So many guppies!

I have totally given up on trying to name guppies. The guppy tank always looks pretty much the same from day to day, week to week, month to month. In sort, there’s a lot of guppies in there. There are always lots, there are always new little ones, and somehow there always seems to be […]

Orchid bud

I made a mad dash out and in to feed the birds, and another leisurely dash to play with my writing meetup, and all along the orchid is cleverly staying inside.

Good times in the bird bath

I didn’t get a picture of it, but while the sun was out today, the same birds who looked all droopy and mopey in the rain were crowding into the water saucer and flinging spray around in a manner that can only be called exuberant. There were five or six at a time, flapping their […]

Winter water for the birds

How do you like my elaborate, highly asthetic bird bath? It’s a frisbee on a compost tumbler, with a couple sticks thrown in for the birds to get a grip on. Until yesterday, it was a clay saucer, but I broke it trying to wedge it out of the ice. That’s because my high-tech solution […]

Hazelnut catkins

Of the two hazelnut trees I planted last spring, one died and the other has struggled. It looks like a twig up there on the snowy hill. But it’s just strong enough to put out a couple of catkins during the warmish weather of the last week. Those are the male flowers, and the bud […]

Yep. It snowed.

So here’s the first snow that stuck. I’m so glad it’s only a thin layer, because it’s wet. Snow on the bushes. Snow on the barbeques. Snow on the patio. And that trail says, Snow on the cat’s feet.

Pitiful pea is pitiful

Well, that’s it for the pea harvest. One pod. Not exactly plump, is it? Plainly pinched and pitiful, this bitty thing is barely big enough to pluck, let alone pop into the ole pie-hole. Oh, pooh. It’s still a pea. Better luck next year.

Azalea leaves

It was so beautiful and warm today, all I want to do is show off more pretty leaves. Two little clumps of azalea. In the spring, one has white flowers and the other has pink. Now their leaves are turning different colors, in pretty mottled clumps.

The young in the ruin of the old

Light frost is coming over night lately, just enough to finish off the eggplants, which haven’t been looking too hot in the first place.The flowering tobacco at its feet is holding up, for no good reason. I had no idea it was so hardy. There it is, still flowering with the sweet alyssum, next to […]

Stamps for bees

2009 has been a year for lots of anniversaries. Galileo. Darwin. The Internet. The Berlin Wall. And now that we’re running out of year, word is starting of next year’s anniversaries. Like L.L. Langstroth’s 200th birthday. So who in the world is L.L. Langstroth?