And on Sunday; textures

Remember those flowers on Friday? Now see how the frost outlines them.

With no color retouching, see this view looking down onto the copper roof of the bay window. I liked the pattern the frost has made on the copper and the contrast with that verdant, almost spring green grass. It had to do with the early sun I'm thinking.


No texture here, just a dog returning home from his walk but you can see the bright colors of my chrysanthemums behind this pair of walkers.

Followed by the Saturday white stuff

Throughout the week there had been a variety of weather forecasts. By Saturday, late morning, what had started as rain changed to big fat heavy snow flakes. As you can see, there are still autumn leaves on the trees and if you look carefully on the left side, next to the garden bench, the pot with white busy lizzies (impatiens) still blooming away despite the pruning the deer gave them a few weeks back.

The snow was enough to settle and see for the balance of the afternoon on this roof which is on the shadiest side of the house.


Out on the deck, the summer tomato plants, which have really taken a beating this year, had an accumulation of snow in the pots and yes, ice on the deck in front of them.

All sorts of records were set with this storm.

First came the Friday cleanup

We have had an interesting progression of weather these past three days so I thought I would share some images with you.

Friday I had intended to go to a quilt bee but when the day dawned clear and sunny and I saw just how many leaves were littering the grass out back I thought I better change my plan and try and clean up some of the leaves so the sun could reach the grass and dry it out just a little. After three hours of raking, scooping and dumping into the compost pile I realized I was not going to get to the quilt bee at all. The deer have eaten a lot more than they usually do this year in this part of my garden. It is a pity they don't eat fallen leaves as there was a veritable banquet.

I spied this family heading quick smart towards checkin for a flight south.

This shot is taken in a spot that I often use so I have a record of what it looks like at different times of the year. Watch how these flowers change.

A pretty fall day

is a perfect reason to go out and about and enjoy the display that Mother nature has created. The day coincided with a two day studio tour of our local group of artists. I went to visit some of the studios and came home with some very special cards and a giclee print from one of my favorite artists in this group. This was the roadside display to alert passers by to the Atelier where several artists have their studios. I walked by yesterday afternoon with the dog and the parking lot was full. Today I was there twice and the place was humming with visitors so I am sure the artists here will be very tired by the end of the day but also very happy with the number of visitors who came to meet and mingle with them and to enjoy the art they create.

The next venue I visited was our local library where several more artists were set up. As I came back to my car I noticed that nature had her own special show going on. The sky was a gorgeous shade of blue and there were several jet trails across the blue making for a spectacular view when contrasted with the fall colors of the trees below. Of course I did not have my camera with me but I was inspired enough to make a quick trip back home to pick up the camera. Once back in the parking lot I had to try and figure out how to avoid the intrusion of vehicles on my fall scene and of course by now the jet trails had changed. But, above, is my resulting shot - it does not nearly capture the glorious shades that the trees currently wear but I am inspired to keep trying because of my association with the artists group.

As I turned into my own street I noticed this tree looking pretty darn gorgeous.

And the I turned into my own driveway and saw this combination of the blues of the summer ageratum contrasting with the silvery lavender bush and the orange of the chrysanthemums.

This is what I could have been doing had I stayed home all afternoon - doing fall yard work. I spent a hour raking leaves in this area. They all had to be raked up and put in the compost heap.

Here is what happens to the compost the next year. I added a few trowels worth of compost ot this pot when I put the petunias in at the beginning of summer. Two pots sprouted some interesting plants - I pulled them out of one pot but my curiosity allowed me to leave the renegades in this pot. And look what they turned out to be. Some sort of pepper plant. If anyone can identify this pepper please do leave me a comment!

Here we have another planting that owes much to the compost heap. The blue petunias were planted but the blue ageratum and the pink petunias along with some of the pink impatiens in the background are all a happy surprise courtesy of the compost heap.

Obviously, my compost heap is not working quite as well as it should - the heap should build up enough heat to discourage seeds from growing. But I enjoy such happy surprises in my garden.

I hope you enjoyed my pretty fall day.

Change of Scenery

It has been a few weeks since I posted and although I kept thinking "oh, I could write about..." somehow I did not actually get around to doing anything about it.

But last week I went on a four day trip to Deal Island on the Chesapeake Bay and I thought you might like to see some photos from that trip.

The purpose of the trip was strictly a quilting retreat and with the way the weather was (raining and stormy) for most of the time it was just as well.

We stayed at Pieceful Cottage close to the very end of the island.

There was a lot of rain but when I went upstairs late in the afternoon on Friday to my delight I saw a beautiful complete rainbow out the bedroom window. I alerted everyone else to come see and then it occurred to me I could be taking a photo. In the time it took to go back downstairs and find my camera the best of the rainbow was gone - one of my friends took a photo that showed the complete arc but I was only in time to get this section. The difference in coloration between inside the rainbow and the outside of the rainbow was a reminder of the wonders of nature.

I was fascinated by the tree frogs that clustered all day long on the front of the cottage either side of the front door. Our guess was that they were there to feast on the many bugs that are attracted to the area when the lights are on at night. The frogs continued to sit there all day and I was checking on them frequently.

On Friday night someone looked out the window at dusk and saw a deer. I grabbed my camera and went to the front door but opening the door scared the deer off. But certainly this sunset was a much more thrilling sight to see.

The small harbor is a working harbor. Fishermen go out from here to catch crabs and likely other fish as well but with the piles of crabbing baskets we saw we know that is what they catch in certain seasons.

Deal Island holds an annual Skipjack race on Labor Day. Skipjacks are a traditional working boat from the Chesapeake Bay and here is an example on the left of the photo. But the vessel in the right foreground is a more common sight.


These boats had not gone out on Saturday morning.

And here we see one lone sailor setting off out through the breakwater in his small dinghy.


We kept hoping to find some beach, but this, folks, is it. So in conclusion, you do not go to Deal Island for the beach.

Enough already Hughie!

I have been trying to gather pretty garden or critter photos for a posting for several days. But today I abandoned that idea as we have been inundated by rain. Reports of the rainfall today vary from 4" to 6" or more within my local three mile surroundings and the rain is expected to continue through the night. While some readers may think this is not unusual this is very dramatic for this area.

The rain turns the front walk into a swiftly flowing creek.

While out back there is a veritable waterfall over the edge of the garden planter box where my only remaining viable tomato plants are.

If you click on this photo what appears to be walkways is actually flooding water.


This is a shot that I usually take with snow piled up on the railing. But not today! The clay colored rain in the road gutters is coming from the house construction site further up the road.

And my title? When we lived in Australia I heard the saying "send 'er down Hughie" which is a good thing to say as it is usually heard when rain finally arrives in an area that has had no rain for months or maybe years.

In the past few weeks we have had a hail storm that all but destroyed my tomato plants in pots on the deck. Then came the earthquake. Followed by Hurricane Irene. And now today's deluge which I think is courtesy of Hurricane Lee.

So enough already Hughie!

Can you take yet another critter?

I seem to be on a theme here although it was not intentional.

This morning as the dog and I were returning from a walk midmorning I noticed this critter on the front lawn quite near the curb and heading towards the road. It has been a number of years (perhaps five or more) since I have seen a box turtle in our yard. I'm not sure if it could be the same one or not. In the 2000 - 2004 period we would see a box turtle perhaps two or three times in a year and usually in the back yard area.

When I checked thirty minutes later there was no sign of the turtle so I hope it did cross the road and find someplace safe to go.