Monday: Since I posted yesterday we had about 10 cm. of snow, it looks like. That doesn’t stop me from reading gardening blogs and getting excited about my future plantings. I’m on the Dave’s Garden Blog email list, so I get an update every Monday from that huge site, which I recommend for lots of...
Author: Vivian Lee (Vivian Lee)
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Mind over Matter
I’m sitting here in my dining room looking out at the beautiful snowstorm raging on and it reminds me of when I had bronchitis many years ago. It hung on forever, much like this winter. Finally, I decided to ignore the discomfort, the coughing, the lack of energy, and pretend it was all better. I...
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Polar Vortex? Or Zeus vs Mother Nature?
I have to admit that I’m bandying words about in my title that I don’t exactly understand. I just read through most of the Wiki article on the polar vortex and I’m not much wiser than I was before. What I understood is that polar vortexes are always present, but their activity varies from year...
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Let’s Grow Some Weed!
Milkweed, that is. I know, funny how that headline kinda grabbed your attention, right? Anyway, my sister, Nora, a wonderful gardener and nature lover, brought to my attention something that has been hovering on the edge of my consciousness for awhile now (planted there by various headlines that I only glanced at); Monarch butterflies are...
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Beauty Will Save the World, Part 2
I recently completed a run of Porgy and Bess by George Gershwin, an opera that I (and almost everyone else) know a few tunes from (Summertime, I Got Plenty o’ Nuttin’, It Ain’t Necessarily So), but I had never listened to all the way through. The process was both challenging and moving to me. I...
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Joy in the Window
I have a private space in my house, for the first time in my married life. “A room of my own”, in the words of Virginia Woolf. It is my practice space, but it is more than that. I have plants in the window and I have a bookshelf with various music paraphernalia on it,...
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About Dogs
I’m sitting in my favourite position on the couch. Which is to say, with my dog, Monty, on my lap. I’ve been observing dogs most of my life, and I have come to certain conclusions about them, which are far from absolute fact, as I’m no expert, but they seem true to me. I have...
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Winter and Waiting
Despite the short days we’ll be experiencing for the next couple of months (let’s not kid ourselves), I’m encouraged just knowing the days are getting longer now. Every day we get a few more minutes of sunlight. For me, the worst part of winter is the lack of light. I’m pretty sure I’m not as...
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Winter Up-date
I told you I’d bring you an up-date on my “winter” biking commitment. (Winter is in quotes there because we really haven’t gotten into the season proper yet.) Well, today started out cold (“felt like -18C”, according to the weather network) and I just couldn’t face the ride to work. I’m not giving up entirely,...
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Gearing up for the Long Winter
Despite what the calendar says, winter is here. Though there’s no snow on the ground, it’s cold enough to put on your winter coat and boots, so it’s winter in my book. The temperature might still spike for a day or two, but pretty soon it will be sub-zero, all the time. If you’re like...