Fireworks of the Floral Variety

Sorry to say that after the parade on Friday, the weather began to take a bit of a turn for the remainder of the holiday weekend. By late Friday night, it was raining and Saturday morning's early hours wore a foggy misty cloak of gray.

After having stayed up so late to put together the slideshow, I was happy to have the excuse not to water the garden and I didn't even take any new photos before dashing off to work.

However, I do have a few I took after the parade on Friday, which I still haven't shown you yet. One of them is terrific substitute for that great ball of fire in the sky. Is there any doubt why they're called sunflowers?


I still don't know exactly what these little purple flowers are. I've not yet found them in any guides, though have suspected they are some unhybridized version of something more familiar...perhaps another kind of veronica or something.

Anyway, nice fireworks substitute there.




Again defying reports of its death (ah, if it had been so for its namesake), the tea rose Mister Lincoln has produced a most beautiful and perfect looking rosebud. I really thought he was dead for real this time, so this just goes to show you how much I know.

This is one I really wish you could push your nose into--its scent is heavenly!

The Chrysler tea rose is being rather prolific this year, now offering its second and third yellow blossoms, with still a few more on the way after that!




Here are some lovely oriental lilies I was enjoying at work today, such a sweet fragrance!

They were featured in the wedding arrange ments of Leia and Frank, who were joined in marriage at our location and then celebrated throughout the afternoon.

It's been a pleasure working with them these last few weeks and I offer them my heartiest congratulations, along with best wishes for Much Happiness and Love Always.

(And hey, look in the background, you can see those three yucca plants blooming along the driveway!)

Some late afternoon showers were pretty heavy and managed to dampen my spirits for trying to do some fireworks photography near Rock Harbor this evening. By the time the skies cleared again, just before the display was to begin, I was already comfortably relaxing at home and didn't feature getting back into the car again.

November Morning

I was up earlier than usual, with the garden project on my mind. A check of the weather forecast revealed that Thursday - my next potentially full day to work on the digging, etc. - was going to be a very rainy one. Ugh.

Knowing the work I was hoping to accomplish before Sunday(the proposed planting day), I quickly adapted my schedule and came up with a few hours to dig this morning. It was a very foggy morning, as you can see from the above image of the backyard and also in this glimpse of Route 6 and the fog-shrounded sun.


I arrived at Not Wisteria Lane to find a lovely morning in progress, as the fog burned away and temperatures rose into the 50s.



I was able to finish off the de-sodding and rock laying across the front of the bed, which was the priority. It's always a good idea to get that curbside face looking nice, so you can work behind that on the rest.

I'm pleased with how it's turned out, with a nice, relatively straight line across. I suppose it's a little boring, but practicality is a concern, too, in keeping the nice parking area in front of that. Behind the fence the lines curl a little more and the bed will be deeper in places.


It was turning into an absolutely gorgeous day and I would happily have stayed the rest of the afternoon to continue the project, the birds singing me on. Other things beckoned, though: a quick side trip to Hyannis and then the afternoon and evening at work.

But I did get a start behind the fence clearing out around this rose. It has flashes of pink deep on its leaves, so I suspect that might be the bloom color. Summer will tell that tale and by then it will have plenty of company.

Under the eastern bedroom window is a bit of a tangle of shrubs grown together. This dark berried beauty has some lovely autumn color, though it seems to be woven with an oak seedling.


I know you really want to see actual flowers, so look at these pretty purple asters still blooming across the front of the house.




Here's a project for another day: the backyard. Yes, that's an apple tree growing out of that small mountain. The mountain? Oh, that's the above-ground septic system. They seem to be very popular in the neighborhood (our small mountain is not unique to our yard), I expect because of the proximity to the ocean.

The fall foliage along the Midcape Highway seems especially lovely this morning. The oak trees are turning a delightful shade of coppery-red. Maybe I haven't noticed them on just the right day before, but I think their colors are a little richer this year.

Foggy Night

Stopped to enjoy the fog at Rock Harbor on the way home from work this evening. This was taken just before 10:00 p.m. Our temperature tonight is 66.

Pondside with the Peepers

A light rain to report here last night. Started around dusk and went on more or less until midnight.

Everything in the gardens this morning looked extra green and satisfied, though I didn't have time to do more than dash past on the way to the car.

I did, however, get this shot (above) of the fog over Boat Creek Marsh as I drove by on my way to work.


After dinner I made a return to the yard, but it was really too dim to appreciate much in the gardens near the house.


With so many trees around, dusk seems to come sooner there than down at the pond's edge, and the sound of the peepers drew me through the woods, growing louder in my ears as I entered their domain.



I didn't see many of these little frogs...but I was absolutely right down in the thick of peeper activity.

Their sound is just crazy-making at close range, but totally cool, as well. It sounds somehow alien, or artificial, the sound and notes are so intense. And SO loud!!

That close, you can hear each one seperately, and that they all seem to be singing different two-note pitches...and you can hear them "changing keys"...their notes adjusting...are they trying to match the pitch of someone and then find them? I wonder if they both have to sing the same two-note song in unison...because that seems almost never to happen.

Is it all for fun? (Could they possibly think of this as work?) It sure sounds like a good time.

In the midst of the distinctive peeping, there were other sounds, too...crickets, perhaps, more of a trilling sound, maybe just a different variety of frog. Lord knows, there are plenty.


I'm sure they were communi cating plenty about the lumber ing giant come down into their midst.

Sometimes all those in the immediate area around me would go silent. And then one would come on, extra loud, perhaps exerting his sense of their territory to me, with the others resuming their songs, as well.

Whatever the peeping's about, it's completely worth spending some time in the midst of, if you're convenient to the habitat. Just make sure you have appropriate footwear: it's wet down there at the water's edge. And watch where you step!

In the pictures above, I was mostly taking pictures of the places where I'd pinpointed the peeping might be coming from. In that first image, I could convince myself I see six or seven of them, though none perfectly in focus. I left the file size large, so you can "embiggen" for study and have yourself a frog hunt.




And in case you really don't have time to spend looking for frogs (but let's be hon est ...who doesn't?), I did get this one clear-ish shot to share with you impatient types.

Eastham Windmill Green in the fog. 5:20 p.m.