My Everything Corner

Getting some practice in with black and white photography. Somebody please call up Mother Nature, And tell her I am anxiously awaiting Spring!

Another absolutely gorgeous day!  It is hard to believe that November has very nearly passed us by and it feels like Winter hasn't yet begun. It was above zero today and hardly a breath of wind.  I knew the feeders would be busy, and while it took the wee critters a few minutes to return after I showed up, return they did, and they put on a nice little show.  I would love to name this bird for you, but the only thing that comes to mind is show-off.  He seemed to know what a camera was and just how to hold a pose.  I really enjoyed my visit with him.  I hope everyone has had a lovely weekend and  is all rested up for what I am sure will be a busy week ahead.

Here are a few photos I had fun gathering a couple of days ago.  It all started with that mushroom, and since I already had the camera outside, I thought that I may as well take a stroll with it. This is a Shaggy Mane that has almost reached the end of it's life.  It comes out of the ground as a tight, white dome, and that is when it is good for eating.  Then it quickly unfurls and it will only look like this for another few hours before it's top flips up, blackening it completely.    A pretty little feathery foxtail made for a nice contrast against the grass. Our wild roses are the only thing that add a bit of red to our wild landscape. Looking outside, I can't believe how many leaves have fallen since I took this photo 2 days ago. A view from our yard into my neighbors hay field.  Bear and I walk there sometimes.  It is nice, because I don't have to leash him there and it adds 1/2 mile one way. A close-up of...

It is the perfect day to get a lot of fall yard work done.  It is also the perfect day to do many other things.  Things that I don't often take the time to do. Go for an early morning stroll with my kids. Wander around the yard gathering interesting seed heads for an arrangement.  Read a book on the sunny deck with a coffee.  Finish up a cute pumpkin experiment which involved roaming around in the trees in the backyard looking for the perfect 'stem'.  Take lunch out to the wheat field and picnic with my husband on the back of the truck. I even snuck in a nap shortly after lunch which truly made it feel like my much needed day of rest. I shared this post HERE at Viewing Nature with Eileen. With an old black and white enamel bucket, my daughter and I wandered around the yard and picked anything that caught our eye.  I just love how it turned out. It sure brought a lot of texture to my front porch! These sunflowers that resemble 'Big Bird...

It is very quiet outside today.  After yesterday's rain, the farm equipment is all parked, so there is little to no traffic.  The wind completely died back today, and there is hardly a breeze to rustle the leaves.  There is just myself, the dog and the birds, and even we aren't making our usual ruckus.  Everyone is enjoying the peaceful quiet of the day.    This web made by a funnel spider collected the rain drops beautifully. I'm not sure what type of birds these are, but they are usually very chatty.  Not today.  You  wouldn't even know they were there if you didn't look up. Bear usually gets pretty excited when I go out for a walk, and runs laps around me.  But today he just sauntered along not too far from me, the entire time. All the pumpkins have been harvested and are awaiting a few days of sunshine so they can ripen up. Leaves are starting to turn, and fall to the ground.  The hops are cover...

We spent some time cleaning off the gardens today, but not everything is at its end.  These tall sunflowers are just getting started!  The blooms are huge, and they stand out so well against a blue sky.  The bumblebee flew by just in time.  What luck! I shared this post Here at Viewing Nature With Eileen.  Thank-you so much Eileen!

Over the years, I've always admired any fall display with cotton in it.  I've seen it worked into wreaths, put into vases, and used as a bowl filler.  But alas, I do not have access to cotton plants.  What I do have though, are thistles and plenty of them.    I'm not sure why it took me this long to figure out that they have a similar looking texture to cotton, but yesterday it struck me.  Unfortunately, the little seed heads are too delicate to work into a wreath, but they stay put in a vase.    I used a few dead branches from an old caragana shrub, (I like the texture) to give the arrangement a focal point.  Then, I just went around snipping the seed heads into the vase, and Voila!, I've brought some of the Autumn beauty into my home.   I noticed a few other interesting seed heads forming out there.  I will have to start carrying my snippers around with me on all my strolls.   They look so pretty in the morn...

I'm having a wonderful day.  The kids woke up happy and trotted off to school; the husband left for the field to get back into the harvest after the rain on the weekend and it froze again last night, thus truly putting an end to the majority of my gardens and answering the question of what I should I clean up next. Yes, frost is a good thing, as I will get all my yard work done easily now before the snow flies.  Also, I noticed on my last 2 strolls around the country side that the mosquito population has significantly dropped, so now building a campfire is a much more welcomed thought. The fall décor is out, the pumpkins are off the vine and the kids are talking about their Halloween costumes; I so love this time of year.  Oh, and I didn't mention that I had fresh bread for breakfast and a quiet cup of tea, (London Fog, my favorite).  Not a bad way to start the day at all. Now maybe I should throw in a few photos, just for something pretty to l...

 It is very hard to believe that July has almost passed us by already.  We've had a great summer so far; beautiful eather, lots of time with family and a wonderful road trip have all made the time fly by quickly.  I'll have to save the road trip for another post, as I still have to sort through over 1300 photos from those 9 days. We kicked off summer as we usually do, with a birthday party on July 4th.  My daughter decorated this cake, and it one of my all-time favorites.  It's one of the happiest cakes I've ever seen! Irish moss in flower had become my favorite plant! The daisies have really only just started their colorful show. A lovely group of dwarf sunflowers to take cuttings from and decorate my house for fall. Gardening is at the center of our life here.  Of course, the flowers make for the best photos, but we also have 2 large vegetable gardens to tend to. I planted a lot of zinnias this year, including into contain...

This funny, little mushroom has chosen to grow about 8 feet up in one of maple trees. No danger of being tromped on up there! I love the purple these Irises have to offer, it's just too bad they don't bloom a little longer.  But their long grassy foliage makes a nice back drop for blooms later on. The first of the marigold blooms.  I started them all from seed this year, and am so excited to finally see a blossom!  Isn't that a happy color? More irises. and I'm not sure what particular type these are either.  I dug them out of a friends' garden and they bloom like crazy every Spring. I planted a little patch of chives last year and they have produced better than I could have expected.  I know they are delicious, but I keep them more for their blooms. How cute is this little guy???  He loves the chives even more than I do.  This patch of flowers is always humming with dozens of bees. Another cute little thing. ...