Chaiyka Assists with Mail Call !

Hiya - wadya get ???


Let me help you open it!



Blech! Needs some sardine oil...



OK - I think I'm making progress... (nom...nom...)



Right - That corner's done - next corner!

(Ah - can't wait 'til Christmas unwrapping - I'm your cat for the job!)

Tiny Toad Lily

This little gem was the very last bloom in the garden: the very small and delicate Toad Lily. It is so late to form buds, that only one flower managed to unfold before the severely killing frost zapped all the remaining greenery, and flowers.




Rudbeckia triloba is a "must-have" for me, as it always is the last to bloom, but well ahead of the frost and hence there is lots of time to enjoy it. Also, it is remarkable for its upright and well-branching habit - so it rarely needs staking. The stems are long, light and airy - in some light, at dusk, it appears the blooms are floating in mid-air, dancing in the early evening breeze. Just beautiful, and I don't know why more people don't have this cultivar. There will be more next year to enliven the fall garden.

But, frost has come, and it even snowed last weekend. The cats are grumpy that the weather has curtailed their activities, although secretly, I am happiest when I know all my babies are inside, as a blanket of snow deepens and curls around the house, keeping us all warm and safe.

Autumn Poem

Autumn hills lie purpled,
Barren are the fields,
Garnered is the harvest,
That the summer yields.

Autumn leaves are falling,
Skies are dull and gray;
Wild geese southward calling,
Howeward fly today.

Autumn winds are blowing,
Cold, and damp, and drear;
Winter is approaching,
Filling mean with fear.

Autumn snows are falling,
From the lowering sky,
Giving us a signal --
Winter's drawing nigh.

Anonymous,
1928

Painting by Claude Monet