Trudy’s Walk, Afternoon.

From Mid-June.

As promised, we continue accompanying Trudy on her daily walks. This time, let us go with our little character on her usual early afternoon walk. We exit the apartment after the little neighbours have gone back to school. We go out the front door and pause to greet Mr. McGoo, the new pup on the second floor balcony. He licks my fingers, and Trudy and he exchange small “whoofs.” I note the relative health of the new shrub lilacs, putting forth gentle blooms. Mr McGoo’s owner watches over the growth in the front of the apartment building.

Trudy and I turn west. We cross the entry to the car park, and look south at the homes on either side of the street, across the avenue. The home on the east side is a duplex with large families on both sides. The yard is unfenced and worn-down. There are bikes and other children’s toys scattered around. The children occasionally greet us on our way home, and ask to pet Trudy. The home on the west side of the street is a standard suburban home, with mowed lawn, tended perennial bed, four big trees – two mountain ash (in bloom right now) a crabapple who was blooming so joyously a few weeks ago, and a beautiful old weeping birch. They have three dogs, in three sizes, rarely seen and infrequently heard.

The home to the north is one of the true stellar examples on the street. We see manicured lawns, carefully tended perennial beds with just a few examples, nice people and good fences between backyard and alley. We occasionally say “hi” to the owners when they are working out front.

The walk continues west, up the north side of the street. There are no fences between yards, but occasional loose hedges of cotoneaster, trimmed and lower or overgrown and tall.

One house on this block has chosen to replace their lawn. Their front yard is like a gravel shore with stones scattered across it. It is not unattractive, but very different, and low maintenance.

Down a couple more houses there is a greco/roman style house. It isn’t large but the size and scale make it an attractive place. I noticed early in the spring, a large number big shoots coming up in the flowerbeds against the house. I couldn’t remember what they were. Now they have revealed themselves to be a riot of peonies, big, bright and beautiful. Delicate pink and brilliant magenta.

While I’ve been flower gazing, Trudy has “checked her mailbox” at the fine house’s wood flower bed, investigated the utilities box for new scent, and turned to stare at someone on the opposite sidewalk. We continue down the block. The house at the corner has a big spruce with a missing crown. Underneath is a flowerbed with annuals. They will come into their glory in the summer.

We walk on up the street. In the next block are mostly lawn and big trees. [view down the street ]

Some houses have a little border of bedding plants and a few flowering bushes. As we go up the block, Trudy stops to check the mail and I notice that as the street rises, some home owners have built stonework short walls to retain their lawns. One place that we noticed during the winter has a casual stone lined bed under a tree with gravel. We discover this spring that there are perennials coming up.  [flower bed under tree ]

This home also has a house dog which scratches on the window and barks to Trudy as we pass. We continue. From here to the top of the block, there are old trees. Some must surely be older than the homes with whom they share the lot. One gets a sense of age and size when they are seen against a building.  [house with giant tree trunk ]

We continue to the top of the block. Across the alley and past one more house, we find ourselves at a branching, where one street runs north, a road runs west north west, and south the street tends south east. We stop and look around.

View northwest

View north north west

View west -- Downtown in haze

Southwest refinery row in haze

In the distance I can see the highrises downtown, and south, the refineries on the other side of the river.  The homes on the street running south from here have what one realtor called “a million dollar view”  Again, the homes are bracketed with lovely trees and landscaped front yards.

View South

On south

Trudy stops at one home to sniff.

Wee Doggies home

We have met the little canines who live here. They are two elderly miniatures, a yorkie of 15 years and a shitzu of 12.  The homeowners have built a little bower under the big spruce. It faces the house and shades from the afternoon sun. We can only see the edge of the bench and the rocks forming the short walls inside the tented branches.

Bower

As we approach the corner, we can see a home under construction, beyond the lovely home with formed and mortared low stone walls. The new house is all angles and odd placed windows.

home under construction

On the other side, heading back east, we can see why the oddness.  There are solar panels on the south side.

solar panels

I wish I could see it finished.

As we turned the corner, we catch a glimpse of the river under the guard-rail.

We cross to the grass on the south side of the avenue.  Trudy decides to check out some of the wild scents coming up from the river bank.

looking down into river valley

more river valley

Sniffing wild scent

There is a solid block of grass here on the border of the river bank. I like walking on the grass.  Trudy often chooses to walk on the sidewalk.  I laugh at her.

"I walk on the sidewalk."

There are several instances of very exceptional front yards, and one backyard that is a piece of heaven, on this block.  One yard that looked a bit sad during the winter, with its corroding metal modern sculptures.  As the flowers come into bloom, the yard shows its charm.

Flowers and art

A couple houses down there is another “no lawn” home.  This one is more successful.  It has a charm before anything grows, with a faux creekbed and other landscape features of gravel. As the plantings began to emerge, the yard literally began to bloom. It is a thing of beauty, but I didn’t want to intrude too much.

From there, it is only a short block back to the apartment. On the south west corner is a home, attractive on the front face, but with a gorgeous garden, becoming hidden as the vines grow, visible in glimpses as we walk the grass verge.

On our short walk back north, we are greeted by the pre-school girls who share the family yard. They are playing together, and spotting Trudy, come in a bunch, crying “Can we pet your dog?”  I let Trudy decide. She puts up with the pats for a minute or two and then stands up on my leg, asking to be on our way.

Soon, home. I let her off the leash, and she races down the hall to our door.

Trudy’s Walk

Sometimes it seems that my main activity is walking Trudy.  For the last month and more, that task has represented something more than good exercise. It has provided opportunity to enjoy the flowering of each type and category of plants that will grow in Edmonton.

We walk three main patterns. Early morning (sometimes very early) we walk east, down the hill toward Rundle Park. Along the way, there are a few of my favourite  growing things. The first one is a rare front yard. It is quite defiantly “not Lawn”.  The owner has created a semi-wild appearing perennial landscape. His garden provided the first beauty spot in the spring.

Flowers in Non Lawn.

Two of Trudy’s favourite place bracket that yard. To the west is the home of a pug who barks vigorously when we pass. She is actually the daughter’s pet, so she is not always there.  Her other favourite place on the block  is next door to the east. It is the same home that features my next favourite feature in the yard.  She is interested by the presence of a young playful doberman.  I am interested in the tree in the front yard. I call it the Grandmother Willow. It strongly resembles the tree character in the movie “Pocahantas.”

Grandma Willow

Across the street is a home with grapes on the eastern fence. This was entirely unexpected for me, but the proof was in the fruit in the fall.

Grapes in Edmonton

When we reach the bottom of the hill, we turn left and go north a block and then cross the street on north. Here, the top edge of Rundle Park meets Rundle Heights community. If we cross the street continuing east, we can look down into Rundle Park and the opportunities it offers for sports. Dogs are forbidden, so we don’t go there.

Rundle Park in the fall

We turn west here and go back up the hill. There are pleasant homes and yards in this part of the walk, but nothing that stands out, except the tall spruce with their branches right down to the ground and spreading like a skirt.  At the top of the hill, we turn north again, but only to pick up the two free papers at the bus stop.  Then it is back home, for coffee and crosswords.

Pleasant way to begin the day.