Helen's Pineapple

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What a difference 6 weeks makes! You remember that I posted my sister's pineapple about six weeks ago when it was all red, green and purple with turquoise between the sections. Please click on picture! I saw it again on September 27th and it had changed a lot! If our frost is late, it may have time to get ripe enough ot eat!

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Both of my sisters have very green thumbs!

Autumn

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I always liked this poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

When I see Goldenrod and fields of brown corn, I think of this poem. Hope you enjoy it!

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Autumn

The goldenrod is yellow,
The corn is turning brown,
The trees in apple orchards
With fruit are bending down.

The gentian's bluest fringes
Are curling in the sun;
In dusty pods the milkweed
Its hidden silk has spun;

The sedges flaunt their harvest
In every meadow nook,
And asters by the brookside
Make asters in the brook;

From dewy lanes at morning
The grape's sweet odors rise;
At noon the roads all flutter
With yellow butterflies --

By all these lovely tokens
September days are here,
With summer's best of weather
And autumn's best of cheer.

by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The pictures are from the Internet, except the Goldenrod.

O is for Ocean ~ A to Z on Mondays, backwards

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September 9th, 2007 was the day I got my first look at the Pacific Ocean. Jeep had told me how breathtaking it was, and of course I had seen pictures of it, but to really appreciate it, you just have to be there! This is my first view as seen from the beach at Bandon, Oregon.

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This was a view from a high cliff overlook.

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There was so much beach and not so many people. School had already started and we had the beach (almost) all to ourselves.

Click on the picture above and see the couple off to the right near the rocks. Then Jeep used the 400 mm lens to bring them closer. They almost look like they are posing in the picture below and they weren't even aware that we were there.


The birds added interest to this shot.


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We were simply mesmerized by the big waves crashing on the rocks.



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Each wave was different and I wanted to photograph all of them!!!

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Jeep made the picture below and it is my very favorite of all that we made there. It adorns my mouse pad at this time. The solitude of this place, coupled with the lone beachcomber and wading bird, just speaks to my heart! Please click picture to enlarge.



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The temperature was in the fifties and the wind was blowing hard when we first got to the beach.


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We had hoped that there would be enough clouds to make a spectacular sunset, but there was not a cloud in the sky. The sky was very pretty anyway, as it turned various shades of pink, rose, orange, and yellow and we watched the sun sink slowly into the Ocean.



Visit Jen at unglazed to join this meme or to see what others are posting.

Tiny Treasures

When I went outside early this morning, everything was still wet from last night's rain. A few of these red surprise lilies had popped up, seemingly overnight. I moved a lot of these to another bed last year and the ones I moved have not bloomed yet. Perhaps they need a year off to rest or maybe they have drowned in all this water!

These cute little mushrooms had popped up in the planter of Petunias overnight. They were so tiny and delicate looking.

This is the Pink Polka-Dot plant with a pink and yellow Lantana. They have been almost hidden under the Zinnias. I removed all the Zinnias so these other plants had room to grow.

The Pintas are getting happy during this cooler, wet weather.

This little frog may not be a treasure, but he is tiny. He couldn't have been over an inch and a half long! Jeep saw him in the driveway and I sat down near him to get this picture. When I tried to get another shot he hopped away into a hole. I thought I was going to have to call for Jeep to help me up!!

Look for unexpected tiny treasures around the place you live!

Happy Fall, Y'all

I'm dreaming about another fall trip. These pictures are from last year's trip to the Smoky Mountains. We went to Maggie Valley the last two years and spent several days. The weather and the foliage was just gorgeous both times! We stayed at one location and made day trips out to different places each day.

These pictures are just meant to get you in the mood for your fall excursions!

Happy Fall!

P is for Patterns ~ A to Z, Backwards

While looking through my pictures, I noticed several with interesting patterns. I like the pattern of these beautiful trees we saw last year in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park.

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This Quilt was displayed in one of the museums in GSMNP. At this stop we saw some of the most vivid foliage that I have ever seen in all my life. Every leaf was a brilliant orange one very large tree. It was quite spectacular! They served hot Apple Cider for us to enjoy while we browsed the museum and store.



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I really like the pattern of the white polka-dots on the Monarch Butterfly. How neat that his body is polka-dotted, too!

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I think the pattern of a Caladium leaf is interesting.

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We saw this pattern at a boat landing. Grass was growing in the open squares of a material sort of like black-top.

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These funny looking rocks were in the area of Grenada Lake. I couldn't figure out what caused the pattern of holes in these shale-like rocks. See how some of them are connected?

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When we were visiting the Mississippi Agricultural Museum in Jackson, we looked down and saw that the floor was made from wood that had been cut in the shape of brick. I thought it made another interesting pattern.

Click on the title of this post or HERE to go to Jen's blog, Unglazed, and see what other bloggers have come up with for the letter P.

Happy Monday,Y'all!

Happy Sunday!

This little Chapel in Yosemite National Park is still used for weddings, etc.

Oh come, let us worship and bow down;

Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.

Psalm 95:6 (NJKV)

Twilight Hummers

Here are a few of the pictures I made just about dark last night. They seem to be tanking up for the night. Very soon they will be getting ready for their long journey South.

This is a young male. If you click to enlarge the picture, you can see a few red feathers on his throat.

This reminds me of Angel wings.

Finally, I caught two feeding at the same time.

Some of you have asked about my eye. I went back to the doctor for my two-week check-up after my eye surgery today. Everything is going as he expected, which is good news. All the vision has not returned, but he thinks it will keep improving for some weeks yet. I am to go back in a month for another check-up.

Loui, it was a very late breakfast today since we were getting off to the doctor. Today's brunch was just biscuits, butter, fig preserves and grape jelly, bacon and eggs, milk and grapefruit juice. We had already drank up the pot of coffee earlier. If we had been really hungry, we would have added either grits or Hash-browns.

We were in a lot of rain on the way to Oxford. This will surely go on record as one of the rainiest summers in history!!!