Bits and peices.

It's been another busy week.  We had a couple of almost summer like days so I hauled out some outside lights to put up for the holiday season.    I figured why not take advantage of the warm weather rather than wait until December when the cold weather had set in. We also had a new set of back steps built so himself stained those again taking advantage of the lovely warm days. 

I bought a small electric fireplace a couple of weeks ago.  It seemed to be too low on the floor and looked lost.  I wasn't too happy with that so I bought some wood, built a platform for it, stained it and now am very happy indeed.

I might have mentioned that the Blue Jays are being proper bullies with regard to the feeders.  They've been eating up all the sunflower seeds and driving away the little birds.   I found a feeder in a seed catalogue that was for small birds and the bully birds couldn't get at the seeds.  It's one of the best investments that I've made in a long time.   The little birds love it and are going in and out all day long.  The jays are a little peeved but they do get enough to eat from the other feeders.

I did get a chance to make a straw man (King of Winter) for Samhain (Halloween).  We will welcome him at that time and he'll watch over the home during the winter months.   I've bought a pumpkin that I hope to stuff and bake at that time.  I've tried this recipe before and it turned out quite well. 

The "Benevolent King Cat" is regaled in it's bone necklace and skull necklace. 

The pumpkin.    

I also received some news this week that has me very excited.  My granddaughter is flying in for Christmas so if all goes well,  my daughter, granddaughter and grandson will be with us for a few days.  Now my mind is going crazy thinking of the kinds of cookies, etc. I can make.  I remembered my grandmothers shortbread cookies.  She'd cut them out with cookie cutters and put a bit of cherry in the center of each one then bake.  I knew I had her cookie cutters put away so found them and plan to do the same thing.

They are so old but the memories, ah, the memories!

Just a bit about the garden.   Most of the phlox is still in bloom and some of the other perennials.   A lot of the trees have finally changed colour with lots of leaves on the ground.  The fall smell is heady.  I love it.   The Burning Bush is putting on a nice little display as you can see from the picture. 

The crows arrive every morning at around 7:30 these days.  You can almost set your watch by them.  Then again around 4:30 pm.   Along with the Blue Jays, there are loads of Nuthatches and Chick a Dees.  Woodpeckers of course and recently I had two Common Jays drop by.

October.

I can't seem to be able to keep up with anything here lately, ie: reading my favorite blogs, blogging myself, etc.  I've been to the city, saw the parents and my brother who was visiting.  Had a lot of fun there.  Then spent a couple of days with my daughter.  That was good.  She had a party with a Moroccan theme.  Quite a crowd showed up and everyone had made a Moroccan dish.  A fire was lit in the fire pit outside, some people were out there chatting, others in groups all over, chatting.  It was a good evening.   Just one little incident that I still laugh at.  I was sleeping on a futon in the yoga room so before most had left I went up to bed.  I was beat!  Got my pyjamas on and got nicely tucked away when the bed fell over and I ended up sprawled across the floor.  The lamp flew off the end table and hit the floor with a crash.  I expected a crowd of people to come running up the stairs to see what had happened but no.....I told my daughter the next morning and she said they heard a noise but well, thought nothing of it.  haha. 

I've been so busy trying to get the garden put to bed for the winter.  I've done quite a bit this past week but unfortunately I've hurt my hip once again.  This happens every October.  Something I do in the garden triggers it.  So, I don't know how much more will get done.  Thankfully the worst of the work is over so I might just sit back now and say the heck with the rest of it until spring. 

Not much in the way of leaves changing colour and everything looking very autumn like this year.  Most of the leaves seem to have dried up and just fallen off.  I noticed the same thing happening in the city. 

I've decorated the mantle this year.  It looks rather pretty.

All in all it's been a good year weather wise.  One of the best summers in a very long time.  Hoping the winter is not too harsh. 

We are still having lovely warm sunny days although it cools down some overnight.   The leaves on the trees seem to be turning brown and dropping off instead of giving us some colour.   I'm hoping we will still get some colour before October comes and goes.   The Blue Jays seem frantic for food these days.  It's all I can do to keep food in the feeders.  Some say it's a sign that we're going to have a bad winter.   The Rowan trees didn't produce any berries maybe because of a hard frost we had in Spring.   Nothing says fall to me like the red berries on the Rowan trees.

I've been trying to get the garden put to bed for the winter but it's going slowly.  We've had company again for a few days.  I'll be taking a break and going into St. John's next week so I'm looking forward to that.  Otherwise things are going along as usual.

A few pictures from around the garden.

Thanks to my friend Pete who sometimes gives me ideas like this one.

This beautiful Orb Weaver has had it's web on the deck for ages.

And, a wonderful surprise when I looked out the window one day.  A Northern Flicker.  A rare sight for me.

Salvage

We have company from Nova Scotia staying with us for a few days so decided to go to Salvage, a small community about 5 miles away.  It was a beautiful day with a wee bit of a bite in the wind.   Some pictures.

Touch Of Fall in The Air

We've had the most wonderful summer as far as the weather goes.   Everything was a month ahead and so is fall.  Flowers that don't normally bloom until September are in bloom now and most of the potted up annuals have seen their day.   I've been cutting back perennials, another job that I don't usual do for another month or so.   I started lavender plants from seed this spring and finally got them in the ground this week.  Although they are still only small plants, the smell is heady.   I know it's early days, after all it's still August, but this planter looked quite lost and empty with the summer flowers gone so I decided to fill it with some fall decorations I had. 

I haven't taken many pictures of bugs this year, one of my favorite subjects I must admit.  There are loads of bees in the garden which is great to see.  Strangely, I haven't seen any of the larger garden spiders. 

So, here's a lovely butterfly, a butterfly with a bee and a strange looking (moth, maybe) with a bee.

One day last week two dogs came into the garden.  This sent Malachi up a tree.  The boy doesn't look too happy. 

I started these flowers from seed last year, both the yellow and rust.  They were only babies when winter came on and the truth of it is, I had forgotten about them.   You can imagine how pleased I was when they came into bloom this year.  I just love them. 

And, to end off, some neat things I found at the Goodwill on the last visit.