Transition

Autumn, the year's last, loveliest smile.
William Cullen

Here are some things that caught my eye, in the garden, this month. The Cup and Saucer plant has had blooms here and there all summer! The raspberry is on the vine today - a renewal of spirit! The sedum blossom, yes, in October!

Still Birds

New to the garden

From Ode to Bird Watching

 ...You can hear them
like a heavenly
rustle or movement.
They converse
with precision.
They repeat
their observations.
They brag
of how much they do.
They comment
on everything that exists.
They learn
certain sciences
like hydrography.
and by a sure science
they know
where there are harvests
of grain.

- Pablo Neruda

Solar Cooking 2015

I usually end up cooking with my solar cooker in August when it gets too hot for kitchen activity with stove or oven. But, this year, that weather showed up early.  Today, I enjoyed solar halibut and quinoa!  Plus a cold kale salad. 

 The halibut was placed in a foil "bowl" and then I added a home made mustard sauce and topped it with some shredded ginger and dried (no sugar) cranberries. I put 1/3 cup of dried quinoa in a cup of water that was in a baby bread loaf pan.

Started cooking about noon.  By the time I brought it in, I had to use pot holders to pick up the pot - it was just as hot as if in an oven.

I let it cook out there for about 3 hours. Both the fish and the quinoa were done to perfection!

Flowering Hens & Chicks

Found this a-flowering today.  Hens and chicks. The stem is about 6-7 inches tall.

Where'd the turtle come from?

Someone put a turtle in the defunct pond. It's a non-native to this area. Not sure what to think about having this invader. Turtle is about 8 inches in length - not a baby.

Daffodil 2015

Clearing out pix from the camera and came upon this one of the daffodils and the whirlygig.

Viola VIctory

Versatile violas 

vanquish voids, 

vivify views.

New Moon / Spring Sprung March 2015

I thought the night sky at dusk was very nice tonight. A sliver of a moon with Venus above it; you can read more about this night's sky, click here and here.  I tried to get pix of it with my little camera. Looking west, after sunset.

Moon, plum blossoms,
this, that,
and the day goes. 

Kobayashi Issa, 1763-1828

2007 Report

Cleaning up around here today and came across a little baggie of plant tags with a note "these plants did good in my garden containers in 2007."  Thought I'd memorialize the list by posting it here!

Tomato – Sweet Million

Chives

Alyssum – Snow Crystals Alyssum – Easter Basket Mix

Bracteantha bracteata – Sundaze Golden Beauty

Dahlia – Dahlietta Margaret Imp. Dahlia – Dahlietta Rachel

Heliotrope – Marino 2000

Lobelia – Riviera Blue Eyes

Petunia – Wave Misty Lilac

Verbena – Quartz Blue

Zinnia – Profusion Orange Zinnia – Swizzle Scarlet & Yellow Zinnia – Magellan Orange Zinnia – Magellan Yellow

New garden art

I got this kinetic piece of garden at the Garden Show last month. Garden and yard are still slumbering waiting for rest of spring time to catch up.

Willow Cats

Springtime arrived in February this year. Warmer than usual and pretty dry. No roaring lion this March - it arrived mellow as a little kitty cat.  The huge old pussy willow in the yard is a blossom with pollen and inviting all the bees around to take some home.






There are pussy willows
Clad in furry goods,
And a robin singing
In the maple woods.
There's a springing crocus,
And a budding larch,
Who'd ever think the Springtime
Came along in March. 

Anonymous

Daffodils Up!

First daffodils showed up this week. Today was the first full opening. It was 60+ today. Hit a record that was established in 1902!

"With a few flowers in my garden, half a dozen pictures and some books, I live without envy."  
-  Lope de Vega