Friday, May 16, 2008

Victoria Day Weekend for Canadians


Tomorrow marks the start of our long Victoria weekend (Monday is a statutory holiday for Canadians). Traditionally this extended weekend sees owners opening their pools, existing gardens receiving a face lift, and even the creation of a few new flower beds in my part of the world.

For our household we'll be pretty much sticking to tradition. Phil (my wonderful hubby) has already made a head start on the pool opening. He'll continue to tackle the purifying of our salt water system so that soon we'll be able to flip the heater switch and then enjoy a dip even before summer arrives.

If we are blessed with cooperating weather, I'll tend to a few more of our garden patches. The one shown here got it's face lift earlier this week between my writing stints. We're going with a reddish mulch this year. Different from the usual brown covering we've become familiar with. It's growing on me.

This weekend I'll start to unload the garden shed of my collection of trinkets to adorn our varying gardens. I just love adding oddities into the mix of flowers and shrubs soon to be blossoming. As I look at our shed and arbor and climbing wine-rack trellis, I see that this is a year for some staining to be accomplished as well. Spring is a time of work for those who dress their outdoor space. When I see the list of to-do's to upkeep our yard and gardens and outdoor furnishings I sometimes wonder if I ought not be a more simplistic person. (By the way, that list never gets completed--it's always too long.) Less sure would be easier to maintain.


And around here, spring brings dandelions galore with it. This is a picture of the farm field directly behind our home. The yellow is all dandelions, so you can imagine how it encroaches on our yard.











This close-up photo is one of a tiny patch of many of these bright interlopers on our back hill. How can something so resplendent be so undesired? Maybe we really should consider yellow an acceptable color for our yards, instead of working so hard for a green one.

I hope all who are working on their spring clean-up will have a prosperous weekend and those who got a head start, may you enjoy your ice tea or steaming cups of mocha as you relax and enjoy the fruits of your labor. I hope to be one of you by this time next week...God willing!


Okay, ready for my Vocabulary Enhancement word of the week?
I got my hubby to help me with this one. The word of the week is... Ubiquitous.

u·biq·ui·tous [yoo bíkwitəss]adj existing everywhere: present everywhere at once, or seeming to be
[Mid-19th century. Formed from modern Latin ubiquitas “presence everywhere,” from Latin ubique “everywhere,” from ubi “where.”]

Encarta ® World English Dictionary © & (P) 1998-2004 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

A sample sentence: The ubiquitous dandelions existed in all their splendor.

Now it's your turn. I would love to see some sentences containing the word ubiquitous.


Blessing to all and may you have a wonderful weekend!

Eileen

5 comments:

Georgiana Daniels said...

Happy Victoria Day! Hope you have a great weekend =)

Eileen Astels Watson said...

Thanks, Georgiana! So far the sun is shining. Gardens, here I come.

AngBreidenbach said...

I love Canada! One of my favorite places to visit is Victoria. Okay and Edmonton and Calgary and...I think I need to do some more traveling in Canada! It's right next door after all!

Thanks for the great pics and for visiting my blog.
Angie

Cherie J said...

Wow! That is alot of dandelions. Happy Victoria Day! Sounds like you had a busy weekend. Ours was rather busy as well. We got so much done both inside and out. Here's my sentence using ubiquitous.

The ubiquitous nature of God encourages me.

Eileen Astels Watson said...

Cherie, I love your sentence. Isn't His nature the ultimate of ubiquitious, if we just accept Him. So very true! That's Grace for sure!

Angela, great to have you visit my blog, too. I love the pics on yours. Sharing your travels--places I'll never step--it's so great to see the world through your journeys. Thanks for sharing!