Out in the Garden again

Linden Gardens, Kaleden

Laburnum, in Denmark they call it "Golden Rain"

Two Happy Working Garden Maidens

Azaleas and Tulips

The flowers just keep on coming. Every time is different. Our favourite garden is always worth a visit. Next week the daisies will be out. Enjoy!

Round-Up at Coldstream

Round-Up at Coldstream Ranch

One got away!

There! All in Order!

Farm on Lansdowne Rd ( "Home on the Range" )

A cloud of dust greeted us along the road as we drove in Coldstream the other day. We rushed to investigate. We found a real cowboy rounding up the cattle at Coldstream Ranch. Maybe the calves for branding, and maybe some cattle for market. There was an open cattle truck waiting in the yard. These are some photos from that day.

Heritage House

They have a green house, a fine vegetable garden, and lots of flowers wild and tame!

Window Ledge

Kitchen with Johann and Vera working hard to look after us!

Dining Room Dresser. There is a card on the counter with a painting I did of their house as it may have looked in 1893

We just returned from visiting Johann and Vera who live in Armstrong in a Heritage House built in 1893. The furnishings are appropriate to the period, and it is decorated in Folk Art style. Hope you enjoy the photos. Thanks go to our friends! A wonderful, memorable visit!

Friends

Hanne

and Michael await our friends' arrival on the deck

Here they come! Rudi and Ineke.

A beautiful Australian Shorebird. Photo by Rudi.

Yesterday we had friends for lunch and of course took their photos. Rudi is a keen Canon  Camera enthusiast and nature photographer so I thought I would include one of his fine bird photos from their last trip to Australia. We looked at about 500 of his pictures.

Artemis

Flowering Sagebrush

Artemis, Goddess of the Hunt.( Courtesy of Wikipedia)

Artemis was the Greek Goddess of the Hunt amongst other things, and somehow got her name attached to one of our common plants in the Okanagan, the Common Sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata). The Pronghorn grew up with it and loves to eat it, but its bitter taste discourages other animals. Talking about bitter, it is closely related to Wormwood. hence we get Vermifuge, an anti parasitic, and maybe Vermouth. It is also related to Tarragon, an important culinary herb. And if you have completely lost me, Hanne lived in Tarragona Spain, where she had her first child, Karin. So we come full circle from Ancient Greece and modern Spain back to the Okanagan, and a few photos of Sagebrush near Oliver, which is now in flower!
Oh by the way, its yellow flower is the State Flower of Nevada!

Evening Light

Sunset at Skaha

Ice Cream Store Closed for the day

Evening light is interestingly different from that at high noon. More reds and longer shadows. We took a walk on the shores of Skaha Lake last evening just before the sun dropped out of sight over the mountain tops. There were a few people doing the appropriate thing, gathering up children for bed, putting away their tennis racquets, licking the last ice-cream for the day. Today is twilight zone for English soccer too for another year, in the Premier League at any rate, time to go play golf instead.