Now is the time of the year where I like to pause, and take a look back at my hobbies over the last year. Lets look at the garden first…

2025 in the garden can best be described as “Interesting”

Spring burst onto the scene, bold and bright and early! We got our first bloom (a snow drop) in the first week of March. It’s not quite a record – 2024 saw snowdrops in late February, but it’s still earlier than most years.

But then around late May, things took a little turn

While the irises did bloom, they didn’t do as well as they normally would. It looks like my collection got hit by the iris borer moth. The foliage looked terrible, I didn’t get as many blooms as I should, and by the time I realized what was happening, I’d lost about half the rhizomes. Happily, I have A LOT of irises, and by the end of summer (after I’d removed the dead stuff) they all started to recover. They should come through just fine in 2026.

Summer itself seemed to get off to a pretty good start. We seemed to be getting rain frequently (every other day or so). But then I noticed something. While it was frequent rain – it was never a lot of rain. It was a downpour for a half an hour followed by sun and heat.

Not enough to really do much for the garden. For the flowers, it wasn’t so bad. I have a fairly drought-tolerant garden. I only watered when we didn’t get rain for a week. But for the veg garden… that’s where I really took the hit.

By the time I started watering it regularly, it was mostly too late. That’s not to say it was all bad. I got a fantastic harvest of carrots, potatoes, garlic and shallots. The snap peas did ok, but I’ve definitely had better seasons. We got something like five nice sugar baby watermelons, which was great as they were a new one for us. But I only I got one eeeny weeny zucchini, and we didn’t start getting green beans until almost the end of the season. The leeks and green onions were also a write off.

I was finally able to grow yellow tomatoes – and for once we weren’t overrun with them. But that’s a sign they had a harder than normal year too.

I grew mutant inedible squash (though that had nothing to do with the weather – just my own lack of knowledge). I got a handful of baby pumpkins, a small basket of gourds and the cucumber harvest was definitely poor.

But lessons were learned and will be taken into the new year.

The effect of the drought on the garden didn’t really start to show until late summer into fall. The Susans and Asters bloomed but had a very short season. Even the Coneflowers were a little lack luster. The Cosmos I planted probably struggled most of all. They are usually the stars of the end of season but not this year.

The roses had another tough year. Though not quite as bad as the previous. They handle drought pretty well once they are established. And I managed to keep on top of the darn Rose Sawfly for the most part. The #(%@ing Japanese beetles were another matter. We battled daily and I won’t say I completely lost… more like we came to a stalemate.

The roses don’t bloom well in the really humid, melting heat of July and August, so their best time is June, then September and October. It’s one of the reasons I always pick roses that bloom more than once.

If there was one major success this year, I’d say it was the sunflowers. I grew some absolutely beautiful ones this year and hope to do so again next year.

In terms of actual garden work. I feel like I stayed on top of the weeding, mostly. I expanded both the front garden and island garden, and redid the garden along the side of the front porch. I added a new garden along the back fence. But that was it.

In the new year, I’d like to widen the gardens around the catio and down the side fence in the back yard. But not to add new plants – just to make some better room for the ones that are there.

I had great success with seed snails, so I think we’ll be starting lots of seeds here come April. Hopefully 2026 will bring a beautiful, bountiful garden!

Well… that’s Christmas.

It’s now Boxing day, but sadly, the cats did not get any suitable boxes. It was a very quiet Christmas here, and the presents were small. We will see my family some time in the new year. Just before I had my dental surgery, Mom also had some surgery. She’s doing well, but it’s a two-month long recovery, so we’re postponing Christmas with them until some time in the new year.

She did send presents by mail though…

So I didn’t have to go without new socks on Christmas morning! There’s another pair too and they are just as warm and nice!

I made a pretty traditional turkey dinner, and mile high apple pie for dessert. I prefer pumpkin or mincemeat, but Dave is a big apple fan, so I thought I’d treat him. I had a big pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving.

Other than that, between checking the turkey and cooking the sides…

There was mostly a lot of knitting and chilling with my boys.

I hope your Christmas was everything you wanted!

From all of us, to all of you

All the very best this Christmas, and into the New year!

It’s Christmas Eve, and I’m happy to say that, other than baking a pie for tomorrow’s meal, I have everything done, dusted and ready to go.

Sunday morning I was having trouble sleeping, so I figured instead of laying in bed, staring at the clock, I could get up and get some stuff done. It was around 4 am – so by 6 am all the presents were wrapped and put in their appropriate places. Presents for Dave, his Mom and Uncle are all under the tree. We won’t see my family until sometime in the New Year, but everything is wrapped and tucked safely away in my studio – ready to travel when we do.

After wrapping, I baked up several batches of Chocolate Chip Scones.

These were all meted out into gift bags, and gifted to the various service people we deal with throughout the year (the mail ladies, our mechanic team, etc.). Dave delivered them Monday after picking his Mom up from the train station.

Tomorrow, of course, will be a big dinner to cook, but it’s just me, Dave, his mom and possibly his uncle, so it’s not too bad.

So I’ll leave you with the big, beautiful tree in the centre of town. They light it up every year and I think it’s just wonderful.

While it was a fairly busy weekend, I did manage to carve out a little time to do some stitching with Furby.

I managed to give the second witch her head. and I got a little started on connecting up her sleeve, but that was it. This project is definitely going into the New year, but I’m just fine with that. It was always going to be a long one!

With the help of some orange cats, and some good pain meds…

I managed to finish the hat for Dave’s Uncle before the weekend.

Pattern is My Baker’s Hat. Yarn is Patons Classic Wool – leftover from a sweater I made Dad a couple years ago.

Dave’s uncle still hasn’t confirmed if he’s coming, but at least there will be something under the tree if he does show up.

Meanwhile, with all my Christmas projects done, I’ve cast on a pair of socks for myself. I tossed three holey pairs last week alone, so it’s definitely time for some new ones.

As for my mouth, it’s a little better each day. Mostly irritation, with a little bit of deep pain now and again. I still haven’t had a Coke… and I think I’m about ready to kill for one. But I have managed some more solid food – so at least there’s that!

So… I think Dave and I might FINALLY have picked up a haunted thrift item. Sadly, it is not Carl, my awesome garden weeny deity.

It’s BLEEDIN’ RUDOLPH!!!

We picked up this awesome 50th anniversary Ruldolph stuffie at Goodwill way back in the summer. It plays the song when you squeeze his antler (and his nose flashes). Dave put it in the crawl space with the rest of the Christmas decorations. It stayed there until the start of December, when I pulled it out and set it in Grandma Cosman’s rocking chair.

It’s been there for over two weeks. Doing nothing. Tonight, just after dinner, I’m sitting watching TV. Dave is in his studio (adjacent to the TV room but behind a closed door) getting ready to teach. Most of the cats are upstairs. Lemmy is in my lap

All of a sudden, I faintly here children singing “Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer”. For a second, I thought it must be Dave, prepping a Youtube video for his first lesson.

But…. then I realized… it’s not muffled enough for that. And Lemmy is on high alert with that “WTF” look on his face. (Though to be fair, he does that a lot).

We get up, and as soon as I hit the dining room. I realize it’s Rudolph. I thought for a minute, maybe a cat knocked the rocking chair and that tripped it. But as I said – the rest of the cats were upstairs. AND you have to SQUEEZE the antler on his head to get it to go. I tried bopping the chair several times. Nothing happened.

So BEHOLD… our HAUNTED RUDOLPH!!!!

One of the things I love about snow in the yard are the signs the wildlife leave behind.

Bird tracks are absolutely adorable to me! And they are ALL OVER the driveway – not just under the feeder. Those little sparrows and finches really get around. There are bigger tracks from the jays, but they are mostly around Squirrelingtons, and there aren’t as many. They don’t touch the ground very often.

And of course, there are squirrel tracks. I just love their tiny little toe prints.

I haven’t seen any raccoon prints (though we do have one around), but I have seen the possum trail. I could tell it was the possum by the line of his tail dragging in the snow. Sadly I did not get a picture. We got more snow and he’s wandered off elsewhere.

The other main track in the yard is, of course…

…Furby. (He does walk in the snow if he has to). There are lots of cat tracks through the yard – we have a couple regular strays, plus neighbour cat Fryburger. But you can tell Furby’s track by the size. That boy has MASSIVE paws!

Any cool tracks in your snow?

Though winter has been snowy and cold so far, Furby still insists on checking out the weather at regular intervals.

Usually, this consists of standing on the porch, getting a blast of wind in the face, then turning around and coming right back in. And just like Relic used to do at the townhouse – he then wants to be let out five minutes later to see if Spring has sprung yet. You’d never know he was outside on his own for two years, he acts like such a diva about it.

But every so often, he actually ventures further on the porch. It’s usually to go stalk birds at my bird feeders. But we’ve noticed something.

He does not like to have his paws in the snow if he can help it. The cat house Dave got for him is a favourite perch, he can be up high, and the roof has asphalt shingling on it, so it gets nice and toasty.

But right now it’s actually covered in an icy block of snow.

In that case, the next best thing is the sill of the garage door. The door itself is black, so if the sun is out (as it was this day), it makes a nice warm spot to keep an eye on his kingdom. It’s not as good as the cat house, but it will do in a pinch.

Day 2 post surgery is done and dusted. And so far it’s not nearly as dire as the surgeon said it might be. Maybe I’m just lucky. I am following all the rules given to me so that’s probably helping. That means even not consuming any soda. Anyone who knows me knows I’m a bit of a Coke fiend (the cola, not the drug). But… the acid in the soda can dissolve the clot, and cause dry socket. And that does not sound fun AT ALL… so I’m being a very good girl and abstaining. It does help that I do like water, and drink a lot of it anyway. I’m just drinking more. I did get some apple juice (low-acid) so I have a bit of a change. And I started my day with a tea, so I’m not completely sans-caffeine.

For dinner I mixed things up by adding some cream corn, and well-cooked mashed carrots to my mashed potato meal. (Mashed carrots were a staple with my grandparents when I was young, so I’m not opposed to them as many are).

Dessert was butterscotch pudding. That said… I am REALLY missing crunchy food. I’d kill for a bowl of potato chips. Tomorrow, I might be good enough for some mac and cheese or chicken noodle soup, or maybe even so scrambled eggs. But we’ll see. I don’t want to undo all my good progress.

Other than making food, I managed to do a load of laundry and hang it out. It was above 0 celcius today, so I had to take advantage and wash my dresses as they can’t go in the dryer.

The rest of the time was spent in my chair, watching history documentaries, with a rotating shift of furry nursemaids.

I managed to get a good amount of work done on the hat. I’ve got a couple of inches to go before casting off. I really hope to be casting off by the weekend! Another chair day should do it!