Every day, on the way into work, I drive by these Crepe Myrtles. I took this photo a few weeks ago when their flowers were peaking. Beautiful.
Reminds me of the summer of 2008 when Mireya and I visited friends in Vancouver who grow award-winning fuchsias.
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Do you know someone who is really good at something that everyone can appreciate? We’re all good at our jobs, but I never expect to hear my mom say, “Nicely written requirements, David.” I’ll pause while you say to yourself, “Maybe for good reason.” Ray & Elsie are a retired couple living in Burnaby, BC, just to the east of Vancouver, who are champion breeders of flowers and budgies. Last year, they entered a number of fuchsia plants into a province wide competition and won blue ribbons for all but one plant that came in second. Keep in mind as you scan these photos that all of this is maintained by Ray & Elsie with no hired help. | ||
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The house is on a standard city lot with a vegetable garden on the left… With the garage converted into a bee hive and aviary. During our visit, Elsie served us lunch. Everything had either come from the garden or her oven. Tomatoes, bell peppers, carrots, zucchini… | |
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See the red snake in the foreground? You can spot the snake in all 3 photos to see how I had looked up, down, then moved to the right. I like the plywood cutouts on the right: they look like 2 folks bent over, working on the flower bed. | ||
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Close up of the garage. They don’t enter their budgies in contests any more, but they keep many in their aviary. | ||
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These are some of the fuchsia plants that won the blue ribbons that year. All were in perfect health. | ||
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Don’t these look like flamenco dresses? | ||
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Not a weed in the flower beds. Fun use of a grinding wheel and a toy car as flower stands. | ||
If you’re not sure about why I called this, Back to the Fuchsias, it’s a play on the name of a movie from the 1980s, Back to the Future.
Copyright © 2009 David G. Kelly
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