good bye summer

 

 

 

 

 

 Quick! Smell the roses, admire the daisies, salvias, firespike flowers, Lil's chrysanthemums and take some photos!

See the ring around the sun?  Ice crystals---the cold front is coming!

Fierce winds are blowing. Tomorrow all this color will be gone.
Freeze predicted for tonight. There was not even a warning frost this autumn---just winter.

Elijah helped me blow out the candles on the cake

 

a rare western visitor

On returning from a shopping trip, I spied this guy sitting first on the fence and then later on the power lines. It's a scissor tailed flycatcher. Probably a juvenile because the adult tails are much longer. After positively identifying him, I rushed to the house for the camera and hoped he would stick long enough for a photo.
I walked back down the drive, and he was still there. I managed a few distant shots in the overcast twilight.

They are residents of western states, but sometimes get pushed too far east in storms with strong west winds.
Many years ago, before internet, twitter, digital cameras, etc, a pair actually nested within a mile of my house. What a great record that would have been if there had been a way to report it! I do have some dim photos of the family that I took with my little point and shot film camera.

my birthday

my birthday bouquet

Antique roses that I picked from my garden glow next to the window and fill the the room with color and scent.
Alas, the photo is over exposed, but it will have to do.

We plan to spend the day with my new grandson--taking him for an outing to view the lakefront. I'm a little disappointed because the weather has turned cold and overcast.

a great day for zinnias

 

 

A field filled with bright flamenco dancing zinnas and backed with tall smiling sunflowers.

A local farmer planted them and invited folks to come pick all they wanted for $3 a bunch. The roads were lined with cars as people flocked to the field to take photos and pick flowers. Another field was ripe with pumpkins of all sizes, and youngsters excitedly dashed to pick their favorites to take home.

It couldn't have been a more beautiful fall day.

The migrating nashville warbler is thrown in because I was thrilled to get a photo of it when it stopped by for a drink.

not the last rose

.....but most certainly the last gardenia of summer. I brought it indoors and placed it in a vase on the window sill. Now it fills the house with fragrance.

 Sending all the wrong signals to my brain....

While pumpkins and gourds are on the hearth, and falling leaves come down like rain, my brain is sorting memories of balmy spring nights, singing mockingbirds, trips to the beach and youthful adventures.

lost, but now it's found

Brazilian plume plant

white rain lilies

 pink rain lily



Over the years I have stuck all kinds of bulbs and plants in front of flower beds thinking how nice they would look as a border to shrubs. After many decades the bushes and perennials have over grown those in front, rendering them lost--and often forgotten.

In the last few weeks some of these flowers have been spotted peeking out from heavy foliage and reminding me to rescue them. A quick photograph and a surveyor's flag should help in finding them when they are dormant again and safe for me to relocate them.

The white rain lily is especially meaningful to me because I dug them from a ditch more than 50 years ago. 

row by row

Let's just plant a few green onions for cooking...

There's some space left...maybe we can fit in some Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, and pak choy.

ummmm..there's room for a row of turnips and mustard greens.

and this morning I added mesclun, arugula, parsley and cilantro.

Inch by inch,  row by row

Gonna make this garden grow.


*the cages keep the rabbits from nibbling

gorgeous gourds

 

 

and pumpkins!

An explosion of fiery color...

wild ones

a wild morning glory

not sure, but maybe  a type of vervain

 passion flower

 wild ageratum

French mulberry or beauty berry


Just a quick walk along the perimeter of the hay fields produced these wild blossoms which I snapped with my iphone. Nature keeps sending color our way

I found a few migrating birds, but didn't have the camera lens to capture them. One of the best was a white eyed vireo that was gleaning insects from the trees next to the pond. Walking has been a pleasure in recent days with cooler temps and mowed pastures.

big week

The birth of my first grandchild, Elijah Thomas!


And my husband and I celebrated our 50th anniversary.

Texas odds and ends

wild turkeys quenching their thirst at a pond

agave or century plant blooms

Texas spiny lizard

Inca doves

gray fox, a mama, that raised 3 kits on the place
I never was fast enough to get their photo
was amazed that they climbed a tree while playing!


Since I haven't done any traveling and little photography due to the heat and some health problems, I thought I would stick a few Texas photos up to keep in practice.


I took these earlier this summer while in central Texas.

a walk in the pasture/a hint of fall

hay drying in the field

leaves thinning out on the native pecan

meadow beauties blooming in the wet places

hay bales casting shadow

 mirror reflections on the pond


It's finally cooled enough for me to dare a walk in the pasture. Temperatures and humidity have been daunting for weeks, and I just couldn't handle wading through the tall grass.
The insects--mosquitoes, biting gnats and chiggers have been horrible this summer, and every time I ventured forth I returned with another set of bites, no matter how much spray and clothing I had worn.

The season is shifting now. the hay is mowed, and there is a subtle change of color to the vegetation. The leaves are thinning and the bird population is beginning to move. A few early migrants are showing up, and the hummingbird numbers are building as they begin their journey south.

a gecko in the sink

Not a native to the US, and rather new to my place, he seems to have replaced the tree frogs that used to cling to the kitchen windows and eat the moths drawn by the lights.

They sometimes make a tiny chirping noise, and I searched all over for the small "mouse" that I thought was in the door sill. It was a gecko.

It is a Mediterranean house gecko and is nocturnal.

I captured him with a soft towel and returned him to the outdoors.