Saturday, October 25, 2008

Late October Musings

Today begins cool and gray with rain in the forecast for later today and in to tomorrow.

And since H is nursing a nasty cold, it's a perfect day to stoke the wood stove and hunker down.


I just put on a pot of broccoli and potato soup and while we wait for it to simmer for our lunch, it's a great time to blog about what's left of the garden as we sadly move toward the end of my favorite month - October.

Before the hard freeze last week, I took the opportunity to wander about the garden with my trusty Olympus and shoot a few frames so I can remind myself in the dead of winter that the garden will bloom forth again next year.



The dahlias and zinnias were still performing beautifully.......



With the exception of the occasional maple, the only trees still showing any color are the birches and some of the poplars. Their golden beauty glows in the forest when the sun hits them in the early morning and early evening. Wild raisin shrubs still sport a few deep red leaves and the spruces, firs and pines are anticipating their days of glory when their branches will glisten with the new fallen snow. Although, not too soon, we hope!


The Karl Forster feather reed grass is at its best this time of year, but the migratory birds have flown the coop! Looks like they left me with a bit of maintenance on the front of the house. Sheesh! I hope the next occupants will be a bit easier on the property.


And the squirrels are raiding the bird feeder again! Between them and the two blue jays, they pretty much clean the feeder out on a daily basis. It's a good thing I bring it in every night, or the racoon would finish the job.

Our favorite sitting spot in the garden is finding more shade these days, and the Joy Pye Weed has taken on a golden glow in the late afternoon sunshine.

Our neighbor's beautiful glass gazing ball reflects the sun in all it's swirling colors.

Spike likes sitting in the warm afternoon sun while I post to the blog. He occasionally jumps up on the desk for his required "noogies". He especially likes his back and neck scratched.

Little Sluggo keeps busy from morning til night chasing the Asian Beetles which invade the house this time of year looking for a warm place to hibernate over the winter. They like to buzz around the lamplight in the evenings.

To all things, there is a season, and in this season of harvest, bringing in the plants, putting the garden to bed and making sure the woodpiles are covered, we are quite busy. I'm sure I'll be most content to sit in front of the fire, my recently finished shawl across my shoulders and knit the long winter away.

Life is Good

Hugs, Giddy


















9 comments:

CanadianGardenJoy said...

Giddy .. you have some beautiful photos to look at when our winter blows in. I find that a comfort too .. plus looking at plant sites for new plants ? LOL
The boys look very handsome .. Sophie's favorite scratching spot is her head and neck .. she does a lot of head bonks and purrs for that. Emma .. is just Emma, "I'm the baby .. gotta' love me !" haha
Yes .. days like this are perfect for a fireplace or stove to feel that wonderful warm glow.
Great pictures girl !
Joy

Kerri said...

We got that rain today...pouring down! Wind too early this evening. It was a good day for posting.
Yum, that soup sounds delish!
I can't understand how you can still have flowers when mine are all zapped! Thought you were colder up there???
Love the dahlias and zinnias!
The squirrel is a cute little guy.
Love those kitty pics. Handsome guys :) Jasmine has put on her winter weight already. What a little porker she is! Molly still has her girlish figure :)
I'd be content to sit in front of the fire...if we had one in here :)

WiseAcre said...

You got to get that Gnome to swing!

http://looneytic.com/gnome_ani.gif

use this address to get it to work. Don't worry about my referrer log files and messing them up with this address. It's on a site 'under construction' that I'm not going to get to for a while and following the stats are not important on that site.

I got 'tagged' the other day so now it's your turn to be 'IT' - I saw you are having a slow day so here's something to do. Just follow the instructions on my blog. (got to give me a while - I'm still working on the post - so check later)

Giddy said...

Hi Joy,I love looking at your pics of the "girls", and yes, our kitties all bring us so much joy and laughter in our lives.

Kerri, we are right on the coast and the ocean tempers the climate. We usually can go well into November with still a few hardy plants hanging on and blooming.

WA, thanks for the link. I don't know what I'm doing wrong. I save the image as and put it into my pictures, but when I try to post it to the blog it won't swing. If you have any suggestions, please let me know.

WiseAcre said...

Giddy - just use the link to display the swinging gnome and don't worry about it. You have 'special permission' to hot link the image.

and don't worry about the tag either - if you don't want to participate - don't. I just used it as an excuse to link to you (and not let down another regular visitor even if I don't like to play those games myself)

Anonymous said...

Our trees are bare, too. We are supposed to be having heavy rain and wind right now, but have a beautiful blue sky with puffy clouds, not that I am complaining, though.

The flower I have blooming outdoors now, is a johnny jump up growing along the walk. I need to do something for a little color outdoors, but don't know what. Maybe a pot of red berries.

That grass is so nice. How tall does it grow?

Linda said...

I have certainly enjoyed looking through your blog and the lovely photos. We've had our first few hard frosts, which I've documented on my blog. Today the temperatures dipped right down and the wind picked up ... sure feels like snow in the air. Thanks for visiting and guessing on the Monday Mystery.

Linda, aka Crafty Gardener

JaySunem said...

Lovely! It would seem as though the photography class is coming along quite well.....not that your work hasn't always been top shelf material, anyway. For the record, I've come to find tuxedo cats make an excellent disposal method for all those pesky little squirrels. I jest. Maybe.

Mwah!

Giddy said...

WA, I'll be posting again soon and will give up a few unknown facts!

Sandy, my Karl Forster grass grows about 3-4 feet tall and makes a nice winter accent.

Linda, I visit your blog quite often as in addition to gardening, I also love to knit and enjoy your various projects. I'll try to comment more often!

Jasunem, you are a bad boy, trying to get little Sluggo to take care of my squirrel problem! I'm sure Mr. Snakes could teach Sluggo quite a few tricks. "-)