summer's here

Today is the Victoria Day holiday and what a busy long weekend it has been. My husband took Friday off work and we've been working hard in the garden for three days in a row. Three gorgeous sunny days, the first of summer at 30C (86F), much too hot for us heat wimps! After a cool wet spring, the heat has made everything lush and green. The tulips and magnolia were finished off by last week's rains. Now the heat is bringing forth lily-of-the-valley, lilacs, laburnum, clematis montana, azaleas, rhododendrons, forget-me-nots, bluebells and yellow poppies.

I've been hardening off pelargoniums and other annuals to plant out in a few days, and repotting tomato plants to go outside a little later in the month when the nights stay above 10C. We brought outside patio and deck furniture and umbrellas, and one evening enjoyed sitting outside until after dark while waiting for the house to cool down, enjoying much talking and spirited games of Liverpool Rummy with our visiting eldest daughter Anita.

Saturday evening, husband and I went out for a delicious Thai dinner to quietly celebrate another wedding anniversary. I was much attracted by the interesting reflections in the windows across the street from the restaurant!

After the meal, we went for a stroll along the waterfront park where many couples and a few young families were enjoying the warm evening and the view of downtown Vancouver on the other side. As we sat for a few minutes on a bench, another middle-aged couple walked by just as my husband said to me, "We live in the best part of the world". The woman turned around with a smile and said, "I think so, too". Surprised, we laughed. On our stroll back we discovered a secluded garden between an adjacent office building and a condominium, with numerous gorgeous wisteria in bloom - a gift!

Today is pleasantly cooler and rainy, Anita has left and we are enjoying a quiet and restful afternoon, reading books and catching up on some blogs and blogging. Like looking back through a diary in my youth, I find it interesting looking back at past blog posts on the same date or theme. In this case past Victoria Day weekend articles were revealing. We seem to always work on this weekend instead of going away camping or visiting. And this year's blooms in our garden are quite a bit later than these past years: 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007.