World Enough and Time

I was excited to have seen daffodils. dewline told me there were tulips in bloom in Orleans - Ottawa's eastern suburb - and I was envious.

Then today, passing the Sunnyside Branch of the Ottawa Public Library, I saw this:



Srping is happening very fast.

I've been going for long walks lately, and delighting in the spring weather and the spring flowers. The iris is my favourite flower, and I can't resist photographing each I iris I pass on the street.

Pictures of irises over the past few days:



~ ~ ~

( More irises... )

While walking along Third Avenue today, I came across my favourite flower: dwarf iris.



I also saw this:



Can anyone tell me what kind of flower they are?

Since I was in the mood to take pictures today, I took some that weren't of the Great Glebe Garage Sale. Mostly flowers, all within a block or two of my place.

• ( A top map on a coat. )
  
  
• ( The annual marathon. )
  
  
• ( Tulips. )
  
  
• ( Bleeding hearts. )
  
  
• ( Iris. )
  
  
  

I voted yesterday. It was advance polls; I almost didn't vote because I could wait till May 2 like everyone else, but who knows how busy I'll be on May 2? This is the Canadian General Election, 2011, for those who haven't been listening to my whimpering on the matter.

I voted at St. Giles Presbyterian Church.



There was quite a long line waiting to vote in poll station 615. Then when I got to the front of the line, I almost didn't vote because all I had for identification was my passport, and it wasn't enough. I went home, got my Health Card and a hospital card, and came back.

The line was even longer. We shared the site with polling station 606; no one was turning up there. Huh.

Anyway, my ID was at last sufficient, so I voted. And learned that there were more candidates in my riding than I'd even known about: from eight parties, and one Independent. The parties were: Radical Marijuana, Liberal, New Democratic Party, Green Party, Conservative, Communist, and Marxist-Leninist. I wish the Green Party well. I miss the Rhinos. And the Natural Law Party, who used to levitate. Politics are becoming duller in this country... no, not duller. Nastier.

Then walking home, I photographed ( a few signs of spring. )

A few weeks ago they planted flowering bushes outside the windows of my apartment. It's a shady area, hard to keep plants in. I was pleased to see them. When Beulah visited, she told me what they were.

This morning, maaseru looked at them and said, "Are those wisteria?"

"No," I said. "I think Beulah told me they were hibiscus."

So when she visited today, I asked her if they were hibiscus. "No," she said. "They're hydrangea."

I spent the rest of the day muttering "hydrangea, hydrangea" to myself, and managed to identify them in some garden we passed. We looked at other gardens, too, and I was identifying flowers to myself in two categories: hydrangea, and not hydrangea.

Just so I can remember, hydrangea looks ( like this... )

I've always loved A.A. Milne's writing, and the other day I was trying to remember one of his poems.

The subject came up because of some blue flowers growing in the garden of the house across the street. maaseru noticed them, and asked me if I knew what they were. I didn't, and we agreed (as we often do) that Beulah would know. They were extremely beautiful, a very rich dark blue.

So when Beulah drove me home the next day, I told her I wanted to show her a flower across the street, and we went across so she could see the lovely flowers. She went up on their front walk to get a closer view. There were two women talking in the laneway next door. One of them said, "Can we help you?" It was her garden we were peering at.

She told us they were delphiniums. She and Beulah talked garden-talk for a bit.



This brought to mind a poem I once memorized and loved: The Dormouse and the Doctor by A.A. Milne. Sounds like a Doctor Who/Alice in Wonderland crossover, doesn't it? But it isn't.

( The Doormouse and the Doctor )

My favourite flowers are those of spring - primarily irises. Lilacs, too. And every year they bloom and disappear within a few days, as the heat of Ottawa hits fast.

Not this year. Cool days, a lot of rain. People complain, but the flowers love it. This morning, before going out, I walked around the block and took some photos of gardens while the irises are still in bloom.


( Flowers on Third Avenue, Ottawa )