Season Heading South

The boltonia and asters are on the same schedule (and I suspect, must be rather closely related). This year I gave the boltonia, usually very floppy, a good pruning, which has created these waves of tiny blossoms which have o'ertaken nearly all else in the garden bed.

I was happy to spot this honeybee flying from blossom to blossom (and you can't turn that around!)this morning.


I couldn't help but wonder what these two were thinking, as they sat so close side-by-side.

I was about to leave for work when I heard this great sound. It's hard to describe really. But imagine lots of flapping wings and the assorted chatter of nearly all varieties of blackbird, and then fold in a rain-like sound of hundreds of acorns being harvested and dropping through the woods. It was quite a lot like the more thrilling scenes of "The Birds", sound-wise.

You see, it's not only Columbus Day, but also a peak weekend for southern migration. The treetops were full of grackels and cowbirds and other assorted blackbirds, feasting on a break from their travels.

And how thrilled they must be to have such lovely weather for their travels. Fortunately, their schedule is obviously dictated by something other than temperature, since we were enjoying yet another unseasonally summer-like day, with temps in the 70s.

Tonight, I'm offering my congratulations and best wishes to Shannon and Jonathan, who'll be getting married tomorrow and tonight hosted their Rehearsal Dinner at our work. I wish I'd been able to capture a better shot of the pumpkin someone carved for their autumn celebration...but even this one shows you the detail of the carving. Beauty, eh?