Another visit to the rose garden.  We were working on the

garden pond today, I will post pictures soon but today

I wanted to post the Winnipeg Park rose, 4 ft tall and

covered with blooms I cannot get the colour right but it

is spectacular.

This is also a chance to post a quote from a favorite

poet. The first poetry book I every got from the library

sale table was Gwendolyn MacEwen's Magic Animals

I have gotten others but none this good.

"In our gardens are electric roses
which spark, push light, push fuchsia
in flailing grass

and spines of long magnetic seas cloy,
rake their depths for dust; all holds;
the spines hold the elemental jelly
of the sea’s flesh there.

I walk warily through
my electric garden"

                                          Universe And: The Electric Garden

                                               Gwendolyn MacEwan

      

Arriving home after two weeks spent working on the cabin

we found the garden had gone on without us. I have as you may

guess a thing for roses. I was raised in Windsor ON sometimes

called the City of Roses and my father raised them. I now

have between 25-30 depending on the winter and various sales.

I have a few delicate roses David Austins, Gallicas

( they rarely bloom) and a couple Hybrid teas. Mostly

now I raise Parkland and Explorer roses that are hardy

to our area.

Morden Blush

Morden Blush (detail)

To the right William Baffin and Morden Snowbeauty

William Baffin and Morden Snowbeauty (detail)

"Attar of Nishapur gazed on a rose,

addressing it in words which had no sound,

as one who thinks rather than one who prays:

‘Your fragile globe is in my hand; and time

is bending both of us, both unaware,

this afternoon, in a forgotten garden.

Your brittle shape is humid in the air.

The steady, tidal fullness of your fragrance

rises up to my old, declining face.

But I know you far longer than that child

who glimpsed you in the layers of a dream

or here, in this garden, once upon a morning."

                            The Unending Rose

                          To Susan Bombal

                                                          Jorge Luis Borges

Sorry it has been a while since I updated

my blog on our work on the cabin. Things came up.

Monday July 18th.

Work on the roof continued it is plus 30 degrees

on the ground with the metal roofing and tar paper it is

worse up there. Helen's brothers soldier on.

Helen surveys the neighbourhood.

Tuesday July 19th

That is not the camera, our contractor supplied two

different shades of red roofing. The other sides match,

it is only this side, the one you see when you arrive

that had to be striped. 

Another 30 plus degree day but Ralph and Brian finish the roof.

Helen and I have palmed sanded the cabin and begin staining.

We finish the front and the far side. The front we stained by hand

the side we used a power sprayer to shoot stain everywhere and 

then rolled the stain even with a roller and a bit of brush work.

That was a better method faster and more even.

The neighbours were also busy, we saw up to three beavers

on the slough at the same time.

I guess were were a bit noisy.

Wed July 20th

No photos, we had hoped to finish the staining but after
two hours, the rain got worse since we were worried about the
road we went to the farm. As we arrived at the farm the
power went out about 10:30 am and was off the rest of the day
lots of wind and rain. We have had a fair bit of wind

this trip with lots of fallen limbs.

Thursday July 21st

Power still out but since we are using a generator

we finish staining and begin cleaning up. We are leaving Friday
and so we cannot actually stay in the cabin this summer.
Next spring we will build the outhouse, put in the floor and
appliances (propane), and mosquito proof it so we can stay
later in the summer. We will also have it skirted to keep
the wind and critters from getting underneath.

Power back on yeah.

We also hope to open a path so we can see annother slough

that is beside the cabin as well. Also we will clear some other

 paths. However we will leave most of the woods intact

since it is the very reason we bought the land. The woods

have many plants including an impressive stand of

stinging nettles.

and some Pincherry

A final look at the cabin, the patio door boarded up to

discourage access. It will take years to actually finish

but that is part of the adventure.

"Once more. Say, you are in the country; in some high land of lakes.
Take almost any path you please, and ten to one it carries
you down in a dale, and leaves you there by a pool in the stream.

There is magic in it. "

                                             Moby Dick

                                                                        Herman Melville

Friday, hey did you know a roof is a complex project?

 Of course once it is in the headroom in the loft will disappear.

One perk for the do it yourself project is the right to buy tools.

These are great.

 

The road goes ever ever on, so does the roof.

A fellow traveller.

 Sunday, the metal roofing is going on.

The only time we are sure what day it is, is Sunday.

The lumber yard is closed.

But things are looking up.

"Therefore out of the stir
Of cities and the ever-thickening press
The poet and the worn philosopher
To your bare peaks and radiant loneliness
Escape, and breathe once more
The wind of the Eternal: that clear mood,
Which Nature and the elder ages bore,
Lends them new courage and a second prime,
At rest upon the cool infinitude
Of Space and Time"

                     Archibald Lampman
                                Ode to the Hills 

Cabin construction continues it has waiting

Its ups.

Its downs, actually we left lots of headroom.

 Infernal devices.

 The side door will lead to the side yard/dog run.

 The kitchen.

 

The sitting room it will have a 

screened in porch in front.

 

 The wonderful crew.

Today's visitor an osprey we also had a wood duck.

"We moved this way before: observed the 

leaves

Of restless poplars merging with bulrush 

spikes"  

Testament 

Dorothy Livesey

 

Tuesday the walls continue to go up.

It rains the last few hours we stay until 8:00

The crew is very brave. And wet.

 

Lots of birds on site including yellow warblers, song sparrows,

bald eagles, goldfinches, and a Baltimore Oriole.

 

Wed the contractor leaves this morning as expected.

Helen's brothers are clear on the remaining steps 

and working very hard.

Brian sees a moose swim across the slough

the other three crew members miss this as we are

on two separate trips to lumberyards.

We all see the bald eagle. Thursday, it pours all day no progress.

" Does the bird 
think of bygone times 
as it flies singing "


                Princess Nukala
                                    Women Poets of Japan

 Cabin construction in Saskatchewan

The road to the site. Saturday, cabin delayed 

truck problem.

 

Helen's brothers have the beams and posts in place.

The view of the slough from the site.

Sunday the cabin arrives backing into the site.

The new neighbours between 5 to 10 snakes 

from large to small are sitting on a mound 

of disturbed earth next to the site. A plus.

By end of Sunday the deck and floor are in.

 

Monday the walls begin to go up

 

 Sunday a black bear swims across the

slough in front of the cabin. A  bit far for

my lens.

"The wind blows through

the little hut in the rice field

and the moonlight shines through the roof

and guards us all through the night."

                                    Shunzei's Daughter

                                         Women Poets of Japan