Tag Archives: outside

babies are always cute

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On the way home from Frances’s school last Monday–a walk which is by the way all of five minutes and 1 1/2 blocks long–she stopped, suddenly. “Mummy, look!” I looked, and saw four baby skunks gamboling on the neighbour’s lawn, composed of equal parts grass and clover. Four cuter little fluffballs you never have seen. …

Near IS the New Far (or: I Told You So)

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I became very afraid last weekend about the potential apocalypse. There I was, going about my regular business, when I saw this giant yellow flaming ball in the sky. Then I remembered that it was something called the sun, and usually heralded a good day to spend outside. I obliged. Mostly this consisted of yard …

Mother’s Day Skull Walk

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Ah, Mother’s Day. A leisurely sleep-in, to be woken at a civilized hour by an adorable jammie-clad child bearing a pancake breakfast on a tray, with Dad clearing up heroically in the kitchen. Then, flowers! A much-cherished homemade gift from the adorable, small child, mis-spellings intact. According to the television commercials, a meal later on …

a long and lustrous winter

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I love the way snow turns blue at dusk, and how everything looks beautiful with the escarpment in the background. These are a few weeks old now, and the snow has melted and frozen and snowed again since then. Groundhog Day is meaningless here; we’re lucky if spring beats Easter and we actually get a …

Look Small: Buds to Leaves

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Have you ever noticed the way buds open, almost erupting as if in force of a slow-motion explosion? They don’t just open. They spill. Like milk spreading across a kitchen floor, or water boiling over a pot. Like a snake shedding a too-small skin. Most of the leaves around here are open, but a few …

Disproportionate memories

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I seem to be making a habit of ignorance. Should I see how long I can keep it up for? What I remember about my childhood home: it was split-level. We had an above-ground pool. My Mom didn’t like it. (I lived there for nine years.) What I remember about my adolescent home: my bedroom …

Trout Lilies 2010, Part I

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aka Dog Tooth Violet (This for Mary G). Around here, the very first of the trout lily leaves are appearing. Look for them at the base of large tree trunks, between exposed roots, on sun-facing southern slopes. The microclimate there is just warm enough to give them a head start. They will look like tightly …

Forsythia

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As promised. Again, forsythia is native to China, not Canada, but as it’s not invasive and it gives such cheery yellow blossoms at a time of year when almost everything else is still brown, I can’t help but like it. Apparently most birds and other wildlife give it a pass, so it’s not much for …