Autumn and such

Sigh... almost done for the night. I'm looking forward to sleeping "in" tomorrow (which means getting 7 hours of sleep, probably). ;-)

I forgot to include this little Nala photo in a previous post. This was one of the first Disney toys Diane found and repaired. She took this photo and posted it on her blog (you can find her link to the left). I don't know how many boxes it will take for her to ship these toys when it's time to go back to college, but many of them will go to other places.

The following pictures were mostly taken around our yard, except for this first one which was taken by Robert from his yard (and a couple at the end). I don't think I sent this already... it's been in a folder since the end of the summer. If it's a repeat... sorry. :-) He looked out one day to see this Great Blue Heron sitting on the roof of a neighbor's house. I don't recall how big a wing spread they have, but it's impressive. We used to get them here on occasion because of the pond next door.


Toward the end of the summer the asters really come into their own. I really liked this picture of the Aster frikartii 'Monch,' taken on a misty morning. Like everything else this season, it bloomed about 3 weeks behind schedule.


I didn't do as many peaches this year... just got four boxes and canned one of those for someone else. They always look pretty in the jars so I had to take a photo with the new camera. I wish the old kitchen looked as nice. ;-)

Oh... this is pretty dumb, I know, but I laughed when I brought out these chicken pieces while preparing dinner. Is it just me... or can you see a dinosaur on top and a manatee below? I admit, the dinosaur looks a bit decapitated... the sweeping tail portion is on the left side.


I thought this area out front looked kind of pretty after Ron helped get some tree limbs pruned. It sure opened up our view of the mountains. I still need to get in there and finish weeding that bed and replant some stuff. The trip kind of interrupted progress in the garden just when I was getting up a head of steam. The second photo shows some of the junk that had been cut back or weeded.



Ron monitoring the burn pile. We had quite a fire back there when those tree limbs were finally lit (after the burn ban was lifted). I stood by for awhile with the hose and kept dowsing the nearby tree limbs. At some stages flames were probably two and a half times as high as what you see here.


During the month of September, I made about 30 batches of soap for the holiday season. Orders are starting to come in now. With the economy the way it is, it will be interesting to see how sales are impacted.


Later in September, the leaves started to turn (birch the first shown below) and the hardy cyclamen went into their blooming season. I found several clumps happily growing in the pasture. :-) While I was stomping around there to look for filberts and take some photos, the neighbor's two dogs came over to investigate my activities. They think the lower field belongs to them... they've annexed this whole place. ;-) They are actually friendly dogs, despite their imposing demeanor.



In back, a confused fairy's fishing rod (Dierama) decided to send up a bloom stalk. Below is the barn, being engulfed in gold. The tree to the left is a maple we planted years ago and back and to the right is a HUGE poplar type. Probably a mistake... but it sure turned a gorgeous color this year. When we bought the place there was an old cherry tree growing in that spot but it was dying because of being chewed by livestock.



A couple of shots taken in the back yard after we returned from Utah. I was so happy we didn't miss the whole thing. Fall is one of my favorite times of year. Too bad I've spent this week pretty much chained to the computer. I hope it gets nice again on Saturday.



A witch hazel leaf didn't quite make it to the ground with the others. (This was a couple of feet over my head)...



Some of the volunteer cyclamen growing in the front yard.


The same area that was shown earlier... only the rosemary bushes are now gone. I hope to put one or two new ones in this general area next season.



Above, Sweet Gum leaves on a tree growing in the lower field. Below is a planter on the deck with a lobelia that doesn't know when to slow down.


This looks kind of neat (looking toward driveway from a spot near the entry). I just wish those trunks didn't belong to a rhododendron that really needs to be cut back. It's not seeming too eager about breaking new growth from the base. Hope to see some activity in that department this next spring.

Thanks to the glory that is Facebook... I stumbled upon these photos of Lynda, who is practically incognito these days. :-) Glad to see she's able to take a break from school and have some fun this fall. That reminds me... if you take a hop over to Diane's blog, you'll see an interesting pumpkin she worked on for a contest at Disney World.



Aaahh.... a wonderful place to stop... a fiery Japanese Maple. :-)