A Trip To the Swamp

The swamp is perfectly still and the light is glorious.
Long may it last.

Early Days of Winter

Is Winter Necessary?

Three storms rolled over in three days and this was the second one.
The third one is playing with us as I write. Mostly it's blowing drifts into inconvenient places like walkways and entrances to anything useful.

Before storm #2 began, you could read the entire "Antiques" sign.

This is good for all the little nippers who want sleds for Christmas and the rest of us just have to adapt.

Aw is Awesome

Aw received her landed status enabling her to work in Canada and so we all celebrated at a Sushi restaurant.

She is a fabulous cook and two of us in the family have upgraded to the same degree of spicy that she enjoys and the rest will catch up as soon as the feeling is restored to their taste buds.

When she is satisfied that we can handle the cooking we will travel to Thailand for a Buddhist wedding ceremony with her family.

At the same time we'll check out her nieces and nephews to match up with some of our young 'uns.

We love you, Awesome. Sawadi ka

Fall Beauties

Every time I move to a new place I plant Boston Ivy, just to admire those red leaves in the fall.


After I bought the China Berry vine last year I read up on it and found it's supposed to grow like a--well, weed. So far so good and the berries are beautiful. One lonely little Petunia keeps it company.



It's time to bring the fern in for the winter. It thrives outside; sun, shade, not picky. Just happens to be an outdoor lover.


It's sad to have to pack it all away for another year.

Fall

My Kind Of Chicken Farming

These guys ask for so little and give so much

Stragglers

In Ontario, we're closing in on October and most plants are having their last hurrah, with a couple of exceptions.

This clematis hasn't heard the word so its blooming all by itself



This is the only Hollyhock to sprout this year and it took its sweet time.The Coneflowers are saying bye bye but the Hollyhock will chill out for a while. Literally.



I am knocked out by the machinations of the autumn Crocus (okay I looked it up--Colchium). Lovely green leaves pop up for the month of June, then seem to sink away into the earth until fall, when these blooms show up for a while.

Mother Nature does it again.

Hold Still For Your Close-up

Okay Bee, hold still for your close-up--



closer---




closer---



Maybe too close---



Good boy!

Fall Beauties

Dahlias are the only bulbs I save from year to year and they repay the bother one hundred-fold.



The yellow raspberries were a gift from a neighbor and they have flourished. They produce well into the fall.



Each year I'm besotted with the sunflowers with their hundred different personalities.

Stick around guys--winter is much too long.

Winners and Losers

The weather vane has been with me since the century house in downtown Toronto but I couldn't find a suitable rooftop space for it here. Then the shed was installed and number five son devised this spot for it to tend to business.





The roses were timid this year with all the rain, but they're having their last hurrah with assistance from the background mirror.

Ah, the poor pumpkin patch. A sad display. too much rain and one or two gnawing rodents finished this little guy. May the rodents develop indigestion.



Still, it was a great summer. already I'm missing the warmth, long days, abundance of soggy plants and that kick-back euphoria that comes with it.

Salutation to the sun

Actually, they hunkered down while the remnants of Hurricane Ike blew over.

I'm the Boss, Not You

This is where I bring my tea and book first thing in the morning.
It's my spot.
Hear that Max? My spot.



At least Harry knows his place.

And there's my tea cooling quickly while I think this over.

Dog Days of Summer

My Special Needs Magnolia

My magnolia tree is confused.

I think it's because I moved it three times at my last place, trying to find a location where it would be happy and trust me on this, it wasn't happy.

It was still sulking when I carefully dug it up and moved it to my present home.

I placed it so carefully and made sure the soil was just right but still, it doesn't quite have the hang of blooming in the spring so here it is, a late bloomer.

I thought about relegating it to the compost pile but that tree and I have been through a lot together so we'll just soldier on, apparently out of sync with the rest of nature.

MY SON THE MOUNTAIN CLIMBER

I think it's nice that grown children have hobbies, preferably ones that do not risk life and limb.

Number four son is into the latter.

He takes off for the mountain top of choice, on his own, and returns when he's met the goals for that climb.

I hope passing bears and other marauders note his agenda and leave him alone.

There is a gene running through the family--give me a lot of space, lots of fresh air and stay back--I'm busy being here right now.

Unless a passing fox obliged by taking this photo, Number Four did it himself.

Move away from the edge please.

This is your mother speaking.

Yin and Yang

This pretty well sums up the summer.

It doesn't just rain--it comes down in torrents.
The good part is that leaves more reading time and less need to get out those weeds.

Dude

This lanky dude hangs from the post, then reaches over to the feeder--but not while the camera is trained on him.

That's when he freezes into a black icicle and waits me out.

Samantha Blooms

This is Samantha, plant name unknown. I brought a cutting from my brother's place in B.C. years ago and in all these years my Samantha has bloomed twice, each time squirting out two tiny blooms.

As usual, she hibernated in the basement over the winter with precious little care, and in the spring she received fertilizer and final notice--produce or you go to the giant plant bone yard in the sky.

That got her attention and here she is, a dazzling lady.

I have no idea what her real name is, but my brother named his Samantha and I followed suit. In B.C., the things bloom profusely and they're as close to being orchids as you can find.



And here's another first--a ripe tomato.



All that rain we've been having apparently suits these inhabitants.

Pumpkin or Squash?

The berm is chock-full of goodies and in time I'll find out just what they are.

I remember planting squash, pumpkins and cantaloupe, perhaps even a watermelon or two, so now I wait for them to identify themselves.



Lets hope the roving bunnies keep their distance. I'm not so fond of the chew-marks on something I'm about to harvest.

A blooming Berm

It all started when I was looking for places to store upturned chunks of sod.The less lawn the better is my motto. I love to let it rot for a season, then mash it up and voila--great soil.

I figured the middle of the back yard wasn't doing anything so it could contain the masses of sod and to make it more genteel, I'd call it a berm.

I had the "aha" moment when the pile got taller and taller and figured this was the moment to plant vine-type veggies and here we are today.

I did over- plant, I admit that. There were some rogues there to start and we've had enough rain to float the ark so I'm not sure how it will turn out but I love the look.

Hidden in that jungle are beans--they're climbing up the ladder, that is, when they're not beating their machetes to get through the vines.



Another winner this year was the many-holed pot that usually ends up empty, hidden away. This year I was in a mothers and chicks mode and the result is pleasurable.