Gardening Season is Well Begun.

Finally the rain stopped long enough for us to get outside and get going on the gardens yesterday. Last week, I had a site visit from a gardener from Little Gardens. It was pouring rain, so we did the walkabout with umbrellas. But she confirmed that our ideas would work, so now it was a matter of "doing" it.

So yesterday was spent limbing the pine in the front garden to make way for some light, moving big plants from the back to the front and doing the first really good mow and weed whack. A lot of hard work, but so good to be outside!!!!

For those of you who haven't made it up yet - because of the weather, or the price of gas, or both - here is how grown up the plants are:

Boats are starting to appear at docks. We are looking forward to lots of company on the lake.

Hope you all make it up soon to see how beautiful it is - especially when the sun shines.

A Misty Morning.

Well, it wasn't the prettiest weekend, although Friday and Saturday were good - and Sunday cleared eventually.

Not too many folks on the lake, as we discovered on our first boat ride of the season.  We went out in the tin boat, since the new one is not yet here. There were fireworks on Saturday night, thanks to Jeff.

And here is what this morning looks like.

No line between the lake and the sky. No trees visible on the island. It's been coming and going all morning. I hope it burns off and warms up later.

We need lots of heat to bake the bugs. But again this year, they don't seem as bad as years gone by.

A Gorgeous Morning

Not sure it's going to last, but here is how the Friday of the long weekend is beginning.

You can see how much more the leaves have popped this week.

And there is lots of that "new green" shade around the lake.

I think this is the best that we are going to get - the forecast is not great - which is an awful way to go into the first long weekend of the summer.

Oh well, it sure looks nice right now.

Enough of this dreary weather.

I sure wish we had last year all over again! By now, we were all boating and swimming even.
Not so much this year.

Dreary days filled with bugs (remember last year there weren't any???)
There was enough of a breeze yesterday that we decided to try to go for a walk.  And as long as we were in the open, we were fine. Then we would hit a place without the wind and yowza - bugs galore.

But I managed to take a few more flower pics to convince myself, and you, that Mother Nature really does have a master plan here.

The trilliums are at their peak. I hope they last till the long weekend.

Strawberry plants are in flower - first sighting.

Finally some dog-tooth violets to go with all the freckly leaves.

 And something else has been happening over the past few days. Check this out!!!

The leaves have practically burst out on the trees. A few more warm days and they will be in full "leaf".

More Flowers. More Bugs.

On my way back from town this morning, I stopped to take a couple of pictures.

The Trilliums are out and they look amazing!! They are always so noticeable in the woods and by the side of the road.

And when I got out to take this picture, I noticed a patch of violets are starting to bloom as well.

So nice to have the touch of colour against all those dead brown leaves.

When I got back in the car, I noticed a swarm of mosquitoes (not sure what the correct collective noun would be) around my side mirror. None of them managed to get me yet, but I know it's just a matter of time.

Someone sent me an email this week that suggested carrying a spray bottle of Listerine to stop them in their tracks. I guess it's worth a try.

Spring is Budding

It's a beautiful day here today - the second this week. Yesterday - not so much.

But when I was cleaning up the garden beds on Thursday, I could see things were starting to poke their heads out, including the trilliums (or is that trilliae)

Here are a few pics to show the progress:

Depending on location and sun, some are nearly fully out.

The daffodils are almost finished.

Not sure where these guys came from, but "welcome"

Just to keep things in balance, we also have

And......

This is not the picture of the actual one on my hand - I missed!

For those of you coming for the long weekend, everything should be blooming for you.

And just to remind you what the perfect day looks like, in case you've forgotten - we nearly did.

Loons and Buds

Although it started as another rainy Monday, the sun has been peeking out on and off all morning.

The loons were in the bay this morning and as I was taking the picture, I noticed the buds on the trees.
We're a little behind the south (I was in London this weekend as well as Toronto), but we are getting there.

Hopefully, we'll make lots of progress in the next couple of weeks in anticipation of May 2-4.

And yes, there have been a few mosquito sightings. Nothing yet for blackflies for me personally, but I'm sure they are out there.