Walking and Working...

Walking has taken a back seat to working...in the garden.

The Piano that sits at Turkey Head on the walkway by The Marina in Oak Bay.

On a recent walk, 

Mother and my Sister sat down to play a duet!

I think this is a native plant.

Pretty in Pink.

Here's the wee lending library box on Clare Street.

I walked around the area and loved the friendly greetings that I got from the people in their gardens.

The houses are a mix of old and new and there are lots of patios and porches and beautiful cottage style gardens lining the streets.

It's an old fashioned neighbourhood...like the kind I grew up in when I was young.

There are only so many hours in the day and I have been consumed...
(probably more accurately "obsessed" with a few of our problem beds.)
The ones in particular where the dog violets have gone from pretty flowering plants with dainty purple blooms to non flowering seed bearing maniacs!
It must be the hot summer that has them thinking reproduce or die!

The first bed has been weeded, dug and covered with the help of a young woman who lives across the street from Our Humble Bungalow...
I am taking a short break from the blog and will be posting on Instagram.

The Humble Bungalow arts and crafts interior...a requested post.

It's taken me a long time to get around to doing a post of the various papers and wall treatments in our arts and crafts bungalow. I humbly apologize, and hope that the reader, whose name escapes me at this moment, has not disappeared because she got too tired of waiting and stopped reading my blog!

Stencils in the dining room.

I made drapes for the Humble Bungalow dining room using this fabric by Sanderson.

There is a lot of dark wood featured in our tiny bungalow...

it's old growth Douglas Fir.

We use this china cabinet to hold our crystal glasses.

Bradbury and Bradbury period arts and crafts paper in the living room.

Repeated in the wee hall with the border

between the den, the bathroom, our bedroom and the dining room.

In the entry hall space that opens up to the living and dining rooms.

We opted for the border in the den.

The kitchen has the same border treatment as the den because they open up to each other.

There are wood cabinets in the kitchen in the same style that mimic the built ins in the dining and living rooms.

The living room of The Humble Bungalow.

Hope you've enjoyed this wee tour...

I needed to sit for a bit, and writing this post helped me rest up after a busy day of gardening.

I think I'll brew a pot of Mariage Freres tea that I purchased in Paris and sit on the couch and watch an episode of the Real Housewives of Melbourne.

My future Son In Law showed us how to record them and this show has become my latest "guilty pleasure!"

OOTD ~ Boots!

Today I wore boots and the weather is sunny and hot...
boots were required footwear as I spent the better part of the day mucking about in the dirt.

I just finished rinsing them off as they were caked with mud.

Did I mention that I am a really messy gardener?

There is no way I can stay clean...dirt smears on my face and arms.

I wear gloves but I somehow still get dirt under my nails...

I clean up fine afterwards when I come inside.

I often wonder what the neighbours who walk by and stop to chat must think.

They must be amused by my state of dress.

I garden in Yoga Capri's and a Tee shirt.

Socks and Boots!

I worked out front of our Humble Bungalow today...

I was focusing on a bed that has had a massive cull of weeds...

well they are not weeds exactly they are just behaving like weeds.

Invasive euphorbia and dog violets.

Both are on my "naughty list."

This bed is a bit of a mixed bag...

once the weeds were removed and a few random pieces of slate there was a lot of bare spaces.

Original plants are:

Japanese Red Maple planted in a pot

Eryngium (Sea Holly)

Lavender

Giant Rudbeckia

Boxwood Hedge on one side

Rose (placed on the boulevard for free)

 Libertia

Anchusa

Lady's Mantle

Ground cover the name escapes me

pot filled with spurge and a hosta

New plants:

Blue Fescue grasses

 Bugbane

 Kniphofia (Red Hot Poker) with lime green flowers

a variegated spurge

Blue Salvias 

Russian Sage 

Yellow Rudbeckia

Limelight Hydrangea

All of these are reported to be deer resistant plants.

Eryngium

slightly prickly 

The bees love it!

Black Mondo Grass with a lime green rock plant.

Sum and Substance Hosta Boxwood in urn

Hydrangea and Gertrude Jekyll Rose in background.

Coreopsis 

Lily of the Valley (used as a ground cover)

McCartney Rose (on the left)

Jude the Obscure David Austin Rose (on the right)

Hydrangeas

Nerine Bowdenii

Limelight hydrangea

on pergola Constance Spry David Austin Rose

Area at head of the gravel driveway

Assorted Grasses

Hostas

Hellebore

Variegated Iris

Variegated Sedum

Potted Hens and Chicks

Crocosmia

Mr. HB printed off a garden plan and we have been discussing some of the options to reduce the time spent toiling in the garden in order to leave some time to actually sit and enjoy the space!

On his list is a green house which we plan to have installed so that we can grow tomatoes and a few veggies.

The overhaul of the lawn is probably the biggest job and will make a huge difference.

We plan to grass in most of the north side yard behind the gate in the back and fill in many of the beds and redo the entire back lawn and remove a few other beds.

Anyways those plans are a bit off in the future.

So I must content myself with small improvements that I can do by myself until I can find a strong garden helper.

I must close for now and prepare dinner...

I've worked up quite an appetite with all the digging and planting today.

We are indulging in a seldom served treat...

BBQ Beef Burgers with coleslaw.

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog...

I appreciate you stopping by The Humble Bungalow.

THe Humble Bungalow Garden desperately needs a makeover!

Our Humble Bungalow Garden has been foremost on my mind of late...
it's been giving me some unwelcome moments of total frustration...
don't like feeling this way.
I'm overwhelmed and feel rather helpless...
need some expert advice.

I'm considering (and Mr. HB is listening to my concerns) a complete redesign of the yard.
The garden has become far too "high maintenance" and I have been spending many many hours in the hot sun trying to get on top of it to no avail.

I LOVE my roses and plan to keep them. I want and need to find other plants that will look good and not demand too much of my energy and yet still look stylish.
(Mr. HB wants for us to be happy and content in the garden)

We had some friends over for lunch today to discuss this very topic and I am enthusiastic that we might have some help in the future.

The garden needs a plan...
I've pottered about for years with no grand scheme and the beds have evolved in a willy nilly fashion...and while they look pretty, there is a slapdash feel to the whole space.
Too many curves, plants that have "taken over" and a lawn that is filled with buttercups, dog violets and clover.

We invited a couple of friends who have glorious and beautiful gardens 

 a professional gardener 

to walk with us through our garden

and give us some ideas...

Lunch needed to be quick as our guests had a tight timeline.

We drank tea and ate assorted "tea type" sandwiches.

(triangle sandwiches with the crusts cut off)

We served cherry tomatoes, carrot sticks and olives on the side...

Dessert was home made lemon loaf and clusters of red grapes.

We bantered about some ideas and my friend will plot out some plans

his gardener will give us the names of a few professionals that might be able to assist us in our quest.

David Austen Jude the Obscure Rose

The Humble Bungalow bathroom

Mr. HB designed the remodel of this wee space years ago.

This room is so well planned and it makes me very happy too.

Good design is SO important, in the house AND in the garden.

You can see how small the room dimensions are here as the claw foot tub nearly hits the two walls!

Mr. HB had some great tile patterns in mind...

he showed me several options and we agreed on this one.

We opted for a modern pedestal sink

and a pair of new period style lights from Water Glass Studios.

A lovely original painting on vintage linen of French country side 

a gift from our dear friend and talented artist, Cheryl Fortier.

(In the reflection you might notice all my silver bangles)

There is no storage other than a medicine cabinet in the bathroom.

 We re-purposed an oak arts and crafts bookcase to use for the towels.

Hope you have enjoyed this peek 

"Inside the Humble Bungalow."

Hooray Hooray!

we got a smattering of rain this afternoon.

 A welcome gift as we are experiencing a very dry summer here.

I hope it will help with the forest fire situation.

Our garden certainly needs the extra moisture...

the roses and hydrangeas are "needy and greedy"when it comes to water.

In other exciting news...

a group of neighbours have agreed to join me in building a small neighbourhood library box.

We plan to donate books to share 

We have a glass fronted cabinet which we will paint and build a roof overtop.

We will attach some posts and erect it.

It's one of a number of neighbourhood libraries in our city.

This video is very inspiring...

Take care,

Hostess

Waxing poetic...

I awoke very early this morning.
The cats were restless, the birds were chirping and I had thankfully enjoyed a decent night of sleep.

Good Morning from The Humble Bungalow!

 The 100 Year Old House by Rebecca Makkai...
she wrote The Borrower (which I now want to read!)

This book has hooked me from the minute I picked it up yesterday afternoon.
The chapters are short, the characters are strange and eccentric...there's something hiding in this old house...a ghost perhaps, or secrets from the past.

I am already halfway through it...and I don't want to put it down!

Life is ticking along...my hornet stings are not bothering me much now thanks to some quality aloe vera gel but there is an angry red patch which I refer to as the "venom path" which criss crosses my hand and wrist and I hope, in time, it will fade.

I've been really focusing on the garden and reading and have not devoted much time to blog.
It's curious how one's habits can change...you get out of the habit and new habits arise.

Life is like a journey and it is never dull...

opportunities 

challenges

adventures 

pop up

along the way.

We plough ahead...

maintaining a sense of order when at all possible.

Resting when we need to...

but not long enough to rust.

hoping 

for the fruits of our labours 

to be real

tangible

worthy

ripe

red

tasty and sweet

simple

yet glorious

from the first sniff of a ripe red tomato

until you bite into the flesh that gives a little resistance before allowing you to savour the incredible burst of flavour and then inevitably the juice drips down your chin....

(if you are wearing a white tee  you'll be spot treating the stain before it hits the laundry!)

I'm storing up thoughts and ideas and hoping that they will turn into something type-able...

a post or posts that might delight and entertain.

I've noticed many bloggers have taken blogging breaks

and I wonder if we are tired of hearing our own voices?

Are those bloggers voices going to remain silenced forever ?

Or are they soaking up life and about to burst forth like flowers?

I await the sounds and am patient...

nothing to do but wait.

It's quiet here as the neighbourhood starts to come to life.

I can hear my heart beat

the clocks chime

the gentle hum of the bees outside as they flit from flower to flower

a few cars go by

a neighbours dog barks

someone is singing

an unfamiliar song 

as they walk by our bungalow

 on their way 

good morning!

the day has begun.

Summer reading is one of my little luxuries...

as are farm ripe fresh vegetables

I'm off to visit the farm stand today

before I recommence reading

and in between 

I'll do some weeding and watering

and make some dinner

before 

retiring to a comfy bed for another night of slumber.

What are your favourite summer treats?

Are you reading a fabulous book that you'd care to share?