Friday 17 August 2012

Monster Plant Mystery

I've been neglecting my garden this year.  It's gotten a little wild.  Ok, a LOT wild - almost unruly.



A twenty or more meter-long vine has spread across my deck, 



up my umbrella stand...


across the back of the fence and up and over my neighbour's gate...


and down the side of my house in my neighbour's driveway!



Very prickly and bossy, with tiny twirling, whirling tentacles (that seem to grow before your very eyes) grab onto anything that is not moving.



Large, beautiful orange blossoms, that wither and die. While forming turn intothis yellowy-green vegetable.



Is it a zucchini?  squash?  gourd?
How did it get here?

How wonderful!

Wednesday 8 August 2012

Parking Problems - SOLVED!


We had a problem at our house with people parking in front of our driveway, blocking is out and sometimes blocking us in.

We don't have a traditional "black" driveway, and I think that this was the problem.  People just didn't think that it was a driveway.  The driveway clearly had a dip in the sidewalk to allow a car to drive up, but this was not enough to keep people moving on to find a proper parking spot.

Over the years we have heard many many excuses and reasons why people parked there.

"there isn't a sign"
"I was only parking for a few minutes"
"you could have pushed my car out of the way"

Last week, my husband bought some upside down "parking yellow" spray paint.  We taped and papered off a stencil at the end of the driveway, and got spraying.



When we removed the paper, and saw our professional looking yellow warning line, we knew our problem was solved.  Later in the evening, the neighbours remarked that the city acted quickly in painting the line for us, and we nodded our heads and said yes. (he he he)

Cars driving slowly down the street looking for a place to park, see the bright yellow line and keep on moving.  It works!  Why didn't we do this years ago?