Is it July already? How the days fly by! And yes, the world smells of roses. How long has it been since someone has given you a rose? Too long? Many of the hybrid roses of today no longer have any scent but I was introduced to a rose lately that was not only beautiful but smelled wonderful ….. lush and fragrant and absolutely divine! Not only the scent but the memories linger with me. So gorgeous. But enough about roses and fragrance and on to news ……
For those of you poetically handicapped, like me, “hail bounteous May” is from John Milton’s poem Song on May Morning, which you can read here. And, yipes, it also reminds me that I really need to read more poetry, which in turn reminds me that I need to hop back on my Deal Me In Challenge which has been sadly neglected recently because of other interesting pursuits. Ah, such is life!
Yes, it’s chilly winter weather. We haven’t received any snow yet but only because it’s been sunny. A few days ago, I woke to -6ºC weather and brrrrr!!! …. it certainly wakes you up in the morning!
© Cleo @ Classical Carousel
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| source Jerology (Giphy) |
Autumn! Autumn! How I love Autumn! And we had a great one in the Pacific Northwest. Sunny skies every day and warm temperatures. I had lots of fun being outside, going for walks and simply enjoying the changes of the season. Even though the rains came in November, October was absolutely gorgeous!!
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| © Cleo @ Classical Carousel |
The summer has officially gone and the rain has begun, however as yet, not much of it …… thankfully. In some ways I’m glad to see its passing and in others, it leaves me slightly melancholic.
Because of the amount that I was working, my garden this year was rather pitiful with only some garlic (which is small because I didn’t cut off the scapes in time), kale, herbs and some volunteer potatoes, although my fig tree had a fabulous crop of about 60 King Kadota figs and my quince tree, instead of its usual 6-8 quince has about 20-25. If you’ve never tried quince it’s a much undervalued fruit because you need to cook it to eat it, but it has a wonderful flavour. Click on this link for a recipe for Apple Quince Crisp if you want to give it a try. You won’t be disappointed.
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| Wild Rose |
Hello faithful readers! No, I have not dropped off the face of the earth and all is not lost, especially this blog. But I’ve been having some rather challenging times lately, which has translated into very little time to pursue reading or my blog. I’m hoping things will change for the better in the last half of the year but that is still yet to see. Now for a tiny update on my crazy life.
I believe my last monthly post was February and sadly, I never got to March. On the first of that month, my daughter was in a serious car accident which fortunately all involved escaped with minor injuries. We were all thankful but nevertheless such an unexpected and grave incident makes you re-evaluate many things. I’ve truly been trying to focus my time on what is worthwhile and to spend less with busy-making pursuits. My new focus hasn’t translated yet into my reading, but I’ve been developing family ties and friendships in a way that is truly meaningful and very satisfying.
Is it February already? Yikes, I would have sworn it was just Christmas last week. January has rushed by at a startling pace and I’m not quite sure where I spent my time, but let’s see if I can gather my thoughts and give a clear picture …..
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| © Cleo @ Classical Carousel A chilly but refreshing walk |
Well first, let’s start with something boring. After keeping off most of my weight lost from being on Weight Watchers for over a year, I gained back 10 pounds. I’m not quite sure how I did it because I wouldn’t say I indulged over Christmas, but I did do a smoothie challenge for my food blog in January and I think that’s the culprit. Yes, smoothies are supposed to be healthy, but they are high in natural sugar and therefore calories. So back to WeightWatchers we go. Actually I’ve already lost 3 pounds, so I’m not worried but it was kind of shocking after such good maintaining.
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| Christmas at the Town Hall © Cleo @ Classical Carousel |
I’ve decided to include my reading challenges in this post because I’ve been doing so little reading lately that I’d have little to say otherwise. Isn’t that pathetic? Oh well, a new year is here and with it new resolutions, so here goes ……..
December went by so quickly. My grandmother ended up passing away 4 days before Christmas. It wasn’t unexpected but still it was sad to see her go. We’ll certainly miss her but it was fun to remember her stories and the spunk she showed until the end. She had a long life, well lived.
Actually life isn’t too bad at the moment, although I’m still having a challenge getting traction on most things in my life. One thing comes together and another goes sideways and I’m having a hard time keeping up …… as you can tell, as my post for December is rather late. Not to mention most of my photos have food as a theme, so right away you can tell where the majority of my time has been spent.
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| © journeytothegarden.com |
Thankfully, I’m healing up well from my biking accident. My cast is off and although my thumb has very little strength in it, I do feel it improving. Otherwise, my sprained wrist is feeling nearly back to normal in the last few days, my terribly bruised elbow almost has no pain, and although my head still hurts a little where I hit it, it’s improving as well. Another month and hopefully I’ll be 100%.
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| © Cleo @ Classical Carousel |
How October went from an eventful month to a very uneventful month is a painful story to tell in more ways than one. Again, for the first part of the month, I was concentrating on getting my partner and my food blog, Journey to the Garden, going and the learning curve was an extreme headache in itself. From building the website, to adding plug-ins, to hack attempts, to learning to navigate the unique venue of social media, it was rather exhausting and overwhelming. It was only knowing that I was going to the island on the 14th, where I could relax and read, read, read, that keep me plugging away. A positive attitude always helps, but then I had my visa number stolen and so my card had to be cancelled, AND my computer hard drive started to die just before I left so it was a rush to get it replaced. Thankfully I didn’t lose any information and I headed out grateful to get these two problems sorted; I had forgotten the saying that trouble often comes in threes ……