DIY Garden Gazebo

  After enjoying some time sitting in our son's screened in porch, I was wishing we could add a little retreat to our own house. At the time we were living in a bungalow that already had an addition. Our house design just didn't lend itself to such a renovation project....we'd have to come up with an alternative.

Cottonwood Acres

  They say you can't go home again, and in my experience, that philosophy has held true. Returning to visit an old home is usually a disappointment, but our latest tour proved just the opposite.

Manitoba Sky Monday- September 26/16

I have some beautiful photos for you this week.

We started out with some strange looking clouds last Monday!

Scripture Picture Sunday # 7 Galatians 5:22 - 23

Saturday Snapshot - Fall Colors

Virginia Creeper turning red for fall.

Beet & Cabbage Borscht

  If you're like me, you tend to improvise when it comes to cooking....especially soups. This may not be an authentic borscht recipe; it's one of my own making...but my husband likes it, so that's what counts, right? A while back I mentioned getting some small beets from my mom's garden. That day, I just cooked the greens, along with some swiss chard. The next day, I made the borscht you see here. 

Pallet Walkway Cheat

  

  I'm sure you've seen all of those amazing pallet projects on Pinterest, just like I have. Maybe you even went out and picked up some pallets, with great plans for all the awesome things you could create.....and maybe you learned some of the same things I did................

Featured Garden - City Hall, Brandon MB

  The flowers on the boulevards in Brandon are beautiful at this time of the year, but stopping in traffic to take pictures is a little difficult, so one Sunday evening, after church, we decided to stop by City Hall and take some pictures of the garden there instead. The photos were taken with a phone, so a couple of them are a little blurry, but still show off how pretty the flower beds are.

Haggerty Farm

I am blessed to be able to look out my front window every day to a beautiful view. No matter what the season, I never tire of looking across the road at our neighbour's farm. 

Manitoba Sky Monday - September 19/16

Monday sunrise on a cloudy day

Scripture Picture Sunday # 6, 1 Peter 5:7

Saturday Snapshot - Butterfly Against the Sky

Featured Garden- The English Garden, Assiniboine Park

After touring the Butterfly Garden, and the Formal Garden in the Assiniboine Park, our next stop was The English Garden. We hadn't been there for several years, but it was as beautiful as I remembered. 

Crow's General Store

  I love old stuff! I know it's popular to be a minimalist these days, but there are just some things I have to hold on to. When my parents sold their farm, I ended up with a lot of treasures that they had collected over the years. These treasures hold a lot of memories of my childhood....and I'm sure childhood memories had a big part in the making of Crow's General Store. This past weekend, we finally had a chance to go check it out. 

September Scenery

 Saturday morning, we decided to take a drive down some country roads between Shilo and Brandon. You can see the Brandon Hills in the distance.

We had to get one stereotypical Manitoba scenery shot!

And of course this one of  a country road stretching out for miles.

It was a beautiful day, with clear blue skies. 

The leaves on the trees were just starting to change colour.

By the time I got the camera ready, 

these two Blue Herons had already taken flight.

Later in the day, we went into Brandon and toured Crow's General Store. What an amazing place that is! Watch for it in tomorrow's post.

Manitoba Sky Monday - Sept. 12/16

Another Monday, and lots of beautiful skies to show off!

Fluffy white clouds against a beautiful blue sky
for our last Monday before school starts.

Scripture Picture Sunday # 5 Philippians 4:7

Saturday Snapshot - Puppy Overload!

Apples Galore

Our neighbour called today and said they have more apples than they can possibly use, and we were welcome to come over and pick as many as we wanted. So, Danica and I headed over there with a few plastic bags.

The trees were just loaded!

And no, I didn't make Danica do all the picking!

Doesn't this just make you want to climb up and sit there among those gorgeous apples!?

It didn't take long to fill our bags.

Good thing it wasn't a long walk home.
I usually get to see this pasture from the opposite direction!

                  I love looking across the road at my favorite yard.

Thank you Cameron and Diana!

Visit more blogs at Maple Hill 101.

Featured Garden - Formal Garden, Assiniboine Park

  

 In mid August, we toured the gardens at the Assiniboine Park in Winnipeg. I've already featured The Butterfly Garden that's in the zoo. Today, it's The Formal Garden.
 I always love driving down this road under a canopy of leaves. If it wasn't for the parked cars...I could have taken a better picture!

From the official site- "Designed by Frederick Todd in 1907, the Formal Garden was part of the original Assiniboine Park design. The shapes of the flower beds are sharply defined and highly geometrical. The garden is symmetrical in two ways: in the arrangement of the flowers in the beds and in the arrangement of the beds themselves."

Looking from the road...the entrance to the Formal Garden.

I loved the ornamental grass!

One of the two circles in the garden. 

After walking around the zoo, it was nice to walk barefoot on this lush lawn!

Every plant meticulously planted, evenly spaced....and no weeds!

They must have quite the crew to plant and care for this garden!

It just goes on and on! 

Beautiful!

Now on to my favorite....The English Garden...see you next time!

Caboodle Juice

   My daughter, Danica, had been asking me for awhile if we could do some juicing. Since we had some fruit and veggies that needed to be used up, I decided this was the best way to use some of them. The great thing about juicing is you don't really need a recipe. I just throw in whatever I have....within reason of course!....and it usually turns out delicious.

The Global Market

 After our visit to the Brandon Farmers Market, we stopped by the Global market on Rosser Ave.  I love the way it's set up for each vendor to have a booth under a colorful canopy.

Some of the planters along the front have tomatoes in them; 
others have raspberries. Such a great idea!
Someone was selling beautiful bouquets of flowers. 
Of course, the glads were my favorite!

There were vendors selling crafts, jewelry, and much more.

There's even a playground for the kids while you sit and enjoy one of the many delicious snacks available from vendors.

While there, we met up with Jolene, from Barefoot Gardens.

Watch for Jolene's garden to be one of our Featured Gardens in the near future.

 I hope you enjoyed this short tour. You can stop by The Global Market  on Rosser Ave. in Brandon any  Saturday, and for other scheduled events.