A Kind of Enchantment

Study lends a kind of enchantment to all our surroundings. ~ Honore de Balzac

It's time for another wander through my area. Come on along, willya?

Don't wait to make your son a great man - make him a great boy. ~ Unknown

I saw these three on the sidewalk just outside my building. Dad, kidlet and pooch enjoying a warm autumn day.

Always find a time to sit on a humid autumn bench to feed the poor birds or to think the dying leaves! ~ Mehmet Murat ildan

Let's head south to the river. It's called the Otonabee and it's part of the Trent-Severn Waterway. It started off in the north end of the town of Lakefield and from this point, it flows through Peterborough into nearby Little Lake and on to Rice Lake. This bench makes for a peaceful place to sit and think.

Anybody who doesn't know what soap tastes like never washed a dog. ~ Franklin P. Jones

It was the perfect day and place to give a dog a bath.

When patterns are broken, new worlds emerge. ~ Tuli Kupferberg

Speaking of dogs, I saw this one when I looked down at the uneven sidewalk.

Imagination is the eye of the soul. ~ Joseph Joubert

And not too far away, a bunny. Gotta love pareidollia. Does anyone else see these two critters?



 

Some of us are like wheelbarrows - only useful when pushed, and very easily upset. ~ Jack Herbert

Before we continue along, this is a bit of a throwback image - taken where I lived previously. The wheelbarrow is leaning up against the shed.

The library is inhabited by spirits that come out of the pages at night. ~ Isabel Allende

Moving along, this mini library is on a street in front of a house near my place. The sign says "Borrow a book or magazine or CD. Return it later or bring another in exchange - or not." I love this idea. I've stopped by a couple of times now - twice to "borrow" a book and on one of those occasions I've also added to the collection. On this particular visit, I noticed that the books in the back were in a messy jumble, so I straightened them up, added a book and left with Texico. I've not read it yet. Kim Zippel is a ward councillor for Peterborough.

You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stick-out teeth, but if you have good thoughts it will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely. ~ Roald Dahl

Folks were getting started at decorating for Halloween.

A grandmother pretends she doesn't know who you are on Halloween. ~ Erma Bombeck

A matching set on one lawn. I think this was supposed to be Curious George.

Blue thou art, intensely blue; Flower, whence came thy dazzling hue ~ James Montgomery

I have always had a soft spot for wild chicory. I'm glad to see it growing rather profusely around here.

The flowers were the color of sunset. And not the yellowish tinge of a lazy sun either, but the intense orange of a sun refusing to set on anyone else's terms. ~ Dolen Perkins-Valdez

A similar sort of flower - only in orange. I think it's Orange Hawkweed.

While the rest of the species is descended from apes, redheads are descended from cats. ~ Mark Twain

And speaking of orange, this little ginger-locked, ice cream-loving cutie is my neighbour. This photo was snapped last month after the Pride Parade.

A girl phoned me and said, "Come on over. There's nobody home." I went over. Nobody was home! ~ Rodney Dangerfield

Another welcoming neighbourhood porch.

Above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you.

Because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. ~ Roald Dahl

And one last throwback to the last place. Sunrise spilling out onto the lake while a heron lands on a floating dock.

Thanks for joining me.

Flowers, Foliage and Friends

Every now and then I have a bunch of photos left on my hard drive which never got posted in their time. These were taken during my last couple of weeks living at my old home. The weather stayed warmer there and flowers lasted longer than they did up here. It was as if summer had lived on when everywhere else had turned to autumn.

So enjoy a reprieve of the season with these summer-like images before yet another snowfall arrives. There's a big one due today.


When forsythia are in bloom, we usually know that spring has finally arrived. This typically occurs in April or May. The unusual thing about this particular plant is that it was photographed in partial bloom on the 17th of October. Don't try telling the blossoms or ants that they're out of season. It doesn't appear that they would believe you anyway.






The spindle berry is one flower which is at its peak during the autumn season. This bud is green throughout the summer and slowly turns pink in early autumn. It eventually splits open to reveal the bright orange berry which fades very slowly throughout the winter. You can often see the orange seed wearing a snowy winter coat well into February. Right now, in this October 29th image, they're at their colourful prime.






One of my favourite wildflowers it chicory. Its brilliant blue petals contrast nicely with the autumn leaves behind it. This too, was near the end of October.






Pretty pink flowers which kept blooming late into October at a local butterfly garden.






Maple leaves shine brilliantly against the deepening blue sky.






Another sweet yellow October holdout.







And the sunflower - a little worse for wear but always lovely from every angle.






One of my favourite vine-growers - the morning glory. I think I'll have to plant some of these next year.






Even flowers which have lost their petals can be lovely in autumn.







The mighty oak is especially beautiful in October.







A decorative cabbage catches the sunlight and produces a brilliant magenta glow.






I don't know what it's called but it's fluffy and wispy and it caught my eye.






Backlit by the sun, these leaves almost seem to be able to catch its fire.






A tiny ladybug making her way along the boards of the pond's dock. This was one of the last walks I took at my old place.






My ex-neighbour (that still tugs at the heart) and still-good-friend Caroline's house. I already miss our morning walks and chats and our weekend drinks and laughs. I think you're overdue for another visit up here, Caroline!

That's it for now. More coming up soon.

One Touch of Nature

-

One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.

~ William Shakespeare

Care less for your harvest than for how it is shared and your life will have meaning and your heart will have peace.
~ Kent Nerburn





If carrots got you drunk, rabbits would be messed-up.
~ Mitch Hedberg





I have my own views about Nature's methods, though I feel that it is rather like a beetle giving his opinions upon the Milky Way.
~ Sir Arthur Conan Doyle





The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong at the broken places.
~ Ernest Hemingway





And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.
~ Anais Nin





There is something beautiful about all scars of whatever nature. A scar means the hurt is over, the wound is closed and healed, done with.
~ Harry Crews


 


All nature's creatures join to express nature's purpose. Somewhere in their mounting and mating, rutting and butting is the very secret of nature itself.
~ Graham Swift

And now, without further delay, here are the Posts of the Week. The icon below is yours for the taking if if your blog post is named as a POTW.

***
READERS' CHOICE

Recommended by: Joeh
I Am a Tangle
by Therese
at You're Doing it Wrong

***

PHINE PHOTOGRAPHY

Avenue de l'Opéra
by Daryl
at Through My Eyes

Hay and the Dragonfly
by Daniel
at The Pixel Collective

Texas Rat Snake
by TexWisGirl
at The Run*A*Round Ranch Report

The Painted Sky
by Leah
at The Goat's Lunch Pail

A Time of Quiet Joy
by Kerri
at A Little Piece of Me


***

YOU'LL LAUGH

Focus Group Barbie
by Kerry
at Ed and Reub

Lunchbox Love
by Amy
at She Writes

A GOOD READ

The Tree
by Sandi
at Holding Patterns

August 15, 1969
by Cloudia
at Comfort Spiral

instincts, i got them
by Brian
at WaystationOne

Forty is the New Seventy
by Bone
at If You Only Read One Blog This Year

***

CREATIVE FUN

Ingenuity
by Solarity
at Living With the Sun


JUST PLAIN GOOD

How Did You Change Your World?
by Rosaria
at Notes, Tales and Observations

 
A Little Hard Work
by Kat
at Seeking Sanity


What is a Friend? 
by Linda
at Ye Olde Crones Gazette

***

Please drop by their blogs for a visit and leave a kind comment if you have the time. Also, please feel free to add your own choices (for any blog except this one) for a specific blog post in the comments section below, where others can see them.

Thank you

All Flowers Keep the Light

I know that on my last post there was a bit of confusion about the images. I should have been more clear, since I know how easy it is to skim over a post, collect a few words and come to a conclusion. Those image were not of our new place. Neither are these. I was having a few issues getting Frank's computer to welcome my camera as one of its own. I've since learned a bit of a workaround but it will take some time to go through them all and process some for you. I hope to do that before too much longer. Until then, I hope you enjoy this post.

Deep in their roots all flowers keep the light.

~ Theodore Roethke

I can't possible go through summer and not do a post or three just about flowers. This is going to be one of them.



Nightshade is an interesting plant. Along with their tiny purple blossoms...





They produce little clusters of berries. They turn bright red, eventually but these are still green.





The new growth of this leafy plant evolves from soft purple to pink, red and finally green.





While on the topic of purple flowers, thistles always catch my eye. They remind me of a prehistoric plant.





These purple bell-shaped blooms appear to be ringing out their tune as they sway in the wind.





This near-empty dandelion head stands alongside the creek. The background might look likes its seeds carried by the wind but really it's just foamy bubbles in the water.





Wild chicory are among my favourite blooms in summer.





This simple orchid plant bloomed in Frank's care. We weren't even sure what the plant was - he had inherited it from a friend.

I hope the flowers brightened your day. More photos coming up soon.

Petals & Wings

It seems that I have an abundance of flower and bird images and so please bear with me for one more round of photos depicting what has caught my eye through summer.



I love the simple beauty of the wild chicory. I photograph it often.





Touch-me-nots (or Himalayan Balsam) are so named for the pods which grow and ripen late in the summer. One very gentle touch and they pop open to reveal the seeds inside. They're irresistible - kind of like nature's bubble wrap.





The pods were just beginning to grow on this plant iwhen the photo was taken. They sure do look pretty in the late-day sunlight.




As do these blushing rose hips.





I'm sure somebody, somewhere knows the name of this wildflower, but it isn't me.





Likewise for this lovely purple plant.





This one I know. It's a coneflower or echinacea.





Sometimes a blossom looks just as pretty from behind.
 

On to the birds...


Mallards are lovely creatures - even when they're moulting heavily. You can see the wee bits of green feathers just beginning to grow back on this fellow's head.





Male cardinals certainly add a splash of colour to their surroundings. This guy is eating Chez Frank.





And this sweet little sparrow became familiar to us over the course of a couple of days. Frank dubbed him Big Nose. Unfortunately, he wasn't coping as well as his mates. He'd stop by the feeding station and eat well enough, but he appeared to struggle and flutter to keep his balance. He flew just fine the first day but his wings didn't seem to be able to give him quite the lift he needed by the next day. By day three, he was clearly ailing - unable to fly at all. Frank tried to coax him into a cage where he'd be able to find food, water and safety from predators overnight but that was just not to be. I think a swift kill (if that happened) was probably the kinder end for Big Nose. We never saw him again after day three. In retrospect (and by Googling) we determined that he probably had the West Nile virus.





Rest in peace, little Big Nose.

Stay tuned for more photos in a few days.