Marigolds

Last Wednesday had been very windy and hot, a summer sizzler. By mid-afternoon the temperature had climbed to 29C (84.2F)!! The warm sunshine also brought the bees back to the garden for a short time in the morning.

P.S. The next day we were back to our usual fall weather - still comfortable, but without the heat.

Today's Flowers

A Little Too Close/Two Bees

I don't usually see more than one bee on the same flower at the same time so I became very curious about these two. The bee on the left was also slightly larger than the one on the right. They were both covered in pollen.

The larger bee worked quickly and soon made her way around to the other side of the Gaillardia flower.

They finally met here, and that's when the smaller bee immediately flew off.

I guess it was just a little too close.

Friday Ark

A Dewy Morning

I took these pictures yesterday morning when I went for a walk down the road. The dew on everything and the sun shining through the fog made it all look magical. This is what I saw at the road's edge.

Spider webs covered in dew

A Yarrow plant

Spent flowers and flower seeds

A single daisy amongst the fall foliage

Buttercups in the grass

Strings of dewdrops (click on the image to see)

Thistle Blossom

Thistle-Down
by E. Pauline Johnson (Tekahionwake)
1861-1913

Beyond a ridge of pine with russet tips
The west lifts to the sun her longing lips,

Her blushes stain with gold and garnet dye
The shore, the river and the wide far sky;

Like floods of wine the waters filter through
The reeds that brush our indolent canoe.

I beach the bow where sands in shadows lie;
You hold my hand a space, then speak good-bye.

Upwinds your pathway through the yellow plumes
of goldenrod, profuse in August blooms,

And o'er its tossing sprays you toss a kiss;
A moment more, and I see only this -

The idle paddle you so lately held,
The empty bow your pliant wrist propelled,

Some thistles purpling into violet,
Their blossoms with a thousand thorns afret,

And like a cobweb, shadowy and grey,
Far floats their down - far drifts my dream away.

At Home

It's beginning to feel more and more like fall here in B.C.'s central interior. The leaves are slowly turning, the nights are becoming cooler, and the Canada Geese are arriving daily from their northern range. Fortunately, we haven't had any frost yet, and my marigolds, petunias, pansies and geraniums are all still blooming. It's actually very pleasant outside right now. For the past two days I have been working in the garden. Yesterday, after I was back in the house, several Yellow-rumped Warblers ran in and out of the plants and flower stalks looking for, I gather, insects and berries.

Later, when I was in the middle of making supper, two deer (one doe, one youngster) came from the hillside and began munching on the black currant bushes. They ran down the path when they heard me opening a window.

Some days there is plenty going on in these woods; other days it is as quiet as a stone.

Highbush Cranberry

These wild, woodsy shrubs are among
the first to show their fall colours.

Other common names: squashberry and mooseberry

Wild Asters

Like the stars in commons blue
Peep their namesakes Asters here,
Wild ones every autumn seen --
Seen of all, arresting few.
~ Herman Melville (1819-1891)from Weeds and Wildings