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Saturday, November 1, 2014

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

©Weeding on the Wild Side, all rights reserved.  I like to visit your blog and comment, but cannot do that if Google+ is the only option, so I will comment here or by email if a link is provided.


72 comments:

  1. Hello Hannah, great post. I love your pretty sky shot and the weeping maple..Your stores about the rattler snakes and the deer are amazing.. I am glad someone watching over you and the boys.. Lovely photos.. Thank you for sharing your post with my critter party.. Have a happy weekend!

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  2. I love how the fiery clouds echo the shapes of the trees.......lovely photo!
    Your surroundings always look very interesting Hannah.

    Happy weekend!
    Ruby

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    1. Thanks, Ruby, I enjoyed your copper enameling, I dabbled in that too.

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  3. Thanks, Eileen, you are really fast! Thanks for hosting, I enjoyed your prairie dogs.

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  4. Hi. I enjoyed this post. Loved the beautiful sky in the first shot and the garden shots. Good to know that you listen to the inner voice of the Holy Spirit and act on it. Sometimes I find that there does not seem to have ( my) logic but if I obey, it is what I should be doing. Have a great weekend.

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    1. Thanks, Margaret, it is wonderful if I do listen, but can be disastrous if I don't.

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  5. You are being well taken care of. Enjoyed reading your post, the old photo is a treasure and your other photos are great too. The flowers are gorgeous and amazing photos of the snake. Thank you so much for also linking up with Today's Flowers Hannah, I appreciate that very much. Have a happy weekend :)

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    1. Thanks, Denise, it gets a little harder to find flowers all the time, so it's fun if I am surprised by some new blooms. I wish the snakes were friendlier, more like a king snake. Thanks for hosting!

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  6. It was all so very lovely, until you put that snake in there. Ugh!! Have a great weekend.

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    1. You know you had to be taught to hate snakes, you could open up your heart to them.... garter snakes are really useful and to me they are beautiful, their scales are smooth and glossy, beautiful patterns.... just saying. Thanks for visiting though.

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  7. i like your woodsiness. pretty snake!

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    1. Thanks, Theresa, I have to fight the tree roots and competition, but I can always find shade to work outside on a hot day.

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  8. The cyclamen are pretty and I love the beautiful snake. Have a great weekend!

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    1. Thanks, Gunilla, I enjoy seeing the little cyclamens this time of year. I enjoyed seeing your beautiful swans.

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  9. Love that snake. I went with a snake, too!

    I've not seen a garter snake with a red stripe on its back before, we don't have them out east (red stripe on top, I mean...plenty of garter snakes!). I guess it is a Diablo Range or Northwestern garter snake.
    ~

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    1. I think these are Northwestern Garter snakes, they are quite variable in color. The common stripe color is yellow, I've seen greenish and red as well. I'm just glad to have them around. I haven't seen any other snakes here.

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  10. We all need to listen, at times. and I, too, have had that happen 3 times, but many years ago .And your snakes and the stories, you listened, everyone was safe, and you still have colour in your garden. Your header has that maple with glorious colour. Take care, Jean.

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    1. Thanks, the trees and shrubs are just starting to color up here. The maples are great for the red colors, and the blueberries have great fall color as well.

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  11. Oh, I do envy you your current harmless snakes. I never see any in my garden, but we had plenty of garter snakes and black rat snakes back in Massachusetts, and I miss them. They eat slugs. Great closeups of the Cyclamen flowers.

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    1. Thanks Alison, I had to create some shelters for snakes after my daughter left her cat here. I pile up branches in some places, and put newspaper, cardboard, or old tarps on the ground so they have something to hide under. I would like to believe my cat no longer bothers them but I don't know. Before cats, I had a large tarp on the ground and when I pulled it up there were 16 snakes underneath, some of them pretty big for garter snakes! That was a sight. I saw one once in the process of swallowing a slug.

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  12. A very nice photo series .... amazing what growing and lives in your garden ...
    great job ...
    Best regards, Karin

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    1. Thanks, Karin, I like to see wildlife, I do see the occasional salamander and tree frog as well, not many lizards like there were before the cat. Grrr. But she does eat voles, baby rabbits, mice, and baby squirrels.

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  13. Lovely sky and great shots of the flowers and snakes. All the photographs are very good. I love the shot of the child (you?) at the end.

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  14. Thanks Carver, yes, that was me at the beginnings of my fascination with plants. We lived with my grandparents in South Carolina for a couple of years until I was 5, and I have many memories of their garden, flowers, and vegetables.

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  15. Heisann!
    Remarkable stories, and wonderful views from your house in all four directions.
    I like your wild garden, so much! Have a nice weekend ;:OD)

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    1. Thanks, it's very woodsy here, which makes it quiet most of the time except when our neighbors ride around on their quads or motorcycle with no muffler. But behind our house is a very big field, then a ravine, then a hill. So deer like it here.

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  16. I love that first pastel sky, and the cool snake. I also like snakes as they get rid of pests. But not rattlesnakes!

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    1. Thanks, Al, I like your snakes too, and even rattlesnakes are excellent for getting rid of rodents, but I don't want them in my yard. At least where I live now there are no poisonous snakes or spiders, or at least no black widows, which I had everywhere else I lived as an adult.

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  17. Such beautiful shots from your garden. I love the garter snake with the red stripe - so colorful.

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    1. Thanks, Pat, I like all the little colorful scales and the patterns on the snake. I have seen it a few more times, and I put down some tarps in another area and saw snakes there as well.

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  18. Very beautiful pictures from the garden but I especially like your "ghost stories" If that is what we mean by ghosts, then yes I do velieve in them.

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    1. Thanks, Mari, if people want to mess with the spirit world there's no one like the Holy Spirit!

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  19. A wonderful vegetation and flowres and a great capture.

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    1. Thanks, Christian, I enjoyed your shorebird photos.

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  20. love both flowers and critters. It is a very beautiful snake you got there. :)

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    1. Thanks, I like the colorful patterns in the scales of the garter snake.

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  21. Wow! An absolutely amazing post! You truly have that "Still Small Voice" guiding you. We all have that, as Christians, and need to listen!!!

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  22. Hello, Dearest Hannah; Oh you look So adorable in the picture and I am happy learning about "Holy Ghost" from this post! And the last phrases are truly impressive and admire you, my dear friend.
    What a vast greenery you have and beautiful flowers♡♡♡ Never quite like snakes but I also learned that they are helpful reducing pest p:-)

    Sending Lots of Love and Hugs from Japan to my Dear friend in America, xoxo Miyako*

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    1. Thanks for the sweet comments, dear Miyako, love and hugs from the PNW.

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    1. Thanks, Romi, the trees are always green, but the Red Cedars are dropping old leaves now and turning the paths red. I enjoyed your Thankfulness posts.

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  24. Beautiful photos, I love these delightful flowers. Beautiful fall colors! Pretty baby snake!

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    1. Thanks, Leovi, the fall colors are getting better here.

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  25. i would love to shoot the snake.

    the sky photo is gorgeous!

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    1. Thanks, Totomai. I wish the snake would pose for me but it could only think of escaping and moving through my fingers.

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  26. Beautiful sky and mazing colours in the snake - especially powerful is the line of orange. Your rattler stories are fascinating. The still small voice so often helps the journey of life.

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    1. Thanks, Gemma, orange is pretty rare in the snakes in my yard. I wish I could say I always listen.

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    1. Thanks, Andy, now it is rainy all the time so harder to photograph things.

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  28. huh, thanks for the story - your garden is amazing but snakes, no! I'm a city girl! :)
    I don't like snakes nor any kind of scary bugs...huh.

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    1. Snakes, I've had pet snakes. They are very clean, neat, constrictors actually enjoy being handled. My daughter grew up very afraid of spiders, I could never understand it.

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  29. I love those Cyclamen!
    Interesting ghost stories, too
    Have a wonderful week!
    Lea

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    1. Thanks, Lea, I'm glad you enjoyed them. Happy Daylight Savings ending. It's dark here now before 5 pm.

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  30. A beautiful pink sky ! Fortunately I am not afraid of snakes, only of spiders, but where I live there are no snakes at all, spiders unfortunately yes !

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    1. Thanks, Gattina, I am blessed not to have poisonous snakes around anymore, it is nice to stick my hands into a pile of weeds without wondering what might be there. No black widows, either!

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    1. Thanks, Freda, I don't see many sunsets like that one.

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  32. Lots of nice photos! Useful critters? Spooky rattle snake stories.

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    1. Thanks, Villrose, I don't know how much longer there will be flowers...

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  33. Calling by from Macro Monday, My first cyclamen of the season are also in bloom.

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    1. The Cyclamens are such sweet little flowers. Thanks for visiting, I like your chestnuts roasting.

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  34. Do you think your oneness with nature has made you more receptive to "messages". I know when I've been outside for extended periods of time I feel a connectedness that is hard to explain, as if I've plugged into a network of things I can't see but know are there.

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  35. I do spend mostly my entire day outside in the garden in the growing season, but I'm also listening to praise and worship music the entire time as well, God talks, I try to listen.

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  36. Love with your garden, the snake is there picking up slugs, beautiful.

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    1. Thanks, Bob, my garden has a lot of the attributes of a forest. I just wish the birds were not so shy. I admire your wonderful bird photos.

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  37. I enjoy these beautiful flowers, but am interrupted by the ugly snake.

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    1. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, to me the snake is beautiful, colorful, glossy, and useful.

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  38. Such a beautiful garden with big bones of trees and shrubs. I love stories like yours...those voices we hear, some call Guardian Angels too, that give us warning. I have learned to heed those whispers too!

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  39. Thanks, Donna, the big trees are amazing, a little harrowing in a windstorm. We've had a few blow down but remote from the house.

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  40. Hi Hannah,
    marvelous photos of the Sunset and the littel snake. Amazing !
    Best regards, Synnöve

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