September 29th., 2007

After the chilly days this past week, woke up this morning to a warm day although overcast. Threw open all the windows to let the lovely warm breeze blow through. I can't believe that we are almost into October. Time seems nothing anymore. I was talking to a couple of friends a few nights ago and the subject of mice came up. I related to them a recent story of my daughter saving the lives of two little mice that a cat had cornered in her driveway. She saved the mice and put them in a safe place. Afterwards another story came to mind. She heard what she thought was a fluttering sound in the wall in her house. Thinking that a bird somehow got stuck between the wall, she got her trusty little axe and proceeded to beat a hole in the wall. Then squatting down to peak in, a little head with big ears popped up. A mouse!! She put her hand out and the mouse ran up her arm and sat on her head. Another little head popped up!! She tried to get the one off her head but it wouldn't budge, so she got a bucket and moved her head up and down over it till the mouse jumped in. Then she somehow got the other four or five mice in the bucket, took them outside and let them go in the back yard, only to come back inside I expect. lol.

We went for an hours walk yesterday morning so thought I'd take the camera with me. We started off up the beach.

The sky looks thunderous but actually it was quite nice with no wind.




This is the pathway off the beach. I find it quite magical any time of year. I'm sure there are fairies in here.


At the top of the path, this lovely tree.
One of the roads on the way back home.

Then our road.


Back home in the driveway.

September 25th., 2007

Autumn is well on its way it seems. Rather chilly here and have had the fire in all day. I do enjoy autumn days but then I know it leads to winter and I don't enjoy that at all. I was looking at some pictures I took last winter and to tell the truth, it puts me off my oats to see them. Ah well, can't stop it!!

I've been reading a book by one of my favorite authors, Martha Grimes, and to tell the truth I can't make sense of parts of it. I'm beginning to wonder if my brain is going dim with age. Who ever says it's wonderful, this getting old bit, must be mad.

Absolutely nothing happening here lately. I decided to take the day off and not do gardening, instead took a few pictures of "signs of Autumn."

Leaves changing on some of the trees.



One of the archways, vine with berries.

Sedum, one of the last plants to bloom.


Burning Bush, already starting to turn red.

And of course a sure sign of fall....preserves my mom made and brought out to me the last time they were here.

September 20th., 2007

The friend from Nova Scotia flew back yesterday and after the party the night before I wasn't feeling all that great. Slept most of the afternoon and went to bed very early last night. It was a good visit as always.

Got up this morning feeling ready to take on the world. I decided it was time to start in at the garden. There was a fair size raised bed that had gone to mostly weeds so figured I'd tackle that. I dug it all up, added lots of manure, went up in the woods to get some leaves off the ground and added those. Ever watchful for bears as the woman down the road said her cats wouldn't go outside....something big must have scared them. The plants I dug up out of the raised bed were bagged to give away and I then dug up Phlox and Black Eyed Susans to put back there. That finished, I had a Russian Olive Tree that was in the wrong spot. So I then dug up an area where it would be better off, again added manure, leaves, etc. I got the tree out of the ground and planted it in the new place. That done, I figured I'd better quit for the day as my body is starting to ache.

In the meantime the Grey Jays had put in an appearance. First time I'd seen them in ages. I did get a couple of pictures but still not as good as I wanted.

Grey Jay


Blue Jay


Junco


Mushrooms on log

September 17th., 2007

The official opening of our new library was on Saturday. To be honest, I didn't expect many people to be there, but by the time the ceremony was to begin the place was packed. Could hardly move around. There was a table set up with tea, coffee and a great variety of sweets. All in all it was a great success and a beautiful sunny day to boot.

Yesterday, Rogers friend flew in from Halifax, getting here around supper time. We had a good meal....rice, "fake" meat balls in a pineapple sauce and stir fried veggies. Home made apple pie for desert and a couple of bottles of wine. We spent the evening chatting, drinking wine and listening to music. A very nice evening.

This morning I nearly broke myself up......had the camera in my hand and was going up the steps into the kitchen when I tripped on the top step and went sprawling across the kitchen floor. Did I drop the camera and do damage to it...not likely! When I came to my senses, my arm was up in the air with camera in hand. lol.

Tomorrow night we are having a bit of a party so will be busy preparing things for the event. It should be fun with an eclectic bunch of people. Lots of bantering and arguing about the way of the world I should think. Must try to remember to take some pictures.

A few pictures I've taken this past couple of days.

Fox Sparrow


I'm still taking pictures of this butterfly that's here every day. I'm assuming it's the same one. I emailed the picture to my daughter like this...


And she emailed it back to me like this..lol...

September 13th., 2007

Beautiful sunny day here. I've been all morning building a raised bed up higher and adding more soil. My body feels a wreck! I am happy that I've finally started doing things in the garden that I've been putting off. I figure, if I keep at it, I should have most of it finished off in a week or so. A friend of Rogers from Nova Scotia will be arriving on Sunday, going back Wednesday. I think they've seen each other just about every year since they were in boarding school. I do enjoy his visits and as always I expect there will be much bantering and arguing. Rogers birthday is on Tuesday so I'm very glad he will be here for that. I expect I'll have a few people in for a bit of a party.

We went to the corner store last night to pick up a few odds and ends and much to my chagrin, when I walked through the door, what did I see......Christmas items for sale. I just couldn't believe it, it's only September for heavens sake.




I took a break from the gardening this morning and decided to get the camera and see what I could find around to photograph. Much to my surprise, while walking around, I nearly got knocked over by a Butterfly. He went by me and landed on a Cone flower. Here I had thought I'd seen the last of them weeks ago.






The Butterfly Bush is in bloom now and the smell is just wonderful.


Took this picture of Malachi last night while the dear boy was having a snooze.

September 11th., 2007

Fall seems to be fast approaching. I see that some of the leaves are changing colour and it's been quite chilly in the early morning and the evening. I have numerous plants to move as I planted some new ones in the front borders of the gardens and they have grown so tall that they are hiding shorter plants. I've been putting off all of this shifting around....seems an awesome task.

I woke up one morning last week with part of a tooth missing. Must have swallowed it during the night. It's not causing me any trouble yet and I'm dreading calling the dentist. One of the few things that scare me are dentists. Our usual dentist has retired and we were put on to another one. None of the other dentists are taking new patients so I have no choice but to go to this one. Funnily enough the night after I lost the piece off my tooth, a friend had the same thing happen. He's in the same predicament as I am and has to go to the same dentist. He phoned yesterday and got an appointment for this morning. This in itself is worrisome. To get an appointment so fast makes me think that not many people are going to this guy. I will get the play by play later today.

The wild Blueberries have ripened and I have them growing on a bank on one side of the property. Thought it was time to check them out and pick some. I saw there would be quite a few when I checked earlier before they had ripened. Much to my surprise there was just a scattered one here and there. I thought to myself, this is very strange indeed as there were so many earlier. Then I saw some movement further down the bank. The chickens were jumping up grabbing the last of them that were on the higher branches. Now I know where all the berries went. lol.

There is still colour in the garden. Some late bloomers.

September 8th., 2007

These pictures are at Shirls request for Ornamental Grasses. I'm afraid that I never did get into the grasses although I do find them quite attractive. A number of years ago my Aunt gave me a piece of one she had growing and it has taken off. It's very invasive I find and I have dug up clumps and planted in other spots. It doesn't seem to matter if it's in shade or sun it just keeps on growing. The leaves are variegated and it gets very nice plumes during the season. It grows to about 4 ft. in height. Don't know what it's called.

September 6th., 2007

I am saddened this morning to hear that the great tenor Pavarotti has died. His voice has many times made my heart ache and reduced me to tears. A great loss to the world.

I haven't done anything in the garden this week. I had planned on moving some of the plants to better locations but think it might be a bit too early yet. Tuesday and Wednesday morning I was volunteering at our new library helping to get it ready for the grand opening on September 15th. All in all, a very uneventful week.

I did take some pictures of birds but wasn't at all happy with them. I'm just not getting the same quality I did before..........! The Nuthatches are still around with their young. So small and cute. I kept this picture but am not all that pleased with it.


Some of the lilies are still blooming. I have to move a lot of them as I planted the bulbs early in the spring, not realizing that there were tall plants coming up in front of them. Never the less, I was very pleased with the display they put on.




Girls on steps.

September 1st. 2007

Just before 7:00am on Thursday we left for the hour drive to take the cats to the vets. Two young ones to be castrated and one old girl to have a tooth pulled. We decided to stay in Gander to do some shopping and wait to pick up the cats in the afternoon rather than coming back home and going back in later which would be two hours drive there and back instead of four. Big mistake!!! We had finished shopping long before noon so what to do.....we decided to go to the library. They were closed, opening at 1:00. We waited around until noon and I phoned the vets to ask when we could pick up the cats. They said 3:00 or 3:30. We hung around until 3:00 and I said that's it we are going there now. Went in, the boys were doing fine, awake and ready to go, but the one with the extraction wasn't fully awake yet...another half hour...maybe! Half hour went by, no she's not ready to go yet, another half hour. No she can't go yet, her body temperature has dropped, we have to get her body warmed up. Another half hour. Yep, she should be ready in another half hour. So, between it all we finally got home at about 5:30. We were both exhausted.

In the mean time my nephew and his girl friend were suppose to arrive in the afternoon. I had left a note for them and food on the counter in case they were hungry. By eight that night they still hadn't arrived. My dad had called three times worried because they hadn't shown up and thought something terrible must have happened. Just before nine they finally arrived. We didn't get to bed until almost midnight and even though I had only two glasses of wine through out the evening I felt blitzed. They left after lunch yesterday and I lay down to have a read, fell asleep and woke up two hours later. It took me all day to feel normal again.

My nephew and his girlfriend.


Now, on to Spiders. There are tons of spider around now. Everywhere I look and some real beauties. I got pictures of two of them, tried to get more different types but they are so fast, when they see me getting close they scurry off.


Spider with lunch.