dahlia and colacasia tubers

I dug my dahlias tubers and colacasias today. The colacasias don't look the same this year as last year. Big roots, but I think only one of the them produced a tuber. I hope they will over-winter.

planting&planning

dendrobium

This dendrobium was in bloom all of August and is blooming again!

orchid

skippy rests

Skippy is relaxing after the big feast and the travelling and all the visitors to play with. He never ate so much. Turkey and goose and his usual chicken. He's a big poultry eater. Yum.

thanksgiving travelling

We (and many others) drove to visit relatives this weekend. The roads were crowded.

thanksgiving photos & poetry

I ate too much turkey,
I ate too much corn,
I ate too much pudding and pie,
I'm stuffed up with muffins
and much too much stuffin',
I'm probably going to die.

I piled up my plate
and I ate and I ate,
but I wish I had known when to stop,
for I'm so crammed with yams,
sauces, gravies, and jams
that my buttons are starting to pop.

I'm full of tomatoes
and french fried potatoes,
my stomach is swollen and sore,
but there's still some dessert,
so I guess it won't hurt
if I eat just a little bit more.
- Jack Prelutsky, I Ate Too Much

i'd like to call back summertime ......

I awoke today and found the frost perched on the town
It hovered in a frozen sky and it gobbled summer down
When the sun turns traitor cold
And all the trees are shivering in a naked row
I get the urge for going but I never seem to go
And I get the urge for going, when the meadow grass is turning brown
Summertime is falling down and winter's closing in.

Now the warriors of winter they give a cold triumphant shout
All that stays is dying; all that lives is getting out
See the geese in chevron flight
Flapping and a-racin' on before the snow
They got the urge for going and they've got the wings so they can go
They get the urge for going when the meadow grass is turning brown
Summertime is falling down and winter's closing in.

I'll ply the fire with kindling; I'll pull the blankets to my chin
I'll lock the vagrant winter out and I'll bolt my wandering in
I'd like to call back summertime
And have her stay for just another month or so
But she's got the urge for going so I guess she'll have to go
She's gets the urge for going when the meadow grass is turning brown
And all her empire's falling down and winter's closing in

And I get the urge for going when the meadow grass is turning brown
And summertime is falling down.

©Music and Lyrics by Joni Mitchell

thanksgiving flowers

first frost

We had a real frost last night. I'm hoping my covered parsley and chard survived it.

a real old-fashioned rake.....

....and it still works just fine. I'm afraid rakes have gone the way of record players, type writers, videos and film cameras. Fat TVs, boom-boxes ... etc. Well, this is my rake. It makes a soft swooosh, swoosh sound that I will guarantee you does not wake up my neighbors 3 houses down. It doesn't produce 17 times more exaust than a car. And I can hear the birds when I use it. That is, if no one on my street is using a leaf blower at the same time.

another gray november day in new england

There are colors here other than grays. Browns. A bright leaf here and there. And in the sunlight, the dried grasses glow golden. But I don't think it would make too much difference if these pictures were black and white. Photos are from Callahan State Park, Framingham, MA. Skippy and I took a long walk there today.

blue!

Some time between about 12 noon and 2 o'clock this afternoon the sky cleared and was beautifully BLUE. I was quick and caught a few pictures of it. Little wispy clouds. Bright warm sun. Then the clouds thickened into November gloom for the rest of the day.

Callahan State Park

garden photos

backyard

bad news about that squirrel

This morning I found a squirrel dead in my yard. I feel really bad about it. There are millions of little holes in the gardens where he had been digging and eating bulbs. I think some bulbs are poisonous. Or maybe he just ate too much. I thought a squirrel would have a natural instinct to know what he could eat. No signs of a predator. I'll wait and see if he comes to later. Poor squirrel.

Added later: I'm wondering if the bulbs could really have killed the squirrel. My Dad says his family used to eat bulbs in Holland during the German occupation. They ground them up and made a meal or a flour paste from them and then fried it like a pancake. He says they ate crocus corms and tulip bulbs. But from what I read on-line, most bulbs are posoinous. The worst seem to be daffodils and hyacinths. Maybe the spring crocus are not poisonous. Tulips are listed on most sites as poisonous, but my Dad is sure he used to eat these. Amazing. Well, it sounds like it could have been the hyacinth bulbs that killed the squirrel. I'll make sure Skippy doesn't dig out there.

sunlit path

This is a photo I took on October 5th. Back when there was more light. And when it wasn't raining. I was just reminiscing.

Willards Woods

ducks on a gray day

These are canvasback ducks at Fresh Pond Reservior in Cambridge. They are hanging out here this fall in good sized rafts. Also lots of ruddy ducks, coots, cormorants and Canada geese. Plus the occasional kingfisher, osprey, merlin. Its becoming a nice place for viewing water birds. (Unfortunately I do not have a zoom lens. Maybe that'll be on my Christmas list .....)

skippy's backyard

Photos of Skippy's backyard: May 8, May 24, August 12, October 5 and today November 13, 2006. I can add a snowy photo this winter to that empty spot.

backyardphotos

wet and gray november

A wet walk today. Full rain gear. Lots of puddles. Lots of browns and grays.

Fresh Pond

fat squirrel

Here's that squirrel who ate so many of my crocus corms!