I love this time of year. Our summers in central southern Ontario are glorious! Except for the few steamy heatwave days, we have the windows wide open day and night and it is very pleasant to work and sit outdoors.
One of the things that drew us to this house when we were house-hunting 17 years ago was the 60+ foot wide lot - a rarity in suburbs of the greater Toronto area. The garden is mostly perennials and is supplemented with swatches of colours of annuals here and there. Basically, you stick a nasturtium seed in the ground, stand back and after a couple of months, voila!
Skip always plants a bunch of marigolds, too.
Our bird feeder is popular with chickadees, nuthatches, grackles, housefinches,
American goldfinches,
and cardinals. Pictured below is a female. You can really see how the beak is suited to cracking open the seed casings - a lot like the business end of bolt cutters.
We hate the destructive rabbits and have managed to 'relocate' a couple of them but chipmunks are always welcome. This bright-eyed little fellow hangs out under the feeder with the mourning dove and fills his cheeks with seeds for his stash.
The best thing about our deck is the metal 'gazebo' we put up a few years back. The top disintegrated years ago but with a generic tarp cleverly folded and anchored, it provides the necessary shade for the southern exposure. This creates our outdoor living space which we enjoy.
From the table I get a good view of the bird feeder and its denizens.
With a cool drink, my camera, laptop and wifi, I can spend hours out here listening to my tunes on iTunes, editing photos, blogging and generally thoroughly enjoying the time
al fresco.
Wow! Three blog posts in one day!!
Bliss.
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