'm doing. I got most of it figured out until it came time to try to incorporate it onto Blogger. The info on the video is for Wordpress. So, if you are someone who actually subscribed to my blog and got email notices from me, I apologize if this never happens again. Mind you, you won't be getting notifications, so you won't be reading this, so you won't know anyway. 

Sometimes I wonder why I bother, as I am not some big blogger phenom influencer, but just some woman from Ontario who blathers on about her garden and doesn't really even reveal a whole lot about my personal life. However, I really do enjoy other people's blogs and would miss them if I didn't read them. In fact it's a regular part of my morning routine. So perhaps I'm a regular part of someone else's routine too. I just wish I didn't have to fuss with things when they change with Blogger. Writing and publishing a post should be enjoyable, not a task. 

Has anyone else had trouble with images and header photos? Has anyone tried doing the Mailchimp thing themselves and been successful?  

Mundane Monday! All about Phones - June 21, 2021

 Happy belated Father's Day to any dads who actually read my blog! Today's "Mundane Monday" topic is inspired by Spo who was without his cell phone for a couple of days and the effect that had on him.

I have a cell phone but I don't think I'm particularly dependent on it, although I am more now that I do supply teaching, as this is the method by which I am reached. My husband agreed to a cell phone, but rarely uses it and usually leaves the house without it! We still have a "land line" at the house and most people who have known us for a long time reach us that way if they need to.

I prefer texting to phone calls. I don't love talking on the phone. This might be down to being a little bit of an introvert. I might also be because of growing up in the country with a party line. We shared a phone line with three (?) other families. You knew if it was your phone number that somebody had called by the ring. Our ring was one long and two shorts. Kind of morse codish in a way. Sometimes Mrs. Baer down the road would pick up the phone and listen in on our conversations. My father put a very tight rein on how long we were allowed to speak on the phone. What if someone else wanted to use it?!?! 

We still get phone solicitations and scam phone calls. Microsoft has been known to call us, we've almost been incarcerated due to not paying our income taxes quickly enough, and there is usually a $350 charge on our credit card that requires our attention. (These, of course, are all fake). 

A phone memory of mine was the phone over at the farm. It was attached to the wall. This is where my grandmother and uncle lived. They actually wrote people's names and phone numbers on the wall around the phone! I guess that was a convenient and quick reference for future phone calls. 

So, chime in. Do you still have a land line? Are you a cell phone person, always checking your phone, playing games, listening to pod casts, texting and receiving texts, or do you shun the "new fangled" technology altogether? Did you have a party line (sounds a lot more fun than it actually was) when you were growing up? Do you enjoy talking on the phone, or would you rather not?

Breath Deeply and Enjoy

 I believe it is nearly impossible to have an unattractive garden in June. One of my favourite perennials is the peony. Imagine the exquisite scent and the silky petals.

This peony, a gift from my daughter after a tragedy at my school three years ago, is now starting to come into its own. It's so delicate.

Similar light pink peonies that I've had forever. I believe they may have come from my mother's garden.

This peony starts with light pink buds, but then opens up as creamy white blossoms.

I may have also started these with plants from my mother's garden. 

I don't have many roses at all, but this is my first, a Hansa. It also has a beautiful scent.

This variegated weigela is not much for scent, but it's so very pretty. It has responded well to a severe cutting back last fall.

I must have this low pink cranesbill in every bed on my property. It makes great ground cover under our big old spruce tree.

A deep fuschia weigela is also blooming now. I am not sure if this is Red Prince or not. Again, not heavily scented, but gorgeous.

Some people manage to have swaths of Oriental poppies and I can barely keep a small bunch alive. These were blowing in the breeze as I was trying to take a picture.

I am a very bad clematis owner, planting them in places where they must compete with grasses and wild grapevine, but thankfully this one prevailed. I love seeing great masses of these blossoms on proper trellises. 

My lilac tree is fading fast, but there are just enough blossoms left to keep enticing the bumblebees. I apologize for the very blurry image. They really don't stop moving.

It was very hot today. I don't mind at all. I am supply teaching (online) tomorrow, so I wanted to get lots of tasks done today when I could. The chicken coop is as cleaned out as it's going to be and I've vacuumed and dusted parts of the house that have been neglected for a while. It was lovely going around and taking pictures of these flowers after supper, even though it was still 29 degrees at the time. 

What is your favourite scent of flowers? I would have to declare a tie between peonies and lilacs.

Raindrop Walk About - June 3rd, 2021

 We had a lovely rain last night, and things were still very wet when I walked around with my phone late this morning. (Does anyone use a proper camera anymore?)

Our "lilac tree" (don't actually know the name of this, but we've had it for years and years) is coming into bloom and it smells heavenly. The bumble bees and butterflies enjoy it, and I've already seen a hummingbird moth hovering around it, too.

This purple bearded iris can be found here and there on the property in various beds. I've had it forever, dug it out, thrown it away, transplanted it, sold it at yard sales... it just keeps being dependable.

One of my favourite flowers is the Siberian iris. It was part of my wedding  bouquet many years ago. I appreciate perennials that behave themselves and on which you can depend, year after year. This is one of them.

I'm not a big hosta gardener. I honestly only know the name of one of them, this being 'Barbara Ann'. Any other hostas I grow were part of a fundraiser "mixed bag" that I purchased years ago and have divided and placed here and there, and don't know the names of any of them. But this hosta, with its pretty raindrops, is gorgeous and HUGE. I really should divide it more and use it in other locations.

This soft yellow bearded iris used to be a lot more prolific in my gardens, but I tired of it and tore a lot of it out (again, selling it in plastic grocery bags at yard sales for $2.00 a bag), so now I don't have much left. I always thought it was a rather insipid colour, but other yellow irises are too "bright", almost a dark, Laurentian pencil crayon yellow that doesn't work with anything else. 

Here are two of my big cast iron urns, sitting on the rarely used "front porch". They don't get a lot of constant sun, so I often plant them out with some coleus, which is the lime green, taller plant you see. These are just freshly planted, so not much to look at, but they will fill in and the trailing vinca will increase and soften the look at bit.

Here is my vegetable garden, laid out with string and rebar stakes. The two little plastic footstools and the kneeling pad indicate where the paths are. Until the vegetables germinate and fill in, I'll leave the string (as my own personal tripping hazard!). I waited until just recently to put my more tender plants in because of our nasty late May cold spell. 

Rhubarb, anyone? I don't understand people who say they can't get rhubarb to grow well. We've already had three desserts made with rhubarb and I have SO many bags of frozen rhubarb in the freezer. Since we don't really visit anyone, or have people over (provincial lockdown is over as of yesterday, but everything is still closed until Ford thinks we've hit another moving target), I'm stuck with this rhubarb and refuse to feel guilty about not cutting up and freezing more of it. (Lord, that was an awkward run-on sentence!)

I got a shovel full of this plant, centaurea Montana I think, probably twenty years ago from my mother. Since then I've divided it, given it away, and ripped it out (see a theme here?). The thing I love about it, though, is how it is almost iridescent in the light of the fading sun in the evenings. 

I was lucky enough to time this just right. to capture a busy honey bee.

As I was literally walking about, through the wet grass, I thought I should take a picture of the girls for those of you who enjoy them. Four eggs so far this morning.

I wish I could remember where I first got this bearded iris. I used to have a lot of it, and now, just a bit. I absolutely love this deep wine colour. This is a big, beefy iris that is gorgeous until it tips over under its own weight.

I have two of these in the pool shrub border. They are Miss Kim dwarf shrub lilacs and they have just opened up. They are gorgeous, but not particularly "dwarf"! They require no special care, which is perfect for my style of gardening.

The dappled willow recovered nicely from its severe cutting back and is now providing Gerald with a lovely backdrop. Beside it, the Red Prince weigela is just about ready to bloom. 

June is such a perfect month for colour. My peonies are not blooming yet, they are always a bit later in the month. I have one more bag of potting soil to purchase so I can finish my container planting. Thank you for coming with me on my walkabout.