Sky Watch, End of the Month View, Late Flowers, and a Critter, November 1, 2014

A Sky Watch sunset photo from my back fence-

I am also linking with-

Saturday's Critters hosted by Eileen

Today's Flowers hosted by Denise

Macro Monday 2 hosted by Gemma and Mystical Magical Teacher

I Heart Macro hosted by Laura


I'm also joining with other gardeners for End of the Month View, hosted by Helen.  These are views from my house windows, to the north, a weeping cutleaf maple in the right foreground, then one of my blueberry gardens, one has really pretty fall color now; behind is a butterfly bush, to the right a Rhodie-

Northeast, header Japanese cutleaf weeping maple and Rhodie-

Southeast, one of my garden beds surrounded by a fence to keep out the deer and rabbits-

Southwest, pears and beyond that cherries, walnuts, heartnuts, hazelnuts, apples-

West, Aronia, Hardy Kiwis, Turkish Tree Hazels, Trazels-

So, lots of Red Cedars and Big Leaf Maples, plus lots of fruit trees that I planted expecting most would actually be semi-dwarf as labeled.  It seems all plants can do here is GROW.

A few new blooms, I've never seen the Choisya 'Aztec Pearl' bloom in the fall before-

The tea plant, Camellia sinensis, has its 1/2" blooms-

The tiny Cyclamen hederifolium are blooming, the same magenta as a hardy geranium-

Some shots of one of my useful critters, who reduce the pests in my yard-

Seasonally, I want to share a few ghost stories.

The first happened in 1976 when we moved into a house in San Diego on a street carved out of the top of a ridge with canyons on both sides, a row of houses on each side of the street.  What the builders did not consider was that rattlesnakes migrated over the ridge every spring.   We had just moved into the house, and our back yard was all dirt and rock, but I had my wooden pottery kick wheel sitting there with a tarp over it.  A couple of boys were visiting my two children.  The phone rang and I went into the house, my husband was calling for the mail report.  I looked out the back window and saw the smaller boy was crawling under the tarp because he wanted to spin on the big concrete wheel.  Suddenly a still small voice (the Holy Ghost*) spoke in my head, "There is a rattlesnake under that tarp."  I hurriedly told my husband goodbye and ran out.  I pulled the little boy off of the kick wheel and then grabbed a shovel and pulled the tarp away from the kick wheel.  Coiled up next to the kick wheel, which was open on the sides, was a rattlesnake!   To me, incredible evidence that I am loved.

My second ghost* story happened in 1991.  We were still living on the canyon.  We had a cedar shake roof which was getting very old and cracked.  We decided to reroof ourselves, so first we removed all the shakes from the roof.   So picture piles everywhere of wooden shakes.  We were picking up the shakes and loading them into a trailer.  I bent forward over a pile of shakes, when a still small voice* spoke in my head, "There is a rattlesnake in that pile."   I went and got a 3-prong rake and pulled the shakes off the pile.  There was a rattlesnake coiled underneath!

Then we moved to the Pacific Northwest.  Three times while driving home in the dark, I heard the still small voice* say, "There are deer by the road."  So I would slow way down and look cautiously.  The first time I saw 2 deer right by the road.  The second time I saw 2 or 3 deer by the road.   The next time I felt impressed to stop and when I did, a deer walked in front of my car.

What I think about is what might have happened if I just dismissed the voice and did not act....  Like the time the still small voice* told me "You are going too fast."  I was anxious about getting late and had a lead foot.  I slowed down then got distracted and forgot to watch my speed.  Bright red lights appeared in my rearview mirror.   It was a speed trap.

*The term "Holy Ghost" is an old English term from the 1611 King James Bible for the third member of the Trinity, the term Holy Spirit being used now.  The original word in Hebrew, Ruach, means wind, and hence breath, and the Greek word is Pneuma, also translated breath.   I see the Trinity as being analogous to the sun, God the Father could be thought to like the sun itself, all-powerful and awesome.  The Son, Jesus or Yeshua, the visible likeness of the invisible God, could correspond to the light waves that emanate out and hit us and the earth, bringing life and color.  The Holy Spirit could be like the heat of the sun carried in the Infrared radiation, bringing warmth and touching our spirits.  From the time I was a small child one of my most powerful and enduring interests was to study Nature and through the things made, to acknowledge and fellowship with my Creator God, indeed many of my earliest memories are of plants, and songs of worship.

Hannah                                                 or cameras are macro

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