Thankful

Thanksgiving was not a holiday that I really want to remember. MeMa was only able to eat about a tablespoon of mashed potatoes and gravy before she needed to retire. Earlier in the day I was able to get some of the garden work done before the daylight disappeared on me, there is so much to be done that I choose to ignore in order to spend time with my wife.  This last infusion seems to have taken longer to bounce back from. But tomorrow brings a better day and that is something to be thankful for.

MeMas latest "Porch Post" for the dog walkers.

 

Bored Blogger

Jason’s Thanksgiving Eve performance.

 

Purple Jam Up

Our neighborhood has always had many walkers, whether with or without dogs. It is one of the older neighborhoods and most everyone on our street has a keen interest in their gardens so there is always something interesting to look at. Since the year we moved in I have always kept the front gardens tidy and designed the landscape to be pleasant to the eye of the pedestrian. I like color especially dramatic colors or shape. This callicarpa or Purple Beauty Bush fit the bill. It is planted right at the sidewalk edge and is about five feet tall. This morning while we sipped our morning coffee there was literally a foot traffic jam up consisting of several dogs all wagging their tails as their owners oohed and ahed over the bright purple berries.

Spring time, this now vibrant plant looks like any other shrub leafed out with dark green leaves. Berries start forming but are green nondescript little bundles tucked into the leaves. When fall comes, the cold nights drop the leaves, leaving the purple berries. 

The berries stay put until food sources become scarce then within a half hour the birds will strip every berry from the once vibrant Purple Beauty Bush leaving it just another shrub in the landscape.

 

Rainy Day Jobs and Bird Song

Since MeMa has no immune system along with this second wave of Covid we had to tell our sons that we will be passing on family gatherings during the holidays. It is a sad but necessary decision in order to keep their mother safe. I could see the heartache in my lovely wife’s face as she talked on the phone to our eldest son. I immediately started thinking of ways to brighten her days. Her little canary “Mickey" had passed  a couple of days after her cancer diagnosis and at the time I just cleaned out his cage put it in the attic. I told her we would take a canary break with all the chemo and a hospital stay coming her way. We really missed the bird song filling the sunroom so this last Friday we visited a nice couple who raise canaries as a hobby. They were very proud their birds and enjoyed showing us around. MeMa had five birds to choose from and decided on a very nice red factor cross. When we got him home I asked MeMa what she was going to name her new bird? She said since it was Friday the 13th his name has to be Jason.

I checked, no face mask and he wasn’t hiding a big carving knife.

Since the weather had turned to cold heavy rain, we busied ourselves with indoor projects. I cleaned and packaged zinnia seeds.

MeMa worked on embroidery.

The weather may have been cold and nasty but the room was once again filled with bird song.

Winter's Grip Is Starting

Good news from MeMas surgeon today, she is healing very well. Roxy was just happy that she finally returned to the car.

 The rest of the day was spent mostly indoor by the fire. However I did get out for a few fall photos.

Japanese Maple 'Suminagashi' with its intense red fall color was a gift from my twin brother Don and his late partner Tony for my 50th birthday.

It really brightens up the back corner of the garden.

One of my very favorite trees is this dwarf Ginkgo 'Chi Chi'

Coral Bark Maple

MeMas favorite tree is the Harlequin Glorybower with it's cobalt blue seed heads.

A sure sign of winters grip is here in MeMas picking garden, just two weeks ago she was filling her basket with dahlias every color of the rainbow.