Many sixes on Saturday

It was shortly after 9 when the work for the day was done. Yes, I know it’s a weekend and that I am semi retired. But the job is weather sensitive and so I must work when I can.

Which strangely enough brings me to a new challenge called #SixonSaturday.  I think it was designed originally as a garden share, and that’s the starting direction. Then I opted in for the #weekendcoffeeshare and added 3 more photos so it will fit Terri’s theme this week for blue. So, if I’m only going to blog once this week, I am going all in.

Six on Saturday in the positive garden column.

• Lilies are actually blooming
• The delphinium managed one flower
• Lupin has a single bloom
• Planter begonias are alive
• The sedem thing bloomed yellow
• The geranium and dahlias in the planters are amazing
• BONUS item – my neighbour kindly delivered 6 hollyhocks that were growing in her walkway. She knows I’ve been struggling to grow them from seed or from purchased plant.

Of course, for every positive in gardening, there are at least that many negatives

• The beets don’t seem to be growing in the weed patch shown below
• Something is eating the turnip tops
• The potatoes went moldy in the ground and I can’t find any more
• The gophers are digging in the garden
• The carrots are so so spotty that weeding them is not fun
• The straw mulch is very windblown

But there is still produce. If you joined me for a weekend coffee share, you’d find me drinking raspberry lemonade. With a hint of fresh basil mixed in. So good! It’s much better than coffee, IMO. But you’d have to come late at night when the work is done!

As to edible sharing, oh heck, I could do a what’s in your pail (not on a plate) share. It’s all about the fruit right now for me. Raspberries are ripening fast, sour cherries also. But the cream of the crop sadly this year is not to be found on our native prairie. Sadly, there is hardly a saskatoon berry to be had.  BUT I found a new to me, UPick, and did I pick!I also ate a lot. Huge big lush berries that filled 3 pails in no time. In list form, as it seems sort of a theme tonight, the 6 favourite ways to eat them.

• Greek yogurt, berries and homemade granola
• Saskatoon berry pie
• Saskatoon dumplings
• Saskatoon and rhubarb compote
• Saskatoon slice (kind of like a matrimonial cake but instead of dates put in saskatoons)
• Saskatoon syrup on pancakes, waffles and ice cream
• BONUS item – handful of frozen berries straight into the mouth!

So that’s what’s been in the pail/bowl but not on a plate even though I am going to link to #whatsonyourplateblogchallenge.

Terri’s theme this week is blue, and I did indeed capture blue this week. I actually stopped because it’s canola time. The crops are pretty patchy this year, but from a distance, the colour is still there.

We’ve had a small amount of smoke haze some evenings, but it usually blows off during the night. I guess that’s the benefit of living in a windy spot on earth. Makes sleeping with no windows in cool some nights.

My time and weather sensitive project, for the record, is proceeding. Ah, fits the theme again. As of tonight at 9 p.m. I finished window #6. Daunted when I do the math, but I am trying not to look to far ahead and just work on doing one window per day. So early morning first coat, late evening second coat and installation the following morning.

So the weekend runs into the weekday as I push hard to do all 31 😳 windows. Good thing I love this place and place it on the gratitude list. Indeed, the final six features another spot that kind of fits the plant theme of Six on Saturday.

After the work day ended and before the paint brushes were cleaned, the dogs and I headed to the native prairie (grasslands) for our stroll before we lost the light. It was super easy to find six native flowers to feature here.

I walk the medium length path 90% of the time and yet never grow bored with it. There is always something new to look at. Tonight, I spotted the hawk that appears to be nesting nearby. I listened to the farmer north of us thump out some bales. The breeze was cool, and the sun was red.

And that folks is a wrap for lots of sixes on Saturday.

Bernie