In A Cold Mountain Shadow

This is the view from my front porch. I did good. Monet lives in that vibration of a mountain shadow. I could be going computer screen blind again too.

I got the next letter from the IRS. It basically said, 'Leaves us alone. We don't want to hear from you anymore.' The wheels are spinning. Who knows what will get spit out.

The Joe Pye fell down in the last wind and rain. I cleaned that up. I have not wanted to cut things down just yet. The meadow remnants are drying very nicely this year, almost in collaboration with the Under Garden of Winter as it slowly emerges. It is looking good.

Now rest your eyes in better focus. The view is changing every day.

Tinkering

I stayed home with the Japanese Holiday Tree because I could.

Some plants fell out of the ground and followed me home this week. They needed to go back in the ground. Two unusually robust Heucheras became nine big fat starts.

One large Doghobble, Leucothoe, became a dozen.

I don't have much regard for Heucheras because they have been a fussy plant for me. We shall see if they like it here and if the deer won't eat them.

One day there will be an evergreen hedge of Doghobble in the tree line behind the heiau.

I saw red viburnum berries.

Drawing new lines in evergreen for the under garden of winter. The new plants go up with a curve to the right behind the bamboo and uphill of the three large tree trunks in the center. Into the shade of the forest. That shade will slow them down.

How nice. My White Pine got buck whipped.

My hope is a Doghobble hedge is going to be a barrier that is harder to cross. There will be gates. One can hope.

It will also be the back wall and finished frame of the garden off on a tangent.

Off on a tangent, that is in some ways the story of my life. I tinker on.

Winter Lights

The freeze dried meadow lights up as the cloudless morning sun rises over the mountain. Most sunny mornings I am gone before the light show begins.

It looks good, but it is too cold to stay outside.

Yes, you have to come back in. It is cold and the hounds are out.

More bling was added to the Japanese Holiday Tree.

The next day it turned on.

Let the sun and light come streaming into my life, into my life, into the darkness of everybody's life.

It Is Cold

Bloom Day was cancelled by 24 hours of rain. Then it got cold. The temperature range has been a steady 20 to 40 degrees. I look out on a winter garden coming into view.

Nobody wants to stay outside. It is below the minimum operating temperature. Anything moist is frozen stuck. Three cats make ever closer contact. There has been some hissing of course, a couple of screams. There is acceptance too.  

Herding cats. It is going very well.

I get home to a garden washed over by a mountain shadow. It is cold.

And It Snowed

This was a first, a hurricane with snow on the back side of it. I woke up to this Sunday morning. There is an entire week of frigid ahead. It is going to be very cold. More frozen stuff is incoming.

I came home today to the residue of the first cat fight. Solly came out of hiding right when I walked in the door. She didn't appear to be traumatized at all. Button literally scared the crap out of her to go along with the gobs of pale orange fur scattered across the floor. Button can get cranky when he is stuck inside in the cold.

I haven't heard back from the IRS since I sent them some money. Not the full amount. Because I'm stubborn. I don't know how that hairball is doing. The new hairball I just stepped in is health insurance. Medicare starts in March after I sign up. Current and new insurance ends and needs to start January 1st for two months. The health insurance labyrinth is not improved by data hungry technology that is privatized and sliced up into bits to subcontractors. I had to step outside for a moment just to howl.

Good To The Last Aster

A full day of stay at home hurricane waters is being directly followed by a week of winter. It is going to be cold. Snow is bound to happen. Some blue asters in bloom made it to the bitter end.

All that rain and wind pressed the drying meadow closer to the ground. Anything that is left is going to freeze.

The Under Garden will soon be here.

More Shiny Baubles

I ran into a chandelier on its way to the dump and grabbed a big bunch of shiny baubles to add to the Japanese Holiday Tree. I will be needing the ladder. My tree is getting tall. I am just waiting for it to get naked.

 

When Da Bones Come Out

The barren time is here.

The ground is now buried in a thick forest canopy of leaves.

I have had some time to go play in my own garden. Small chores long noticed were finally being tended to. The two largest Doghobble at the bottom of the garden got a haircut to bring them more into scale with the younger and smaller plants in the hedge row.

I could see in the quickly fading Lush, the bones of the Under Garden of winter peeking out. That started the process of brushing all the leaves and meadow remnants off of the conifers and evergreens. A new garden will soon be born.

And I found a new bone I have been wanting, Picea abies 'Pusch'. It is a dwarf, spreading, green colored spruce that produces lots of red cones. The dwarf spruce cultivars have had the least troubles with winter at my elevation.

I planted the Georgia aster, still in bloom, and the new baby spruce 'Pusch' this afternoon right before a much needed rain began to fall. Tomorrow I may play in my own garden some more. Da bones are coming out.

Solly

She is getting her princess groove back. That tail was whipping. Whip it good.

On The Day Of The Dead

Fall is finished on my mountain. The leaves have dropped.

The native Witch Hazel, Hamamelis virginiana is in full bloom.

Under pressure, my blood sugar remains a touch high and my cholesterol is creeping up, but I will live for a few more days. The pressure is under control.

I have blue asters for the Day of the Dead.

Blue asters as the bones come out.

The cat house remains surprisingly calm. A couple of weeks of verbal warnings plus moving some of Solly's scented furnishings over here early seems to have had the intended effect. Everyone's personal space is being respected and behind the sofa is not a coveted spot. The hissing is minimal. Solly has been venturing out from behind the sofa to explore more and more. 

I voted on the Day of the Dead.