nature

April Showers Bring May Flowers

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purple violets amongst the grass

Spring took its time arriving this year. The leaves have finally popped, and the flowers are just starting to bloom. We are several weeks “behind” (though it’s not as though Spring follows a schedule) so it’s been lovely to finally see the garden coming up in the past couple of weeks.

tiny yellow tulips blooming

These are tiny yellow and white tulips- only a few inches tall, and they were the first to come up!

I don’t have much to say today. I was looking forward to getting into blogging regularly again and had a schedule planned, but then hit a bump in the road health-wise which has slowed me down quite considerably for the past week. Thankfully, I am now on the road to recovery, and at last able to put down some words and edit some photos! I’ve also been thinking a lot lately about different fashion related topics. I haven’t written up any posts lately, but am hoping to get some thoughts down on paper soon, and be able to bring you some more blog posts, like back in the “old days” of this blog. (haha- only a couple of years ago, but time does fly!)

I hope you are doing well, and happy weekend everyone!

periwinkle iris bloom

I wish you could smell this iris- it has the sweetest scent!

pink blooms

Nanking Cherry with such a pretty pink bloom, 

violets and hens and chicks

These tiny little violets came up in the lawn- so adorable. And hens and chicks on the right.

tiny white flowers

These tiny white flowers are a weed, but so pretty! Each bloom is only about 3-4mm across.

yellow buttercups and baby leaves

These tiny yellow cinquefoil flowers also came up in the grass- so cute. Right: don’t you love new leaf green?

plum tree blooms

My favourite plum tree, just covered in beautiful, sweet blooms this year!

plum tree and false spirea

More plum blooms, and False Spirea leaves on the right. 

bog flower

Bog Rosemary- such a cool pink flower!

Elephants Ears on the left and Bethlehem Sage on the right. 

baby oak leaves

Some tiny, baby, oak leaves to finish it off. 

The View From Here

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Well, it’s actually not the view from where I am currently, since these photos were all taken at my previous apartment, but that title just had a catchy ring to it, so….

This is going to be a very photo heavy post, but the other day I was scrolling through my phone and realized that I have a lot of photos of the view from our old apartment, and it seemed like a compilation of them was in order. These might not even be all the photos I took, but they were all the ones I could find in my disorganized hard drive!

I’m not going to say that I miss living at that place, because obviously there are reasons why we left, but it really was a gorgeous view from our living room window. The building was built on a hill, and our window faced West overlooking the valley, which meant we got to enjoy some beautiful sunsets. Unfortunately the view was the best thing about the place though, and that’s not enough of a reason to stay somewhere!

Anyways, here are some photos from the past year, spanning from last June to this past March- it’s amazing how the weather can drastically change the view from day to day, isn’t it?

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June 9, 2018: This one was from when I was in the basement apartment, so a slightly different angle. It kind of looked like a tornado started forming, but it never fully formed or touched down.

July 2, 2018: Two photos- one from early afternoon and one from the evening of the day I moved into the upstairs apartment.

July 6, 2018

July 18, 2018

August 8, 2018: One of the first days when the smoke from the BC wildfires started blowing across the province- not the worst we were to see, unfortunately!

August 13, 2018: One day of rain and a blessed relief of the smoke, but the smoke blew right back in the next day.

August 15, 2018: Two days later, and it looked like the apocalypse was upon us. That was a strange day as it was so hazy we had to turn the lights on indoors, and even the birds weren’t singing, casting an eerie calm.

August 16, 2018: The next day the smoke had lessened, and lost it’s orange glow. Thankfully the smoke started lessening shortly after this!

September 5, 2018

September 9, 2018: One of the most enjoyable things was watching the valley turn colours in the Fall.

Sept 10, 2018: In just one day, the leaves had changed colour so much more, but the lighting on this day also cast an autumnal hue in the image.

September 13, 2018: The first snow of the year, that quickly melted, but always seems to come too early!

September 15, 2018: Another snowfall a couple of days later!

September 21, 2018: And a week later, this heavier snowfall!

October 18, 2018: One of the most beautiful sunsets of our time there.

November 29, 2018: And this sunset too…

January 4, 2019

February 7, 2019: The fog off the reservoir always looked so cold on Winter days like this!

March 12, 2019

March 20, 2019.

March 28, 2019: The last evening I spent in the apartment.

March 29, 2019: Taken on the last afternoon we spent in our apartment, just before giving back the keys.

A Very Belated Easter Outfit, and Spring is Here

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A very Belated Easter Outfit, the artyologist

This is actually not the outfit that I wore for Easter this year, but it is the outfit I wanted to wear.

Easter Sunday (which I know was already a month ago…) this year dawned bright and sunny, and it would have been the perfect day to wear this straw hat, straw bag and lace jacket. Alas, however, I wasn’t able to wear this outfit, because when I went to get dressed, I realized that this hat was actually not in my closet where I thought it was, but was packed away somewhere (since I am temporarily living with my family). Sunday morning about an hour before you are to leave for church, is not the time to discover that almost all of your hats are packed away, that you have no idea which box they are in, and that all of the hats that are unpacked are winter hats, or ones that don’t work with short hair!

So, at the last minute I had to change the plan of what to wear for Easter Sunday, and ended up wearing this previously worn outfit instead. It was actually a rather nice thing to wear for Easter as it was the first Spring-like day we’d had, and that dress is so cheerful, but it was still kind of sad that I was unable to wear an “Easter Bonnet”!

However, I was able to find my hats during the next week, and so the next Sunday, I decided it was time to put together this “Easter” outfit to wear. It would have been the perfect thing to wear on our sunny Easter Sunday, but not so great for that Sunday, as we got snow that weekend! The weather took a turn for the worse the weeks after that, so I wasn’t able to get pictures…and then one thing after another…and here we are a month later, when I am finally sharing what I wore 🙂

Although, this isn’t exactly what I wore, because in the meantime I forgot that I had actually worn sandals and then I found a brown belt at the thrift store last week, which looked better than the original gold belt…so I guess I improved on the outfit! It’s got kind of a “New Look” vibe to it- at least that is what I was going for.

Anyways- I was finally able to get pictures this past week, since the weather has warmed back up, and the trees have leafed out in “new leaf green” in the course of a couple of days! Spring is finally here- and I am so ready for it! (That’s also why I have so many pictures of the new leaves in this post…this isn’t even all that I took- I was just so excited to see all the tiny leaves, that I was snapping pictures left and right!)

I never used to notice that Spring comes late to this part of the world (compared to other places in the world) until I started an account on Instagram, and follow people from all over the world. Now I see people posting pictures of cherry blossoms and crocuses months before we see any green here! Oh well- even though we live with cardboard brown for a lot longer than other climates, I still wouldn’t move away!

Well, it’s been so long since I last blogged, that I’ve almost forgotten how to, so I’ll leave this here. My plan is to start blogging regularly again, but we’ll see how that goes. . .

I hope you all have a lovely weekend- and a Victoria Day weekend, to my fellow Canadians!

Have you ever planned to wear a specific outfit, but then weren’t able to because a key piece didn’t work out? Do you like to dress up with an “Easter Bonnet” for Easter Sunday? Have you ever worn an outfit, and then improved on it later?

An Ode to Dying Tulips

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An Ode to Tulips, the artyologist

A few weeks ago my mom brought me a bouquet of tulips, which was so incredibly lovely of her. I had been thinking of picking up a bouquet when I was at the grocery store in the morning, but when they were sold out of anything nice, I figured I would just do without. However, I didn’t have to do without, as my mom stopped at the local florist and brought me these tulips later in the day! It’s not as though bouquets of flowers are necessary, but they can make such a difference to your mood can’t they?

tea-and-tulips, the artyologist

Sadly, these didn’t last very long for some reason. Mine got a bit dry, as I left them for a few days over the weekend and the leaves started to die. I think they just weren’t the best flowers this time, though, since my sister got a bouquet as well and hers didn’t even open fully. Even though they died much too quickly, they were still lovely to have for a short time, and I decided that they were still worth documenting. There can be beauty even in fading things.

tulip bouquet detail the artyologist

tulips-horizontal, the artyologist

tulip-bouquet-the artyologist

tulips-on-dresser, the artyologist

tulip-study, the artyologist

Photo Journal: Fall Time at the Farm

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Photo Journal: Fall Time at the Farm, apple trees and an old fence, the artyologist

Happy first day of Fall everyone! I’m not going to lie; fall time is one of my favourite seasons, and I don’t particularly rue the end of Summer. Well, I’ll miss the green trees and the flowers in bloom, but I will not miss the heat!

Besides there are plenty of reasons to love fall time. Here are a few which I just thought of now:

  • It is harvest time, which means there are tons of delicious vegetables and fruits to enjoy.
  • The changing colours of the Autumn leaves bring to life that quote, “Autumn is a second Spring, where every leaf is a flower”. This season is the most colourful season, I think.
  • We are no longer baking to death from the heat! (can you tell yet; I don’t like the heat.)
  • You can have a cozy fire burning in your fireplace. Not only does it keep you toasty warm, but it’s rather comforting too.
  • It is tights season, so I can pull out my mustard yellow, sheer polka dot and opaque black tights again!
  • Ok, I’ll join the bandwagon: it’s pumpkin pie season.
  • And, for me personally I love fall time because it’s my birthday 🙂

Do you enjoy Fall, or do you think of it only as a precursor to the dreaded Winter? What is your favourite thing about this season?

Ps. These photos were taken last month at my uncle’s farm. So, they aren’t technically “Fall” photos, as you can tell by the still-green leaves on the trees, but I think they suit the harvest theme well enough to share today anyways!

Photo Journal: Fall Time at the Farm, the artyologist, apples

Photo Journal: Fall Time at the Farm, the artyologist, hawthorn

Photo Journal: Fall Time at the Farm, the artyologist, hanging-apples-with-fence

Photo Journal: Fall Time at the Farm, the artyologist, overgrown-places

Photo Journal: Fall Time at the Farm, the artyologist, apple branch

Photo Journal: Fall Time at the Farm, the artyologist, wood-and-apples

Photo Journal: Fall Time at the Farm, the artyologist, old fence detail

Photo Journal: Fall Time at the Farm, the artyologist, hawthorne

Photo Journal: Fall Time at the Farm, the artyologist, caragana seeds

Photo Journal: Fall Time at the Farm, the artyologist, apple-branches

Photo Journal: Fall Time at the Farm, the artyologist, caragana seeds detail

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