Then in Naujaat (Now-yat)

a) Jenn, Intrepid Arctic Explorer
b) Sunset, near midnight, April, Naujaat (Repulse Bay), Nunavut
c) Boats in winter
d) Sunrise at 2 am, April 2000, Naujaat (Repulse Bay), Nunavut

I remembered that once upon a time I took pictures that didn't go directly on my computer and so I dug up my old photo album and scanned in a few pictures from my teaching placement in Nunavut. They say that once you go up north, it gets in your blood, and calls to you every time the northern lights are in the sky. Even if it is the low point of the solar cycle (i.e. the northern lights have been pretty quiet lately), I still hear that call... sometimes its as quiet as the sunrise on a windless day and other times, like today, its like the roar of a skidoo engine speeding across the ice.

The Woodland Garden

So, it still needs a few plants and some finishing touches and I have to work on the boarder and mulch and add some rocks... and you get the idea, there is a long list of tweaking before I'll call it finished, and so of it has to wait until the season is in full swing before I dare planting it, but here is the basic layout - in a few years I hope this is an impressive spot.

Do my armpits smell?

This little chickadee is giving itself the sniff test as its chickadee dating season and you wouldn't want to put off a potential mate with smelly pits :P?

Dicentra in focus

Sorry.. here it is in focus. I love the shape of the leaves. I'll have to get around to mulching soon.

Dicentra Planted in the Woodland Garden

Here it is... planted in front of an old chunk of wood I found kicking around.

Garden Pics as Promised

So, I've started by taking mug shots of the plants I'm planting so I can create a photo journal for my mom - so she'll know what she is looking at next year. Here is the bleeding heart - the centre-piece of the woodland garden - although I'm still considering an Astilbe or Coral Bells.

Swiss Cheese Rock

Inspired by the wild

Obviously, I've been lucky enough to spend a bit of time hiking about in my favourite garden - nature. Above, another shot from Awenda Provincial Park, a bunch of hepatica has burst from the cover of dead leaves in a cheery bouquet. I'm getting ready to plant my own garden - largely perrenials at this point - including a woodland shade garden. I've tried to pick native plants as much as possible - although there are a few hard to resist plants that have come from afar. I've got bunchberry, jacob's ladder, ostrich fern, maiden fern, periwinkle, veronica, woodruff, violets, geum, ajuga, bleeding heart, lily-of-the-valley, echinaecea, and quite a few others. I'm pretty excited. I'll be posting pictures soon as one of my goals is to photo document my garden (with instructions for my parents for next year). I'm still toying with ideas to includes some rocks (mainly for a spot to stand so I can water the plants) and what kind of border or paths I want. In the mean time, I've been working hard in the daylight hours I've been free to do so to reseed the patches of lawn that need it (i.e. the entire back yard and a good chunk of the sides in the front.) and work 3 jobs. Funny, I'm actually loving being busy. Cheers, JP

Standing Water

This wetland, likely seasonal, was full of warm and woodsy colours and chirping frogs. I really have to go to Awenda this summer or fall to see what its like. Although I suspect that spring might be one of its most charming seasons.

Warped Trilliums

I wonder what is wrong with them... They were the only ones that we saw that looked like this.

Dutchman's Breeches

I haven't seen any of these yet on the Bruce Trail - but there were plenty at awenda.

Catching another trout (lily)

Trout lilies are fickle to photograph - either they are blurry or cool - rarely in between.

Awenda's flowers blew me away. I really enjoyed them.

Phragmites on the Beach

Last years stalks stand out against a perfect blue sky.... a nice place for a walk.

Awenda views

Here is a view of Georgian Bay at the Awenda Beach.

Equisetum Awendicus

Gabe and I revisited Awenda last week to check out the spring burst... here is a shot that just worked out cool...

Odd Green Trillium

I'm not sure if it is a mutation, a virus or just some strange strain. This is super-kiem trillium.

Trilliums at Kelso

Red, White and Unusual Trilliums seen while hiking with Gabe the other day. I've never seen one like the bottom trillium, although I've seen similar ones with green streaks. I'll post a nifty one from Mount Nemo next.

Chilly Garden Under Wraps

In anticipation of temperature dipping below 0 C last night I ran about in the eventing covering everything I could. Perrenial bed (top/bottom) and day lily bed (centre). I'm hoping from here on in they will be okay. I'm off to Terra Greenhouse to buy some more perrenials - some for my Woodland Garden, some for under the maples where growing conditions just suck and some to add to the center bed.

Fronds Unfurling

There is simply something completely amazing about the way ferns transition from frond to plant. They have an incredible grace - almost balletic (:D if that is a word) that warms the soul.

The Coltfoot Calvalry Heralds the Coming of Spring

See what a supply of photos can do for the frequency of my posts. I'm trying not to use them up too quickly - life is rapidly getting busier. There are so many things I want to do, and barely enough time for the stuff I need to do.

Coltsfoot is a cool plant and usually the very first I've seen in spring, crocuses and dafodils aside seeing as they grown in our neighbours yard. This shot is also from Inverhuron's MacIntrye Park. :D Yeah for Spring

Loveable Lambs

I was having one of those weekends wishing I was Laura Ingalls (i.e. Main Character from Little House on the Prairie.) I bought a bonnet at the St. Jacob's market (and some apple fritters - still warm from the deep fryer). The bonnet is comfy and fun to wear - but it does look a bit silly - espeically since I was wearing a Molson Canadian shirt extolling the virtues of patience and hockey - something Leaf fans need a great deal of both). I'm not sure where I'll wear it - but I wish I could wear it for the heck of it.

Then we visited the Philospher folks and they introduced us to their lambs. And I loved them. They were delightful and entertaining and sweeter than pie from the market and they have tails. Wow! I never had any clue that lambs had tails. I think if I ever end up with livestock - for sure I'll have sheep. They are super-cool :D.. okay and I'm a bit of a dork. Which is also why we stopped the car in the town of (I kid you not) Dorking, Ontario to take a picture of the roadsign. :D

Anywho... Sheepishly I should return to the task at hand.