Mosaic Monday #9 - This Week

This is a few pics from my walk this morning.  The temperature was nice this am so a light coat was all I needed.

This is a path heading further into the river valley.  It's always interesting to imagine who walks this path.

The foliage is of much more neutral tones at this time of year.

The first on the top right I think might be Vanhoutte spirea.
The centre one is Common Snowberry (Symphoricarpos albus)
Bottom right is Dried Bull Thistle seed head.

This bench recently appeared at a condo on my regular walk.  It would be under full coverage of leaves in the summer and would offer respite from the heat.  As you can see the leaves have fallen and it's color fit right in with the dry leaves. 

This is whole wheat pancakes with a bit of high bush cranberry syrup and a touch of cream.  Yum!
A cup of chamomile tea rounds out the snack.  The white vase was a recent purchase at the thrift store.  In some of my shots for the tea calendar at my sister's we used hers but I wanted one.  It's been several months of looking regularly to find one not to big and simply white.  Happy with this one.

Sharing with Mosaic Monday #9 hosted by Maggie at Normandy Life.

Mosaic Monday #7

We had a great birthday card on the weekend.  There was a row of yellow happy face balloons welcoming the birthday girl.

We had to have a different plan because we could not hang them as they would have upside down smiles.  Do you know that sharpie markers are deadly to balloons?  Well, they are!  We found out.

My sister and I picked high bush cranberries.  They were very ripe and we had our hands very red before we were done.  We picked an ice cream pail each. The berries where processed into pancake syrup.  We each ended up with 10 cups of syrup each.  It was processed into jars and will be a welcome addition to breakfast during cold winters.

While I was picking I heard this knocking noise so I took a walk to investigate.  It was a woodpecker poking holes in the side of a garage.

I could not resist the wonderful yellow wood bench in the park where we picked berries.

Someone last week shared their apron.  I have not much use for aprons in my previous lives but I have been using one in the last couple of years.  I bought this one at IKEA in their Christmas clearance.  I liked the way the ties adjusted around the neck and down the arms to the waist.  Red was a good color.


Sharing with Maggie at Normandy Life and Mosaic Monday #7.

Devonian Garden Visit

I took a day off and drove into the country to visit Botanical Gardens.  I knew that the flowers would not be as spectacular as mid summer but the end of the season has some beauty of its own.  They have a butterfly showcase with tropical plants.  The bees were trying to get to the last of the nectar.
This tree is magnificent! 

The Morning Glory is wonderful and it always reminds of my Mom growing them along the fence and gate with I was a kid. 
Sunflowers are always a favorite of mine. They were tall which isn't that tall for me, so between 5 and 6 feet. 
The Cone Flower Echinacea is sports great colors and holds it's own in the garden.

There is the Kurimoto Japanese Garden which features art, waterfalls, fish ponds, several bridges, a bonsai tree exhibit, a large bell and several pagodas.  

There are many benches to rest a while as the Gardens cover 240 acres so a lot of walking is involved to see all the different gardens.  I was there over 5 hours and took 400 photos. 

The day was overcast and quite cool but comfortable with a jacket. Despite the weather there were 2 wedding parties at the gardens and several families out taking fall photos which required managing where I was at any given time.  A couple of the features I was not able to get to because the demand was too high.

Sharing for Mosaic Monday hosted by Maggie at Normandy Life.