Photography – Page 7 – Gardens For Goldens

Be Like The Bird

“Be like the bird who, pausing in her flight awhile on boughs too slight, feels them give way beneath her, and yet sings, knowing she hath wings.” ~ Victor Hugo

‘

And berries, too!

Purpose for The Day

“I sit in my garden, gazing upon a beauty that cannot gaze upon itself. And I find sufficient purpose for my day.” ~ Robert Brault

Yellow Billed Magpie

Yellow-billed Magpie.

Common in the open oak woodlands in central (and apparently, Northern) California –

but found nowhere else in the world.

Lucky us.

It likes open areas with large trees and streams,

and forages in grassland and fields.

Which means it lives and soars above the rain-restored meadow behind my work.

Lucky me.

Wordless Wednesday: Ruffled Feathers

I Spy

Cedar Waxwings in the trees. How many do you count?

Hint: You’re looking for this.

And the win (unless someone can disprove it!) goes to Rob of RobandDog.com with 21!

Still Something Right

The fog has arrived.

The meadow is greening.

My bird friends are back.

And the rain is coming.

There are still some things right with this crazy world.

All signs point to winter. In the span of one week, the garden has transformed from a fall garden to a winter one. This, of course, means that I am way behind. Dogs come first, and more than a few have had their turn recently. Hurray for…

Marley,

River,

Keiko,

and Dart.

While it looks like the garden is beginning to slumber, there is still a lot going on under the surface. Until a freeze, newly transplanted perennials and trees, and an army of spring bulbs are all growing roots, while earthworms and tiny microbes are still hard at work.

“Every gardener knows that under the cloak of winter lies a miracle … a seed waiting to sprout, a bulb opening to the light, a bud straining to unfurl.” ~ Barbara Winkler

All of this will come to a halt when we get our first real freeze. Before then, we need to complete the raising and mulching of the beds to keep them from floating away during our much hoped for El Nino, and to keep the soil temperature even.

Despite removing mountains of leaves, we still have heaps of them.

I rigged an open air container and ~~assigned~~ begged off the chopping duties. The leaf bits will over-winter in the container, creating a leaf mold to use as soil conditioner in our packed clay by spring.

I never mourn the passing of a season. Gardeners always look ahead. Besides, the colors of an approaching winter are beautiful in their own right:

Browns,

faded pinks,

yellows and reds,

And of course – the snowy whites…

the best color of all.

Giving Thanks for You

For each new morning with its light,

For rest and shelter of the night,

For health and food, for love and friends,

For everything Thy goodness sends.

For flowers that bloom about our feet;

For tender grass, so fresh, so sweet;

For song of bird,

and hum of bee;

For all things fair we hear or see,

Father in heaven, we thank Thee! ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

I share this poem each Thanksgiving, as a reminder of all that we have to be grateful for. I include each of you in that gratitude list, for traveling with me on this journey – and for the friendships I have made along the way. Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Fall Has Its Own Flowers

Fall has its own flowers;

instead of sprouting from the ground, they fall from the sky.

Fiery and bold,

delicate and whispy,

gaudy gum drops hanging perilously

from trees disrobed,

while blanketing the ground in gold.

“Autumn, I love thy parting look to view
In cold November’s day, so bleak and bare,
When, thy life’s dwindled thread worn nearly thro’,
With ling’ring, pott’ring pace, and head bleach’d bare,
Thou, like an old man, bidd’st the world adieu.”
~John Clare,”Written in November”