Culture — Page 52 — You are in My World Now

The Lilies are Blooming

July 20, 2008 by Tricia

My lilies are finally blooming! They started blooming last weekend and they are still going strong!

These lilies came with the house. There were tons of them, so many that I gave several away to neighbors and even threw some out!

I’m not sure why, but the first two or so years that we lived here the lilies were a paler or duller orange. However over the last few years the lilies seem to have become much more vibrant. They glow with their fiery orange and really stand out in the garden when they are in bloom. Same for the yellow and red ones that I grow.

I guess they are enjoying something in my soil. I just wish I knew what it was! Perhaps it’s the doses of Alfalfa tea that I make up and pour on the plants a few times each year. That really gives the roses a boost and I’ll bet it gives the lilies a boost too.

Gardeners, Plant and Nature lovers can join in every Sunday, visit As the Garden Grows for more information. GTS participants remember to check in at As the Garden Grows each week so that we’ll know you made a new post!

Houses are selling like hotcakes in my neighborhood

July 17, 2008 by Tricia

I wrote a post on one of my other blogs about a week ago about the number of houses close to us that have gone up for sale lately. They’re selling like hotcakes it seems!

I’m pretty sure that there was a news story a few days ago where some real estate companies were saying that house sales were slower than normal this past spring and so far this summer here in Toronto, but the way houses are going up for sale and being sold within a week or two I don’t think there’s a problem in this particular neighborhood.

I’m glad our housing market is doing so well. I keep hearing about people losing their homes in the US or requesting foreclosure help. I think it’s particularly bad in California if I’m not mistaken. I hope it doesn’t get that way here in Canada. Our economy has been doing better than the US economy since 2001. It’s starting to have some trouble, but as I said hopefully things don’t get that bad here.

One neighbor just a few houses down sold her house in just under two weeks and to the best of my knowledge it went for about $350,000. Her house is pretty much the same as ours so I guess if we put ours up for sale we’d get somewhere around that price too. Good to know but we aren’t planning on selling anytime soon.

I just hope that all of our new neighbors are nice people. We have a great neighborhood and we are all fairly friendly – at least to say hi or wave at each other when we see one an other if not actually visiting each others homes.

Midnight and Molly – tug of war

July 16, 2008 by Tricia

Wordless Wednesday

The other weekend we took our Lab puppy to the beach for her first swim in Lake Ontario.

While we were there we met a lot of other dog owners and their dogs. We also ran into the couple that we had first met in April when we brought Midnight to Cherry Beach for the first time.

When we first met this couple and their puppy Molly both dogs were a lot smaller – yet close to the same size. As you can see from the photo above they look quite a bit a like (Midnight is on the left in the red harness) and they are almost the same size.

Trouble is … Midnight is almost four months older!

Midnight is slightly taller than Molly and she’s a little wider but otherwise it would be hard to tell the two dogs apart if it weren’t for their different colored collars.

Molly is going to be a lot bigger than Midnight soon!

Looks like we’re expecting guests

July 16, 2008 by Tricia

Well as usual my brother in law’s done it again. Almost every year he visits us here in Toronto. He drives up from Chicago with one or all three of his kids – depending upon who’s going to hockey camp or whatever other reason the visit is about.

He just called us a few minutes ago to let us know that he’ll be arriving here sometime Friday evening. My husband just spoke to his brother a few days ago and there was no word of a visit this summer at all yet out of the blue here we go again with another unexpected visit and a house full of guests.

Yes he’s bringing all his kids. His daughter will probably arrive with a ton of Johnston and Murphy luggage like she did last year. I swear she brought enough stuff for a weeks visit to last two months! Her luggage literally filled the tiny spare bedroom we have upstairs.

It’s not that I don’t have fun when they visit it’s just that I end up with like 10 extra people milling about my house with no notice! I say 10 people because Chris’ parents, sisters and their husbands and kids usually show up all at once too.

Don’t you hate *almost* unexpected guests?

Ontario Native Plants at The Brick Works

July 13, 2008 by Tricia

Join

Rather than posting photos of my own flowers for this weekends Green Thumb Sunday post I thought I’d post some pictures of the lovely flowers that were growing at the Brick Works last weekend when we went for a visit to this nature preserve in the heart of Toronto.

I’m thankful everyday that I live in this great city with so many things to do – there’s nightlife, movies, film festivals, street festivals, great parks, a bird sanctuary by the lake, great beaches and so many things to do or learn from thanks to Toronto’s diverse cultural population. I just love it.

Who would expect such a beautiful Oasis in the center of the city?

Along with hiking trails, woods, small water falls, ponds and marshes visitors to the Brick Works can go to plays held in the old buildings or visit the Farmers Market each weekend where they can buy fresh produce, baked goods, plants for the garden or home and arts and craft type items like pottery – my fav!

There are all kinds of native plants growing in the old quarry and around the ponds and marshes, but the Brick Works also has a garden at it’s entrance displaying what I believe are also all native plants.

I’m not sure what this plant is … perhaps a native phlox?

And these I believe are daisies – please correct me if I’m wrong or if you know the proper name for this flower:

This is Butterfly Milkweed. It appears that not only does it attract butterflies and moths but also bees and wasps!

If you are visiting Toronto or if you live in the area I highly recommend a visit to The Brick Works. It’s around the Don Valley and Bayview Avenue area. You won’t be disappointed! Oh and if you want to read a little more about our hiking tour and see some more native plants visit my gardening blog to read todays GTS post.