The White Rose Breathes Of Love

The fragility and luminous beauty of the wild rose stand in stark contrast to the dreary decay that surrounds it in my October garden.  Just like true love, strong and persistent, it is the light that shines in an otherwise darkened world.

Things that go bump in the night.

It's time for ghoulies and ghosties and long leggy beasties

 and things that go bump in the night...

My spooky mailbox!

The Blueberries are Red with Embarrassment

What colour would you turn if you hadn't done your job and wanted to go unnoticed?

My blueberry bushes should be embarrassed - they did not produce a single blueberry this summer.

As Head Gardener, I am certainly not going to blame myself, so I blame the soil (not acid enough), the bees (not pollenating enough) and the bushes themselves. 


Much as I don't appreciate their poor performance I do admire their in-your-face fall attitude.


I went out this afternoon thinking I should just pull them out.   As you can see, they decided to end the season by turning fire-engine red.

Now they've made themselves too pretty to toss.


Interesting strategy.

Picked Clean

First they feed my eyes with their yellow brilliance.

Never Laugh At Live Dragons

My Dragon has not appreciated being relegated to the back of the garden where the tall purple loosestrife have tickled his nose and obscured him from view all summer.

Turning Garbage Into Gold

Right now we are closing the garden; cutting, chopping and grinding everything that is above ground and gathering it into one huge compost pile.


Although it is cold and messy on the outside, deep in the center of that heap grows a heat that will break down all that is old, transforming it into something new - into gardening gold.


Imagine if we could take our 'life' garbage, our fears and failures, disappointments and fatigue and mound them into one life-pile for composting.


Wipe clean the slate and start anew.


We can and should!

A Rose By Any Other Name...

This is the picture of the seed head of a clematis flower.

Lit by the sun, it reminds me of Einstein's messy snow-white hair.

It is tangled, chaotic, cloud-like and brilliant!

Most of all, it is wildly beautiful.

Henceforth, it will never be simply "seed".

The Changing Of The Guard

Our wonderful seasons, marking the passage of time, forcing us to change our routines, giving us the mental nudge we need to reinvent ourselves.


Closing up, putting things in their place, more time to think, less time to squander.


As Mother Nature moves summer into fall, I move along with her.

Walk In This World Like A Spider

Like most people, I have an irrational fear of spiders.

I'm fine as long as they are not on me, running toward me and I can see where they are.  That seems like a lot of conditions for me to be "fine" with them...


Nature offers us many parables for our lives.  Spiders remind us to walk this world with balance and consideration for the impact we can have on others.



Even more profound, spiders can change a universe, rebuild that which is broken, and consume that which has tangled in its web.


Be careful how you touch other people's lives.

Petal From a Faded Rose

Love is sweet in the morning

when the breeze of summer blows

But will fade and die

when the winter's nigh

A petal from a faded rose

From the song:

Petal From A Faded Rose