A Brainstorm

 

We have a problem in our back yard whenever we get a lot of rain, which we've had this month. We end up with a small pond. A couple of times, we actually had ducks. We bought a load of dirt several years ago to help alleviate the problem and it did help somewhat. The pond isn't as big. 

So I had this brainstorm. Since it would take at least another load of topsoil, which neither my husband nor I could haul by wheelbarrow back there and the kids weren't overly thrilled with doing it last time, I decided it would be easier to put in a bog. It wouldn't take much. I bought a six by six-foot pond liner and started digging. I knew I wouldn't have to dig much since the ground was already lower than the rest of the yard. 

I mentioned to a friend what I was going to do. She said she had a pond. The funny thing was my son mentioned he had a pond if I wanted it. He said it was big enough for my husband and me to fit in it. Well, knowing that I was going to be the one digging this, I said I didn't want a pond. We had two ponds in our previous house and I loved them. We had a couple water lilies and other pond plants, goldfish, some of which actually looked like koi, and frogs. A small waterfall trickled water and I loved to sit out there, especially in the early morning with my coffee before the world started moving. The sound of the water calmed me and started the day on a peaceful note.

I told my friend I didn't want the pond either, but she sent me a picture of it, It wasn't very big, so I caved. The planning began. I talked my oldest son into picking it up for me on the Fourth of July, which he did. Since I knew the approximate size from my friend, I had already started digging the hole. I wasn't too far off when my son dropped it off. 

I finished digging and installed the pond. Of course, I made the hole much larger than needed to allow for the bog area around it. I had to buy up a couple of bags of soil to replace some of the grass I removed,. and I picked up some beach stones for the front, I ordered a couple of bog plants and my friend is going to bring me some more. 

As if that wasn't enough, I decided to dig up more grass behind it and transplant some of my irises and daisies. Partly because I thought it would look nice and partly because it would make it easier for my husband to mow. 

I also decided to add fish. I wasn't going to but changed my mind and my daughter is going to bring me some tadpoles.  Our yard is becoming quite a nature preserve. I love feeding the birds, especially the Baltimore Orioles. We have two pairs that visit regularly and of course the hummingbirds. It's fun to sit and watch them.  

Now if I could just figure a way to keep the deer from eating my plants. I don't mind they're in my yard, in fact, I enjoy watching them also. They're way too tame and they'd probably eat out of my hand if I chose to do it, but I don't. It's not good for them and it's bad enough they're not afraid of anyone. You can get real close to them. They don't even stomp their foot at you like they used to do. 

The pond isn't as close to the house as I'd like, but I can see it from my windows and my patio. It's still a work in progress and maybe by the time summer is over, I'll be done with it.  

You can find Designed for Love and all my books  through BWL

Fate, kismet, or whatever you want to call it is, it turned Interior Designer, Wendy Seidel’s world upside down. From a chance meeting at the airport to Florida and back to Ohio, she can’t believe the strange circumstances that throw her and Bill Johnson together, after he literally knocks her off her feet at the airport.

Small Pleasures by Priscilla Brown

 

 

Struggling with a tricky assignment on an island inhabited only by her employer and a hundred sheep, journalist Jasmine's almost literal lifeline is the sexy ferry deckhand. 

https://books2read.com/Dancing-the-Reel

 

 

My desk is in a corner of the room, with a window on each wall. One looks over the back garden, the other towards the front garden with a large veronica (hebe) bush growing against the window. I should prune this shrub but am reluctant to do so as it is a favourite bee cafe. I can be distracted from my work by the bees feeding on the purple flowers, moving from one flower to another as if each may carry a different taste or scent or appearance or whatever it is bees judge flowers by. For me, this is a regular small pleasure. I thought about other small pleasures I take for granted in my daily life, and consider myself lucky.

 

In my contemporary romance fiction writing, I take pleasure in finding the precise word or phrase to evoke for readers the information or emotion or mind picture that I plan and plot for their enjoyment, and to move the story along. Often this requires several drafts, use of the thesaurus and/or other reference books. I find if I leave the work for a few days, on return the crucial word/s become clear. Professional satisfaction, yes, and much pleasure - if I didn't get pleasure from it, I wouldn't do it.

Crimson rosellas (medium-sized parrots) frequent my garden. It always surprises me that it takes them only a few minutes after I've refilled their seed dish to fly in from wherever they were spending their day; watching them quibble for space on it is a pleasurable time-waster. Walking to the shops, I pause at the creek with its chorus of unseen frogs, vociferous after recent rain swelled their habitat.

I watch traffic on a busy road halt to wait for a duck family to cross, mum leading, eight ducklings, dad in the rear.  At this point, there is a road sign depicting ducks crossing, as if for some duckish reason this is a duck highway from the aforementioned creek to the sports field opposite. My pleasure comes not only from the ducks but also from the consideration shown by the drivers paying them attention. Then at the shopping centre, strangers smile at each other while waiting for the lift - a small pleasure helping along a busy day.

I'm not a good cook, and my cakes can suffer the sinking centre syndrome; overcoming the challenge of this heightens pleasure in the final eating. Add to this the aroma of freshly ground coffee, especially when I haven't done it myself! Which is now, so I sign off on wishing that 2021 may bring you many pleasures.

Stay safe. Priscilla.

https://bwlpublishing.ca

 

https://priscillabrownauthor.com