What March 30th looks like….

The street just as we turn the corner to our house.

I have to admit I can’t quite believe winter is still here. Every time I checked the weather today it indicated the temperature with windchill was -18C. How can this be? The snow in front of our house is still past my knees. The kids are fed up of snowshoeing and winter boots and winter coats and hats and mitts. My daughter wants to go for a “real walk” wearing “real shoes”. My son wants to move to the BC coast and have rain instead.

We went to Tim Hortons today and as we passed the drive-thru line everyone looked miserable. Everyone looked fed up. Everyone looked done with winter.

Coming home we passed a few neighbours. They were shoveling snow……again……or should I say hunched over their snow shovels shaking their heads. Even those with snowblowers are depressed.

It is time for it to stop snowing. It is time to warm up. It is time for spring.

Still Iced Up

We seem to be experiencing the never-ending winter. In other years we would have seen much of the snow melted away by now, children splashing in puddles and even a few tulips poking through the earth. Unfortunately here we are, the end of March, and winter is still very much here; so much so that again today was spent snowshoeing. Here are a few of icicle images from this weekend’s winter outing.

Indoor Gardening – The March 25th Edition

March 25th and it is STILL -16C outside with windchill. Winter is definitely dragging. At least our indoor gardening project gives us a little virtual escape from all the ice and snow outside. Here is how our growing is going:

This was our lettuce on March 3rd.

This is our lettuce on March 25th. There is still quite a bit of growing to be done before we have salad, but it looks promising.

These were the radishes on March 3rd.

 

Now the radishes have really grown. Let’s hope the radishes form under the soil. Time will tell.

 

The peas had just barely sprouted on March 3rd.

They are doing nicely now after a few setbacks due to altercations with a three-year old. I popped a few more seeds into the pot this week to try to increase our chances of peas to eat.

Meanwhile the chives did basically nothing except a little weed at the side of the pot. I did add in some basil seeds that also seem to have done nothing. I am racking the failure up to one of two things: I may have two lots of bad seeds, or “someone” may have dropped the pot throwing dirt and seeds onto the floor. Evidently this “someone” doesn’t live in our house but I keep finding oddly placed piles of soil in the family room. Hmmmmmm……………did I mention I have a three-year old?

Ominous Skies Over Dead Man’s Flats

Forbidding skies and bad weather were omens leading up to a trip that ended abruptly and poorly at Dead Man’s Flat’s, Alberta.

Sounds like the makings of a great Western!

No Swimming – Wordless Wednesday

The start of ANOTHER painting. – (slideshow)

I thought it was time I got back to why I really blog. For those looking for the education related posts you can find them here and here.

My posting was static over this last week only because hundreds and hundreds of people were reading about the education crisis in Alberta and I felt for the sake of ease it made sense to leave that post at the top of the page.

While blogging seemed a bit lifeless last week, truth was a lot of painting (I “think” the painting mentioned in the previous post is done), fibre art, and a bit of photo restoration was accomplished (and I cleaned the little’s bedroom too!). So brace yourselves, this week might be all about “works in progress” (better known as W.I.P.’s!).

This is another piece from the nature sanctuary series I am working on. It’s a pretty comfortable and enjoyable theme to be working on. This piece is definitely more ambitious than the last, especially dealing with the perspective of the leaves on the forest’s floor.

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For some reason I started shooting this new painting as I worked. I really have no idea why. Maybe it is because I am back to painting large,  this canvas is 4 feet by 3 feet, and I can’t actually stand back very far to view it without removing it from the wall easel and taking the canvas to another room. No matter the reason, it is certainly interesting to watch the progression. Please remember this painting is FAR from finished and the day-glo kindergarten green is soon to disappear. Enjoy the work in progress…there is more to come….soon.

Online at:
http://www.thehuntergroup.ca
http://www.debrahunter.wordpress.com
http://www.islandhomeblog.wordpress.com
http://www.htheblog.wordpress.com

Basketball!

Basketball season is starting to wind down in the schools. Before uniforms need to be handed in it is a great time for a quick studio portrait of the player in their team jersey. Black and white adds a cool twist to a sports pic, however a color version (that can be viewed here) also remains a classic favorite.

Photography by Debra Hunter
Hunter Photographics
www.thehuntergroup.ca

www.debrahunter.wordpress.com
www.islandhomeblog.wordpress.com
www.htheblog.wordpress.com

Indoor Gardening Experiment Update

We are finally seeing a little activity on our indoor gardening experiment. Each day I move the planters into the sun by our south-facing window. Every evening I move the planters to a warmer spot; it has been so cold our windows are icing up at night so I don’t want to risk the seedlings freezing (while inside the house!).

So far the radishes look the most promising. This is exactly what I expected as they have such a short time frame until they mature. Hopefully we will end up with some nice homegrown radishes in about a month’s time.

The lettuce is trying it’s best. We have a few sprouts. This planter was planted “creatively” by my daughter so I am not quite sure where all the seeds ended up. I guess the surprise is part of the fun.

Our peas only started poking through yesterday. We have one good sprout and about four teeny ones just barely visible. I am really interested to see if this planter will grow as fresh peas are just so tasty.

The last bucket is chives. Nothing happening yet. It could be old seeds or it might be a waiting game. I guess time will tell.

This has been a pretty fun experiment so far. The younger children love watching the plants grow and see more pop up each day. It has been a great experience for everyone.