Falling Snow

See the pretty snowflakes
Falling from the sky;
On the wall and housetops
Soft and thick they lie.

On the window ledges,
On the branches bare;
Now how fast they gather,
Filling all the air.

Look into the garden,
Where the grass was green;
Covered by the snowflakes,
Not a blade is seen.

Now the bare black bushes
All look soft and white,
Every twig is laden,
What a pretty sight!

(Author unknown)

The garden today......November 16th

Still a few pretty things when you look through the lens of the camera. Not too many things to shoot though. The mums are still perky. I must get more next year and really cultivate them so that they last. I didn't get pansies this year but I think next year I will.



The Green Man is sleeping now, he will awaken in the Spring.


The holly is full of berries. Next year I must prune this one into shape. The other Holly bushes have not done as well as this one has. I think they can all stand a trim and shape up.


The angels are playing in the leaves and getting ready for a long winters sleep, the Fairies have already left.



This guy is not happy to be going to sleep for the winter. Or maybe someone woke him up, disturbing his slumber.


The yellow mums have spread a bit and will be even better next year. They glow among the leaves and are a reflection of the Dandylions that will come with Spring.

November 15th......Hunting season.

The birds are still coming to the feeder. I need to replenish them and my supply of seeds. The Chickadees were really busy today. They flitter to and fro, happy to have another sunny day to fatten up and prepare for what is to come.





Today is the first day of the hunting season. Fire arms that is. In Michigan its a way of life. I hate it. I hate to see dead animals on top of cars and in the backs of trucks as you pull up behind them at the traffic lights. People proud of their kill do not even cover them, give them some respect.
Having said that I am not against hunting for food. I eat meat and am not about to judge others for catching their own. What I am against is baiting. Or trophy hunting. Or of making it a boozing event where the guys go off to the cabins in the woods and drink the nights away and go out killing in the mornings. I detest the need to eat meat. Far more than this I hate the cruelty of the meat industry and wish it could be regulated. I hate cruelty in every and any form whether it be the killing for fur, for trophies or the fur farms and puppy mills.
The thing is, the sad thing is, that hunting is a choice. Yes it keeps the deer herds down, they do need to be culled unfortunately because man has killed off the predators. Some how the world has taken a wrong turn and man has lost his respect for nature and is no longer the caretaker he was meant to be.

The Chaffinch in the Cherry Tree......

A man may sing in the morning
A woman may sing at night
And a dog may sing when the silver ring
Of the moon is high and bright
In the stealthy hour of twilight
The Nightjar churns his song
But the Chaffinch in the Cherry tree
He sings the whole day long......

A man may sing for his supper
A woman may sing for love
And a dog may sing for the silver ring
That hangs in the sky above
The strident song of the Stormcock
Goes out a song of strife
But the Chaffinch in the Cherry tree he sings for the joy of life

A man may sing from a song book
A woman may scale a score
And a dog may sing as his sires have sung
For a thousand years before
A Blackbird sings with ardour
A Nightingale with art
But a chaffinch in the Cherry tree He sings with all his heart

Kitten in The Fallen Leaves.............

See the kitten on the wall, sporting with the leaves that fall,
Withered leaves—one—two—and three, from the lofty elder-tree!
Through the calm and frosty air, of this morning bright and fair . . .
—But the kitten, how she starts; Crouches, stretches, paws, and darts!

First at one, and then its fellow, just as light and just as yellow;
There are many now—now one—now they stop and there are none;
What intenseness of desire, in her upward eye of fire!

With a tiger-leap half way, now she meets the coming prey,
Lets it go as fast, and then, has it in her power again:
Now she works with three or four, like an Indian Conjuror;
Quick as he in feats of art, far beyond in joy of heart.

by William Wordsworth

Rake up the leaves.............

This is it, the last of the leaves are coming down. Our town picks them up at the curb a couple of times and just prior to the dates they give us, everyone is out raking. Making a supreme effort to get those leaves out to the curb. It has been rather windy and so they are more often back up in the air than in neat piles at the curb. It is actually rather pretty.


The colours are still beautiful but most of the trees are bare now...........still a few piles left up there though..........



There are some lovely berries still on the trees.




So many this year so many pretty berries



The cardinal baby survived. (thank you, thank you very much) she still comes about every day. She has found the grapes, she does like the bird seed though and I hope she survives the winter. She had a good beginning and is a tough girl. I hope she builds her nest here next year.

November sky........................

Brilliant blue with Mackeral sky



The sun reflects upon the last of the yellow leaves, the Mackeral sky just makes it all so perfect.




Mackeral sky.
November blows in with perfect ease
with brilliant light on yellow trees
Mackeral skys in the deep deep blue
Intence invigorating hue.
JKS 2011

A final Look around the garden today......

Its time to rake the leaves and put things away. Time to put the glass balls and fairies safe inside for winter. Gather in anything else that may thrive inside, that's not likely. Plant the ivy so that can live and trim back things that need to be tidied up.
The birds are still busy, and the squirrels are busy making their stash for the cold days ahead and getting some meat on their bones to sustain them through the lean times. Don't worry little critters I will have food out for you.



I don't think the leaves will change any further before they fall off. I was surprised that the leaves are still on after all the wind we had. Then the rain. Still we have had some of the most beautiful weather this past weekend. There is little left to show in the garden. I found one beautiful rose still with rain drops on her.



There were a few more buds on other roses but they are withered from a cold night and I doubt that they will open. I will look tomorrow and bring them in if they open up. The last of the flowers for this year. I don't really like picking flowers for the house, I prefer them in the garden looking beautiful, but at this time of year they will die anyway............so let them live a little longer and give us pleasure.



Tristens little house will remain empty now until the Spring, next year he will be older and will enjoy it more than this year. A more active imagination by then and he will have grown some more. What will we be able to do out there next Spring? well.......that remains to be seen.
One last little pansy smiles from its corner of the garden and will come back again next year.



The deadly nightshade is full of berries and the birds like them and so I will leave them be.



So........to put the garden to bed, to sleep until the Spring. A long time from now........I do not look forwards to what is to come.

Bringing in the herbs.......................

When I bought herbs in the Spring, the garden center told me that a lot of them are annuals. So I planted those I knew were perennial (remind me next year to contain them before they take over) and the others I left in pots. Well, last year I brought inside a lot of nice plants so that I could try to save them. Ivy, geraniums and a couple of others including some nice Boston Ferns. I had no luck what ever. They died.
This year I have only brought in the house plants that I put out in the Spring. Those I know will live. They get a real boost from being outside and are ready to go out again in the Spring.
Well I brought in the herbs. Its not looking good at this point but I am nursing 3 or 4. The first one above and these two.



and one that is barely hanging on and there is nothing to show. I have a chive that is spindly and we shall see in a month or two how many are left.

Waiting for winter...................

The garden's a mess, all soggy and wet
Those sunny hot days we are soon to forget
The weather is changing the leaves almost gone
The flowers all hiding as though the sun never shone
Soon old man winter will blow in the snow
Cold fingers of ice when the north wind doth blow
Turn up the heat and gather inside
while the birds and the beasts find somewhere to hide.
JKS October 2011


Can I come in for the winter?