Snowy Speculations

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If I could paint, I would have tried to replicate the landscape very early this morning. Illuminated by the faintest hints of light and hours before sunrise, the cold, stark landscape lay completely still in its snowy blanket. Naked trees stood proudly and quietly against this backdrop, this palate of pure white an unforgiving place for any creature, big or small, to attempt to cross without drawing attention to its existence at this time. Even our ancient tire swing looked sleepy and droopy, suspended precariously close to the ground, as if the effort of hanging from a tree limb was too much for it. To the east, the only rays of light visible were the ones coming from the across the river, and even those seem hushed and muffled, like a child tired and murmuring not to wake them up just yet.  The young families down the road have gone all out with Christmas lights this year. Bright colours adorn the night skies and my neighbours even have a Christmas Cat and a Christmas Dinosaur th...
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Fly Paper Fiasco

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Fly Paper Fiasco


This is my favourite time of year! I love the cooler mornings filled with birdsong, the dew on the ground and the unbearably hot afternoons that call for a refreshing dip in the pool. But with the change from spring to summer comes the invasion of the flies...

Living in an agricultural area doesn't just mean vineyards and fruit trees. It means sheep and chickens and horse farms down the road, which attract these disgusting insects.  This results in the constant battle of not letting these pesky flies into the house as they desperately cling to the screens on the sliding doors or hover in the breezeway, looking for the tiniest opportunity to come inside. 

Flies gross me out!  I can't stand the thought of what they're doing every time they land on the counter or walls or food while we are eating. We never wanted to be that red-neck family with fly paper hanging from the light fixtures, but desperate times call for desperate measure and here we are!

Our house is built in 1940 so our ceilings are only 8' high. Add a 12" strand of sticky fly paper and you are doomed to get caught up in the cross fire, er, fly paper, during the course of the day.  We are not a tall family, with the exception of our son who is 6', so we should be clearing these sticky obstructions hanging about. But the girls and I have longer hair. I've lost count at the amount of times I have yelped at the pull of yet another piece of hair lost to this ugly, final resting place for these uninvited guests. 

My youngest daughter was baking with her friend last week and had her hair neatly done in a beautiful French braid. I came into the kitchen to quickly do something at the breakfast bar when my eyes rested on her hair. I did a double-take and walked up to her to examine what had caught my eye. A dried fly, perfectly intact, sat poised on the side of her head where she must have brushed up against the tape. I burst out laughing as I pointed out this unwelcome hair adornment to her friend. My daughter was good-natured about the laughter as I flicked it off and and quickly wiped her head. 

That incident aside, a recent search online shows there are several plants to have in your household that should detract flies. Basil, mint, marigolds, lavender, rosemary and citronella, to name just a few. We have so many herbs in pots and planted in various gardens that I'm not sure I completely believe how effective these are. And what purpose do they serve if the flies are already inside? But since I love having potted herbs in the kitchen, I'll just tell my husband that I need to have them there to detract the flies. Not sure if he'll buy that, but it's worth a try! In the meantime, he just called me to help him hang a new fly strip. So here we go again...

Lolita Schimann Hale

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