Golden Afternoon

Taking advantage of the day off and some fantastic weather, I delivered a first load of rocks for the garden to Harwich and did a little sight-seeing to celebrate the beautiful day.




I love the way the cranberries in a flooded bog make the shoreline blush.



Since my day's activities weren't particularly "Hallo ween-y", I thought it might be interesting to shoot a couple photos of the churchyard cemetary at the First Congregational Church, which was actually quite lovely. Many of the headstones' etchings seem to have worn away, but I did spot one dated at 1837.





There wasn't too much time for tarrying, though, as I had candy to buy and a house to spookify a little. Actually, since we're at the end of a dark wooded driveway, I wanted it to seem more inviting than anything. (The red luminaries, BTW, are plastic Folgers Coffee cans, with sand and a tea candle. I'm pretty pleased with this re-use discovery. The labels have been removed, of course.)

And we were lit up just in time to greet our first and only trick-or-treaters of the evening!

Happy Halloween!!

Today, no pictures from the garden, but rather, one of the kitchen ghouls from work. It turns out they work cheaper than House Elves. They are trying to unionize, which could be trouble, but their efforts to gain Health Care are impeded by their occasionally falling over dead.

Wishing you all a happy and fun All Hallows Eve!!

Not Sure We Need Any

"Excuse me, sir. There's a Mr. Death at the door. He says he's come about The Reaping."

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?

Boogey-Oogey, Man

As I listen for trick or treaters carousing, or coyotes howling on this Halloween night, I look forward to next year, when I hope to have grown a truly sincere pumpkin patch. Then, on a night like this one, we can hang the trees with lanterns, drink cider and eat treats, as we wait for the Great Pumpkin to rise!