Flower for the Day Dahlias, Finally 10-17-22

After a very long wait the Dahlias have started blooming. Another later season aster

the dahlias have arrived in time for the early frost.

And here is a Wendell Berry poem from Katie.

Flower for the Day Its a Yellow Day 10-13-22

 

Its a Red Flag Day here- dry with ferocious winds but the flowers for the day are yellow. here is one of several stands of marigolds (Tagetes)   which are surprising because they were planted last year and wintered over. They were named by Carl Linnaeus in 1753.

They have sturdy little blooms.

And right on time for the season are some beautiful yellow chrysanthemums. Because of their intense hybridization I am unable to have them successful winter over. On the other hand they are very available. Like the marigolds they are in the aster family.

Like the marigolds they are in the aster family. And Linnaeus named them the same year as the marigold.

 

They fit well anywhere.

 

Mushrooms 10-12-22

As the flowers wind down the mushrooms seem to be more noticeable. This beautiful red mushroom is in the Polyporaceae Family.

This tan water catcher is in the Russulaceae Family.

And this grouping of small mushrooms is in the Physalacriaceae family.

   MUSHROOMS

Overnight, very
Whitely, discreetly,
Very quietly

Our toes, our noses
Take hold on the loam,
Acquire the air.

Nobody sees us,
Stops us, betrays us;
The small grains make room.

Soft fists insist on
Heaving the needles,
The leafy bedding,

Even the paving.
Our hammers, our rams,
Earless and eyeless,

Perfectly voiceless,
Widen the crannies,
Shoulder through holes. We

Diet on water,
On crumbs of shadow,
Bland-mannered, asking

Little or nothing.
So many of us!
So many of us!

We are shelves, we are
Tables, we are meek,
We are edible,

Nudgers and shovers
In spite of ourselves.
Our kind multiplies:

We shall by morning
Inherit the earth.
Our foot's in the door.

Sylvia Plath

 

Don's Blog Fall Trail Walking - 10-10-22

 The weather has been perfect for trail walking as the leaves snow down on us.

And for the perfect quiet spot with the sun low in the sky there is even a purple chair.

Sedum 10-7-22

This sedum (Saxifrageles) is commonly known as stonecrop. It is a succulent that has
been here since Jan planted it in the early 70’s. 

Up close it has amazing little stars

What do the explorers, 
the wayfarers, pilgrims we'd thought had long since disappeared, 
the Berbers, the nomadic herders 
and the exiled 
say to people like us whose law is of the letter and testament 
not of the unknown necessity 
which moment by moment 
is revealed 

Beyond us, where they live, there's a ghost language 
which accommodates what no language 
can say: 
the photons generated by the stars' clashing 
how the antelope wends its way through the orthography 
the yellow that returns to the rugged slopes 
after the heavy snows 

Translation: 2006, Richard Zenith 

José Tolentino Mendonça

Flower for the Day Whats Blomin' Today 10-5-22

 Take a look at what’s blooming today.

                           Black-Eyed Susan

                           Rose of Sharon

                          Coxcomb

                          Verbena

                          New England aster

                 

Thought Work

Off course from the frail music sought by words 

And the path that always claims the journey,

In the pursuit of a more oblique rhythm, 

Creating mostly its own geography,

The mind is an old crow

Who knows only to gather dead twigs, 

Then take them back to the vacancy 

Between the branches of the parent tree 

And entwine them around the emptiness 

With silence and unfailing patience

Until what was fallen, withered and lost 

Is now set to fill with dreams as a nest.

 

  John O’Donohue, in Conamara Blues, 2001.

 

 

Flower for the Day A Time for Being with Flowers 10-3-22

 

After a walk in the deep hardwood forest its a treat to just sit and BE with the flowers.We leave a chair near a field circle in the meadow, a great place to settle in.

I have been watering this small patch of mainly zinnias which are thriving.

They are like Joseph’s coat.

and on the edges there are Tatarian Asters which draw in butterflies great and small.

How long can you sit and just BE until you move on to the command of your inner voice to DO something else.

Don's Blog A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood 10-2-22

 

Almost every day I walk through my neighbors woods. Its a hardwood forest.This is what the trees are producing today.

This is a walnut. The squirrels love them. Sometimes it sounds like a thump beat as they fall.

 

My neighbor has a grove of persimmons which are also dropping in great abundance.Below is what the persimmon seeds look like, when squashed by a car or eaten by a coyote.

 

On several areas of the walk there are many hickory nuts.

 

And finally a longtime favorite - acorns from the mighty oak. I still imagine the miniature figures of the Teeny Weenies comic strip wearing the acorn as a hat.

Flower for the Day Globe Amaranth 10-1-22

 

Well here we are back after a brief sabbatical. Globe amaranth (Gomphrena globosa) is in the
Amaranthaceae family. These have been blooming for more than two months.

Within the flower heads, the true flowers are small and inconspicuous.

Who doesn’t love small purple balls. I collect the dried flowerheads after the frost and replant in the spring.

Don's Blog A Holy Rest 9-20-22

 This material is from Katies Post. Queen Elizabeth's committal service was at St.Georges Chapel Windsor and was on the BBC.

 

It was remarkably humble and solemn.

As soon as the choir of men and boys began to sing the eyes began to tear up.

And the solitary piper doing the slow walk...

The Service was impressive -  ending with:

"Into your hands, O merciful Savior, we commend your servant Elizabeth. Acknowledge,

we humbly beseech you, a sheep of your own fold, alamb of your own flock, a sinner of

your own redeeming.Receive her into the arms of your mercy,into the blessed rest of

everlasting peace, and into the glorious company of the saints of light.  Amen"