The colors red

 ..and other inspiring ideas....

Sometimes after a having an dry spell of ideas and lack of motivation one needs ... something. Early this morning I looked around the internet and read a few things then looked at some blogs. Most of them had to do with photography.

Well that added to my motivation and joy. So much so that I was able to go out and look for opportunities.

These are Highbush Cranberries taken last week when Charlie and I took an afternoon walk up the road to check these plants out.

Here is the difference from July 1st of this year:

And here is the photo I took of the berries this morning...

I thought Red! Red! It is the color of holidays, of cheer, of bright and beautiful things. 

I have been following this bush since spring. Oddly enough, I've never gotten a photo of this bush in flower. I hope to get it this coming spring so I can complete my 'journey' of watching it through the season. 

I should mark it with a little flag before it drops its leaves as it will be hidden amongst all the other brush this winter.

Nanny Berry Red! Apparently after red, they will turn dark purple or black colored.

Nannyberry on July 1st of this year. No photos of the flowers this year. Again, I need to flag it somehow.

And then just your run of the mill Sumac. Truly though, they do add so much color to the roadsides!

Of course, there is always this in red....

A Ninja Minifig helping to trim flowers....

And in the spirit of the coming Fall season...

A Vampire Knight... in Red....

Some shots from the morning's walk to the meadow as the sky burst out with color.

The last shot is looking west from the pasture south of the house. This is probably the only other spot I can get a full view of the sky without the forest or trees crowding the sky.

That was my Red Theme for the day. September has been providing us with some amazing morning skies ... finally!

Garden Stuff

I did not do the big vegetable garden this year. Instead I have been depending on the Farmer's Market and a local co-op store that sells fresh produce from nearby farms. Walmart produce has been 'worser than awful'. 

I am going to purchase some veggies to freeze and dehydrate later this year so I will be set for our winter crop of veggies.

However we have three tomato plants in some rather ugly containers on the pallet garden.

In the slats in front there are cosmos and some other flowers for later fall flowers. On the other side I have Verbena. It doesn't like this garden as much as I hoped but next year I'll try something else.

The ugly green tub is a delight. I have coleus and a really beautiful geranium that I've never seen before [pointing up]. The leaves are beautiful in two tones of color and the flowers are very delicate looking.

On the porch I have some hen and chicks in this neat pot given to me last year for my birthday by my neighbor. I thought the hen and chicks died off over winter. Surprise!

I have hen and chicks all over the place and they are all doing this neat reproducing thing. I might just have to make a hen and chick garden somewhere. I have them growing in stumps and several other rather drab containers.
I even packed the holes in the stumps with dirt and then plopped the hen and chicks on the wood. I have so many that I will have to make some plans for next summer.

Below is another pie plate garden. I found an old pie plate and tossed some nice dirt in it. The little plants were over wintered in the house and replanted this spring. I need to pick some more moss to use as mulch. 

Oh! I see a little dragon peeking out from one of the geranium pots!

My first garden 'statue'. A T-Rex eating garden gnomes. And...then garden gnomes napping just below T-Rex. This just makes me chuckle.

Another very large pot on the porch with stone crop sedum and that beautiful delicate geranium. 

I took nasturtium seeds and planted them in the bare spots between the bugleweed plants that were devastated the winter last year. Lack of snow cover allowed so many plants to die. However, right now they are making a very strong come back.

I planted these for my friend in Mobile AL. When she lived for a short time in Massachusetts she had a garden with so many of these. She misses them now as they don't do well in her hot climate. I take photos of these and text them to her. They started to blossom on her birthday.

Tired of it yet? Her is my Lego person I named Mirth. Her smile is infectious!

I love her stocking cap and pigtails. She looks happy holding that bright nasturtium!

I'll stop here because I don't want to bore anyone!

The Happy Table is coming along, I have to wait for another dry day to try a light white wash on it and then top it off with a polyacrylic sealer. The photo below is after I started working on this side of the table. I did some free hand drawing in pencil and then filled it in with black paint.

I had coffee and breakfast out here the last couple of mornings. 
So nice to have a pretty outdoor spot to relax and eat!

Have a safe and fun weekend everyone. We will be staying home and enjoying our home and gardens. Most of the yard is done and the rest can wait until the rain is done and it dries off again.

Today was a random day

Since the rains have been off and on for the past few days and the humidity has come up, I thought that Morris and I should go check out the forest for interesting things.

Some days I have a purpose when hiking, today I didn't. I did follow the mule/deer trail that I keep trimmed and worked on some touch ups with my machete.

I stopped and admired the barberry bushes that have invaded the undergrowth and some I trimmed to the ground so Siera or I wouldn't have to brush up against them while riding or hiking.

The wild geraniums are just starting to blossom, soon the forest will sport purple blossoms as the violets and Jacob's Ladders fade away.

 Wild Geranium

Jacob's Ladder

Morris came along to keep an eye on me as usual.  He also is very helpful in finding hidden deer trails.  We explored one that I hadn't been on.  I had a lot of ducking to do, but the side trip was worth it.

We found some very odd mushrooms/fungi.

I have no idea what these are:

At last we ended up near a large dead elm tree and I began searching for morels.

I was not disappointed.

I found enough to make another delicious meal.

By the time I got home it had started raining again and the contractor's were putting away their tools.

Apparently the trusses are supposed to come on Monday!

I didn't take any update shots today as it was raining too hard by the time I got home.

And I had to make a nice late lunch and take a nap for my midnight shift.

It was a very nice and relaxing day.