Trash to treasures and Whimsy of a Woodlandia Rented Garden

Grandma’s younger sister, the second to youngest, Aunt Helen, was a world traveller, retired public school teacher, a collector of bric-a-brac which she arranged on the walls, in collages, nooks and crannies, in corners, on tables. When you first walked in to her parlour, her sitting room, the dining room, whether it was down at the family farm, or her place in town, her rooms … Continue reading Trash to treasures and Whimsy of a Woodlandia Rented Garden

paulaB2019-06-162019-06-161 Comment

Gardens, pictures, vignettes

Jardin De Refuse For A Rented Garden Becoming Wabi-Sabi

A garden like this is a rough sketch, a thing becoming, a thing of chaos and order, spirit and shadow in the changing light, as well as changing goals, and changing up a few dreams. Being rented, just because it happens to be out my door, I never know absolutely 100% if I will be here next spring, next season. I definitely want to be, … Continue reading Jardin De Refuse For A Rented Garden Becoming Wabi-Sabi

paulaB2019-06-152019-06-162 Comments

Gardens, pictures, vignettes

Some Tales From A Rented Garden, Of Time, Lessons, and That Lungwort Flowers

A garden has a lot to teach, of patience, compromise, of light and shadow and how to play with it, of creation, of beginnings and endings. You learn from a garden that indeed the eye does like to travel, as someone once said, in sweeps of singularity of colour or type, drawing you forward to the heart of it, or framing the prize view. Gardens … Continue reading Some Tales From A Rented Garden, Of Time, Lessons, and That Lungwort Flowers

paulaB2019-06-142019-06-153 Comments

Gardens, pictures, vignettes

Tales From A Rented Garden: How To Love A Begonia

Not to toot my own horn, but I seriously rarely toot my own horn, so TOOT TOOT. I have spent all my personal time of late, my days off, my afternoons, mornings watching dappled sunlight sparkle, and I am enchanted, stunned with its beauty, this ethereal sense of watching the wilding world go by. Enchanted by all that comes and goes, flits through, breezes by, … Continue reading Tales From A Rented Garden: How To Love A Begonia

paulaB2019-06-132019-06-141 Comment

essays

The Salmon And The Eagle And A Different Way

I’ve always been interested in the beginnings of things, those pinnacles of history when one thing slowly, gradually, becomes something else. These are times of upheaval, of great change, but also of new ideas and beliefs that seemingly spring up from the ether of… well who knows from where they come. As far as Saints go, St. Cuthbert is probably one of my favourites, not … Continue reading The Salmon And The Eagle And A Different Way

paulaB2019-06-122021-11-30Leave a comment

essays, vignettes

All The Usual Places

We all become those creatures of habit, of doing the same thing, day after day, rinse repeat. Such as how I begin my walks with Irish, going thru my hedgerow door, across the parking lot towards the Yews. I go that way for one reason, as that spot I know is like one of the primary ‘pee’ spots in the hood, every single dog that … Continue reading All The Usual Places

paulaB2019-06-102 Comments

pictures, vignettes

My Japanese Inspired Woodland Garden

This year I am so enamoured with my garden, of how it has aged, filled in, the play of light on the foliage, the golden creeping jenny with the kelly green of the Plantaginea Hostas enmass, and the play of light through the Asparagus Fern in the plant stand I found. Tis definitely my little oasis. We all need that escape, that tranquility, of a … Continue reading My Japanese Inspired Woodland Garden

paulaB2019-06-071 Comment

essays

Take That All In

From a distance, its easy to just wax on eloquently on the benefits of diversity, to be the open-minded one, to balk at the crass racism one sees elsewhere. Moving to the GTA (Greater Toronto Area), I travelled an hour north on Hurontario through Mississauga to get to work, riding the bus, passengers getting on and off – this area they were all east Indian, … Continue reading Take That All In

paulaB2019-06-06Leave a comment

essays, vignettes

I’d Rather Poke A Fork In My Eye

Back then I was in between, between marriage and the divorce, between where I am today, who I am today, and who I was with him, my ex. I’d lived with a friend for about a year, and when we parted ways I found a place on my own downtown, and I liked where I was, who I was, and what possibilities lay ahead. I … Continue reading I’d Rather Poke A Fork In My Eye

paulaB2019-06-052019-06-052 Comments

essays

Use Your Eyes And Your Ears Not Your Fears

Not that I am by any means the first to wonder this, to think that this bat guano crazy train White House and the whole right wing part of the political spectrum in the U.S. has completely gone off the rails, swerving dangerously into authoritarian tyrannical territory. Does any of the legislators on that side of the aisle have any courage left? Any sense of … Continue reading Use Your Eyes And Your Ears Not Your Fears

paulaB2019-06-02Leave a comment

essays

Barr’s Bupkus And Mueller Resigns

Of late I’ve been plowing through this British TV series, Midsomer Murders, set in a fictitious quintessential English county, with heinous crimes taking place in quaint chocolate box villages, replete with the village pub, town hall, garden parties and cricket matches. Murders committed by everyone from the village idiot to the Lord of the manor. In each DCI Barnaby and a sidekick sergeant investigate with … Continue reading Barr’s Bupkus And Mueller Resigns

paulaB2019-05-302019-05-30Leave a comment

essays

They Smelt The Blood Of A Greedy Man

Maybe sounds like self-righteous blather, but I’m not very materialistic, I don’t want things, actually I want less things. Sure, I want enough to live on, some for entertainment, good food, a nice roof over my head, but all that is relative, and frankly I also live very simply. I am attracted to simplicity, to found objects, to things that others discard, of family heirlooms … Continue reading They Smelt The Blood Of A Greedy Man

paulaB2019-05-292019-05-29Leave a comment

essays

Because Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely

On the surface, looking shallowly, some argue that the president is being attacked by his political rivals. Yet, is that really the case? Is this the presidents legal battles all just some political attack brought on by his opponents? Is he just a victim of a left-wing conspiracy bent on taking down a duly elected president? In fact, Trump is no amateur on the litigation … Continue reading Because Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely

paulaB2019-05-28Leave a comment