{"id":761,"date":"2019-05-18T13:12:33","date_gmt":"2019-05-18T20:12:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/?p=761"},"modified":"2019-05-18T13:12:40","modified_gmt":"2019-05-18T20:12:40","slug":"its-not-a-cotton-easter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/2019\/05\/its-not-a-cotton-easter\/","title":{"rendered":"It’s Not a Cotton Easter"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A little back story:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This past weekend, Mother’s Day weekend, I gave an associate at the local home & garden centre something to chuckle about. You see, in the front I have these nice shrubs planted between my columnar aspens, and wanted to plant the same in the back yard. These are hardy, fast-growing, and turn beautiful colours in autumn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When last I purchased these, I had a quick glance at the tag and moved on. Cotoneaster. Odd name. Cotton-easter. So when I asked for a shrub of the same name at the home & garden centre, I received a puzzled look from the associate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Pardon me?” he asks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Cotton Easter. They’re all over Bowness Park. They turn rainbow colours during the fall.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“OH!” he exclaims, followed by a hearty chuckle. “You mean cotoneaster” (pronounced koe-TOE-knee-ASS-tor).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“But it’s spelled “cotton easter” I replied, then immediately thought of this Monty Python’s Flying Circus sketch about Mr. Luxury Yacht.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
My point exactly!<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

We both had a good chuckle (I may be dating myself with that Monty Python reference), I purchased my shrubs, and got to gardening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have lots of little plans for the back yard this year, and hopefully the Fates let me finish them. First up is finishing the two shrubbery beds by the fence with shrubs. These were the beds I plotted out and had planned on finishing last year but came down with summer pneumonia<\/a> instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

So this year, I’m determined to get the shrubs in so they’ll grow into a nice living fence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apart from finally getting my bum in gear to finish last year’s projects, I also received a few more unexpected gifts for Mother’s Day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few of the neighbourhood birds let me get up close and personal . . .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
This American robin kept a watchful eye on me as I gardened.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

While I worked, an ominous shadow buzzed by: A raven! It snatched up a field mouse just on the other side of the fence! I was too stunned by the sheer size of this bird (it’s wingspan had to have been four feet!) that by the time I stopped cowering in fear and picked up my camera, he was already across the pond with his catch. Man, that was a massive bird!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
This common raven could have taken off with my cat!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

And the Hubs bought me an egg chair for the deck, upon which I may lounge and rule over my kingdom (a.k.a. my garden).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Straight from the garden to the chair!<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

There I sat and caught a little sun (and a little sun burn) while sipping my iced coffee. Even Boo liked my new chair, mostly because it was close to the bird feeder where she could surprise the sparrows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After all was said and done, I realized my lovely new manicure I worked on Friday evening had been ruined. I suppose I need to trim my nails back to a more reasonable length if I’m going to be gardening regularly. The eagle talons were fine for winter but summer will demand a shorter length.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Three hours of work ruined by two hours of gardening.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Now that the weather is turning, hopefully for the better, it’s time to start planning some more projects for the back yard to get it summer ready.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oh, and I need to take more bird pictures. Ha!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Aren’t I the cutest little field sparrow ever?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

-Rissa<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A little back story: This past weekend, Mother’s Day weekend, I gave an associate at the local home & garden centre something to chuckle about. You see, in the front I have these nice shrubs planted between my columnar aspens, and wanted to plant the same in the back yard. These are hardy, fast-growing, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[84,81],"tags":[80],"class_list":["post-761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gardening","category-spring","tag-spring","post-preview"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6odz9-ch","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":491,"url":"https:\/\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/2017\/04\/a-long-weekend-of-anxiety\/","url_meta":{"origin":761,"position":0},"title":"A Long Weekend of Anxiety","author":"Rissa Renae","date":"April 19, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"For those of you new to this, I suffer generalized anxiety disorder and panic disorder. Makes life a real roller coaster some days. This weekend was hard. Despite the fact I had managed a very rare four-day-weekend, I had a tough time getting through it. My anxiety decided to pack\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "About Me"","block_context":{"text":"About Me","link":"https:\/\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/category\/about-me\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/BlogHeader_LongWeekendAnxiety.jpg?fit=500%2C501&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":537,"url":"https:\/\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/2018\/02\/the-most-wonderful-time-of-the-year\/","url_meta":{"origin":761,"position":1},"title":"The Most Wonderful Time of the Year","author":"Rissa Renae","date":"February 13, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"I love this time of the year. It's wonderful, it's magical. Nope, it's not Christmas (although it still looks like it outside). And it's not back to school either. It's not even Halloween (my favourite holiday). If you follow me on Twitter, you'll know what time of the year it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Winter"","block_context":{"text":"Winter","link":"https:\/\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/category\/winter\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/MostWonderfulTime.jpg?fit=500%2C500&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":526,"url":"https:\/\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/2018\/02\/no-more-snow\/","url_meta":{"origin":761,"position":2},"title":"No More Snow!","author":"Rissa Renae","date":"February 6, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"That's it! I'm protesting! I'm sick of all this snow! One of the annoying things about living on the leeward side of the Rocky Mountains is while friends and family on the windward side are posting pictures of the first signs of spring and warmer temperatures, we get the deep\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Day to Day"","block_context":{"text":"Day to Day","link":"https:\/\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/category\/day-to-day\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/NoMoreSnow.jpg?fit=500%2C501&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":553,"url":"https:\/\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/2018\/02\/happy-happy-cny\/","url_meta":{"origin":761,"position":3},"title":"Happy, Happy CNY","author":"Rissa Renae","date":"February 20, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"This weekend we ushered in the Year of the Dog the only two ways we know how: eating lots of food and gambling. (small gambling, at least). I love Peking Duck, but it's a not-so-healthy dish full of those horrid trans and saturated fats. But I think once a year,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Food"","block_context":{"text":"Food","link":"https:\/\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/category\/food\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/PinkSkyKitchen.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/PinkSkyKitchen.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/PinkSkyKitchen.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/PinkSkyKitchen.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":742,"url":"https:\/\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/2019\/05\/snow-and-dslrs\/","url_meta":{"origin":761,"position":4},"title":"Snow and DSLR’s","author":"Rissa Renae","date":"May 5, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Well, it snowed. Again. This side of the Rocky Mountains, I guess we should be used to it by now. It could also be why us Canadians are such a hardy bunch. The Great White North. It's not just an SCTV sketch. Mother Nature has been on a regular schedule\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Rocky Mountains"","block_context":{"text":"Rocky Mountains","link":"https:\/\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/category\/rocky-mountains\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Deer2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Deer2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Deer2.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Deer2.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1264,"url":"https:\/\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/2022\/02\/a-semi-rare-copy-of-the-hobbit\/","url_meta":{"origin":761,"position":5},"title":"A Semi-Rare Copy of The Hobbit","author":"Rissa Renae","date":"February 20, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"... or Adventures in Used Bookstores Being an author, a love of old books comes with the territory. The yellowing pages, the artwork on the covers, the smell of old print. And there's something odd about holding a thing in your hands that's older than you are. Spring is springing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"books\"","block_context":{"text":"books","link":"https:\/\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/tag\/books\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/YVR.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/YVR.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/YVR.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/YVR.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/761","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=761"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/761\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":774,"href":"https:\/\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/761\/revisions\/774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}