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Our new favourite thing to do is go to the museum, called The Rooms because the one building holds the museum, the provincial art gallery and the provincial archives. Alex, our three year old, would rather go to the museum than go to playgroup, the park, the beach, the playground. To him, the museum is the best thing in the world. We went to the museum for the first time about a month ago when my mom was visiting. We were so impressed with it that we got a year’s membership for the family and we’ve already gotten our money’s worth as we’ve been going once or twice a week since then. It helps that the museum has some exhibits that cater to kids, like puzzles, computer interactive exhibits, stuffed animals, kids books, etc. Last month, they even had an exhibit that allowed kids (old and young) to use ink stamps on a Newfoundland map that was mounted on the art gallery wall.
One of Alex’s favourite exhibits is the seabird exhibit because you can hear the sounds that different seabirds make. Since birds are also one of my favourite things, we both thoroughly enjoy the exhibit together and are learning what puffins, gannets and murres look and sound like.
The Rooms is a beautiful building with huge windows that overlooks the harbour and has a beautiful view of St. John’s and Signal Hill. I’m thrilled that we’ve found this treasure in our city.
I found raspberries in our backyard today that I didn’t know were there. It felt like an “everyday miracle” because I’ve been talking about how I want to grow raspberries in our backyard, and lo and behold, there’s actually a raspberry bush already growing there. They were behind our shed.
I bought a flowers of Newfoundland book and I was identifying some of the wildflowers growing in my yard when I found the raspberries. hee hee!
This is our first summer in this home and I am loving getting to know our neighbours. I have met at least one member of each of the houses on our cul-de-sac. I love feeling part of a community. There are many retirees on our street, many couples who have been on the street for 30+ years. Some younger families have also started to move onto the street, including one couple who is expecting a child at the end of August (a potential playmate for Alex in a couple year’s time!). There are also some older boys (ages 8 to 11) who Alex enjoys chasing on his tricycle.
Alex loves meeting the neighbours as well. If anyone is outside of their home when we are outside, Alex makes a point to go over to talk to them. Everyone on the street knows Alex’s name. One of the neighbours has a swing set in their backyard for their grandkids and Alex has a standing invitation to use their swing set.
I love our street!
I was thinking today that everyone should be so blessed as to be able to do what they love and also be remunerated well for it.
My passions include nature, the environment, accessing body and soul wisdom, yoga, dancing, moving my body, writing, and analysing things. And, I am able to indulge in many of my passions on a daily basis.
Mel’s passions include working with his hands, creating music, exercising, biking, hiking, running and being in nature. As an electrician, he is able to work with his hands. He is currently building his electrical business as “A Better Electrician“ and I know that he will be successful because he is an excellent and highly skilled electrician who works with integrity and is meticulous in his work.
What are you passionate about and how could you do more of it? Even if you aren’t necessarily passionate about your job (and, if you are — consider yourself very blessed), it’s great if you can create time for your passions during your offtime.
I noticed today that about 100 or so (probably more) baby spiders hatched on the window pane (on the outside, thankfully!).
Alex and I are very much enjoying watching the little baby spiders.
When I pointed them out to Alex, he mentioned to me, “Oh, so cute”. And, I agree.
This is the first time that we’ve had our very own garden and I am loving spending time in it.
Digging around in the dirt.
Breathing in the fresh air.
Talking to the trees.
Mixing up our compost.
Admiring all of the snails.
Picking the dandelions.
It feels like our own bit of heaven in our backyard.
Slowly we are putting in our touches — we have two bird feeders so far, a finch feeder and a millet/black sunflowerseed feeder. We’ve had American goldfinches, black-capped chickadees and dark-eyed juncos visit so far. Eventually I’ll put out a suet-feeder too.
We had some perennials come up in our front garden, and we’ve planted some more perennial seeds. The nice thing about gardening in Newfoundland is that it rains so often that you don’t need to water the garden at all.
We eventually would like to landscape the entire front yard and transform it into a xeriphytic / naturescaped area. No more lawn. But, we’re going to take our time to do it. In the meantime, the front lawn has been completely overtaken by dandelions. There were so many dandelions that going around with the dandelion-picker was pretty futile. I tried to go around and pick all of the yellow flowers before it went to seed, but again the dandelions won. I kind of feel like dandelions are so hardy and good at growing, they deserve to take over the world. (Though I also admit that I also feel a bit like a bad neighbour with all of our dandelion seeds spreading across the neighbourhood). I picked a few of dandelion leaves tonight and will try eating them as a green — I hear that they are very nutritrious for you. If you have any tips on how to “control” dandelions in an easy and non-chemical, let me know!
In our backyard, there was a very small vegetable garden that was started by the previous owner. Very small. As in a wild onion plant and another plant that we haven’t been able to identify yet. We’re slowly extending the vegetable garden and planted a couple of tomato plants, sage, thyme, peas, tomato seeds, and pepper seeds. I’ll let you know how it goes. I’m pretty excited about it. I don’t know anything about gardening and I’m also pretty lazy about it — I want to see what will grow with minimal effort and will grow more of whatever grows well over the years.
Eventually I’d love to turn most of our lawn into a vegetable garden. But, again we’re starting small and will slowly build. It’s pretty exciting…
Alex enjoys his time in the backyard as well — digging in the dirt — he calls it “his dirt”, pushing his toy lawnmower and riding his tricycle around.
We purchased an old-fashioned push lawnmower — the non-gas / non-electric type. Mel’s been doing the mowing and he says that it works pretty well. You need to exert a bit more force than with the electric/gas type, but it’s non-polluting and quiet and does the job! We highly recommend it.
One of my most recent joys has been hanging up laundry to dry on a clothesline. It may sound funny, but I get a lot of joy and satisfaction from this activity. It’s enjoyable to spend the time outside, it saves energy and money, and it’s good for the environment. I love it.
It’s new to me because I’ve never had a clothesline before (well, actually one of our places did, but it was when Alex was a newborn and the last thing that I wanted to do at the time was to spend extra time hanging up clothes out on the line).
Anyway, now that I’ve started to do it, I love doing it. And, I also love the fact that many people in Newfoundland also hang their clothes out to dry. I love that it’s part of the consciousness out here.
