Sunday, May 31, 2020

May ~ Memories and Moments

 The month began with a rainbow stretched across the sky...
a welcome sight after the rain.



Hope for tomorrow...
after a few months of pandemic darkness!


We celebrated our two May birthdays with a Zoom birthday party...
eating ice-cream cake 'together and apart'.

Ranen turned fourteen this year...
and for the first time we have no birthday photo of her and Auntie Broni together.
Next year!  
 

May is a busy month on the farm... 


...there was always something happening in the fields.


Most of these photos were taken from the back patio...




...as they harvested the first crop of grass.


Plowing and planting...


...and then a few days ago there was more grass to be cut.


Maggie and Lucy had a picnic lunch with grandpa out in the field...
and rode along for a bit.


This time the grass was baled and wrapped.


If you look closely, you will see an eagle sitting on the last bale.
He decided to break into it before it left the field!

On Mother's Day...


...we packed up our bikes and drove to Matsqui for a ride along the dyke.


It was a beautiful warm day for a ride along the Fraser River...



...where we could tell the waters were already rising.


From the dyke trail we carried on to Douglas Taylor Park...


...a trail through woods and pastures


...with beautiful views.
It was about a 30 kilometer round trip...
and included a picnic under the Mission bridge.


As always on Mother's Day...
the irises from my mother's garden were blooming in my flower beds.

I had a nice Mother's Day visit with each of my children...
on my porch or theirs.

A lovely day...
from beginning to end.



The following Sunday...
we hiked up a nearby hill.
It may be just a few miles from home...
but I have rarely been there.
We will go again!


We heard the provincial parks were open for day use on the long weekend...
so we packed a picnic lunch and drove to Silver Lake in Hope for the afternoon.
It seems that particular park never got the memo...
since it was closed when we got there.

We found a nice picnic spot beside the Skagit river instead.


Last week we hiked through the community forest on the eastern hillsides...


...a trail through old growth forest hanging with moss.




We have also walked the trails of Cheam Wetlands a few times this month...


...a sanctuary for over 200 species of birds.



Maggie and Lucy joined me there last week...


...as part of their 'home school' Wednesday



We have spent time with the grands at their place or ours...
mostly outdoors...
and have not yet been together with the whole family.

One day we will have the family together again!


We are looking forward to doing some camping this summer...
and decided to give the RV a one-night trial on a nearby mountain where we pasture some cattle every summer.


We might just do that again sometime!

Other than the sound of the rushing creek and the birds singing...
it was totally quiet.



May is a wonderful month to be outside and smell the flowers!
Our honey locust tree is blooming and there's nothing quite like the sweet scent of those blossoms.



As the sun sets on another month...
I have to wonder what June will bring.
2020 has been a year of unexpected events.
I am so thankful that I know Who holds tomorrow.

Thanks for visiting me here on 'My Front Porch'.

 


Friday, May 1, 2020

April ~ As it Happened

 Let me just give you a wee peek into the month that was.
April 2020.


It was a month with little rain for the first three weeks.  


The birds were happy...


As were we!


It is not often that I see clouds of dust in the field...


...when I stand at the kitchen sink in mid-April.


Since we had nowhere to go this month...



...it was a good time for yard work.
After sixteen years, we pulled out a hedge of white heather that had seen better days.
And we replanted...
with more white heather. 

The bark mulch got done...
 

...the curbs and patio were sealed. 


After our granddaughter passed away on April 4th, 2008, we planted a pink magnolia tree in her memory.  'The Hannah tree' blooms every year on her birthday.  We were not expecting any flowers this year, since we pruned the tree back to the trunk in fall. But...just in time for her birthday, we were surprised by one beautiful bloom. She is not forgotten.

It has been hard not seeing friends or family these past many weeks, but we have kept in touch in so many ways.



What a surprise to have the doorbell ring one day and find this lovely bouquet on the front porch.  From a friend. 
Friends are like that!



Easter came and went.  

We enjoyed our on-line service, both Good Friday and Easter Sunday, but so missed being together in person. We also missed having the family home for Easter...but we made the best of it by having Easter dinner via Zoom.  The menu was the same as always...but we all ate at our own table as we chatted on Zoom.  There was no Easter egg hunt at Grammy and grandpa's this year. It will be an Easter to remember. The sun was shining and Elmer and I went for a bike ride after dinner.

We have gone for many bike rides this month....



...past tulip fields in bloom


...under a canopy of cherry blossoms


...and past a family of Canadian geese.


We cycled along the Fraser River (which is rising quickly)...
and had lunch on this old bench.


Past golden fields of dandelions...


...and along a farmyard trail in Agassiz.


What a surprise to meet friends on a dead-end country road...


...or a neighbour on a trail far from home.
Impromptu visits are the best!


We are not always sure what is up and what is down these days...
 or what is black and what is white.
(But I know for sure this peacock was white!)
Nothing much is as it was before.
Covid 19 has changed 'life as we knew it'.
(scroll down to see that post)
just in case we ever forget!


It's springtime.
We have hope for tomorrow.
Life is a gift and it is beautiful!