Canada Day

Well it is Canada Day, and what a lovely day it was. I went out with my camera and was pleased to see even the youngsters getting in on the celebration. A beautiful day for the beach and for a picnic.

 

 

A beautiful day for a relaxing swing, this one under the willow trees at the park.

 

 

Lots of flowers now in gardens and in the park and the bees are loving them

 

 

I love fresh flowers on the table, and these are the "summer" to me.

I hope you had a great day!

 

 Here are a few updates.

First an update on the littlest gosling story. Below is a picture of the little one, not so small now and obviously doing very well. I saw it yesterday with the parents and the rest of the brood, the other siblings now almost fully grown. Today it was with two adults, maybe the parents maybe babysitters, but watching the youngster carefully none the less.

 

 

Still rather downy, but the adult colouring starting to be obvious,

 

and darn cute..

 

 

 

adults are watchful 

 

 

grazing

 

never too far away 

 

tired out, time to rest

 

A happy ending for the little gosling that looked as if it had been abandoned.

 

 

 

Well I am happy to report that my cold is almost gone finally; it turned into a sinus and chest infection and decided to hang around a lot longer than I had planned. I believe I have had all of my 2.8 colds for this year.

 

 

Finally an update on what has been happening in my studio, well not much actually, but I did finish a painting this week. Not a new one but one I have been working on for a few weeks. It is the painting "Out to Pasture", I spent a few more hours on the truck and added some sheep, The logo on the side of the truck is an old Canadian Pacific emblem; thanks to Allan for spotting it and letting me know. This old truck is indeed out in the middle of a pasture on Gabriola Island; how it came to be there I have no idea.

 

 

Here is what the emblem looked like before it faded:

 

 

 

I am now working on a new painting, this is a scene from a small town northwest of Venice. I am using the pouring technique and this painting has two or three poured "layers" and will get at least as many more before I am done, I will show more next week.

 

 

 

That is all for this week, thanks for dropping by for my weekly bit of whimsy,

 

 

until next time, Gillian.

Seedy?

We celebrated the Thanksgiving Day weekend enjoying the beautiful sunny, warm Fall weather and hosting dinner for friends. A belated Happy Thanksgiving to my Canadian readers.

Maple samaras

Seedy has a few meanings.

To paraphrase Merriam Webster (Merriam Webster.com):

Seedy is an adjective, pronounced sē-dē, meaning

1) containing or full of seeds <a seedy fruit>

2) inferior in condition or quality: as (shabby, run-down <seedy clothes>), somewhat disreputable (<a seedy district> <a seedy lawyer>)

3) slightly unwell (debilitated <felt seedy and went home early>)

The "Online Etymology Dictionary" (© 2010 Douglas Harper) has this to say about the origin of "seedy":

"1440, "fruitful, abundant," from seed (n.). Meaning "shabby" is attested from 1739, probably in allusion to the appearance of a flowering plant that has run to seed."

But being "seedy" is the end of a successful cycle in the plant world. I find it interesting that something so positive botanically can come to mean almost the opposite in the non-plant world.

So today I am celebrating in pictures, a seedy and wonderful end for these plants:

Virginia Creeper with berries

Fuchsia with "berries"

?

Tomatillo

Clematis 

Berries, seeds, nuts, hips and samaras are the start and the end of the plant life cycle. Every year in my garden I have a number of plant "volunteers", plants that appear and which I have not seeded. They are seeds from a previous season or seeds that grow from the compost layer that I add to the soil. Among this years "volunteers" or "surprises" was a tomatillo plant.

Rose hips

"The rose hip, also known as rose haw or rose hep, is the fruit of the rose plant, that typically is red-to-orange, but ranges from dark purple to black in some species. Rose hips begin to form after successful pollination of flowers in spring or early summer, and ripen in late summer through autumn.

Rose hips are used for herbal tea, jam, jelly, syrup, soup, beverages, pies, bread, wine, and marmalade.  They can also be eaten raw, like a berry, if care is used to avoid the hairs inside the fruit." (Wikipedia)

One single late bloom on my clematis and seed heads.

Wispy clematis seeds

Late season strawberries

Hover fly visiting strawberries

Echinacea seed head

Asparagus "berries"

Not "seedy" yet but I couldn't resist this Tansy

Sweet peas and pea pod

Mature pods containing sweet pea seeds

I don't know what the small berries or seeds below are, similar to but much smaller than a horse chestnut pod.

Thistle down or thistle seeds

Lupin seeds

Lady bug on Echinacea seed head

Underside of fern showing seeds or spores

Blackberries

Thistles kissed by dew

Almonds

Seed head on Vicar's Mead

Salal Berries

Acorn

I thought this grass looked a lot like "sparklers" partly burned down.

Laitrus seeds

One thing is certain though, these creatures think "seedy" is a really good thing - it's their Thanksgiving feast.

I hope you have enjoyed my quirky look at "seedy".

Here is a painting that I finished this week, it is titled "Putting on a Show". It is a watercolour of a Hollyhock that I saw in rural France and photographed.

I had a bit of difficulty getting my husband to stop so that I could take some pictures of this flower, but I'm glad he did stop, I am really pleased with the painting.

Lastly, I apologize for being largely absent from blogland this past week, but I have been busy updating my website. I changed the content, the order, some of the names and the prices and I added a "New items and Specials" page to the gallery:
http://pswhimsy.myshopify.com/collections/new-items-and-specials/

I am glad you stopped by, I love your comments and feedback.

Happy Whimsy Wednesday, until next week ..............