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

Thanksgiving

I had meant to post this on my sister's birthday, as this vintage postcard reminds me of how she was as a little girl - especially from the old photos - always hugging a kitty. Then I meant to post it on Thanksgiving, but other things were (and still are) on my mind. But without more delay, here it is, in recognition of my gratitude that my sister is back in my life again, something which i probably don't say often enough (have I said it at all?)

Endings

Drying, dying - little hearts
Just hanging by a thread
Waiting for the final gust of wind.
Soon, soon...

Buckets of Rain

"Buckets of rain, buckets of tears..."

In this part of Quebec, the skies opened fully last Friday and even caused serious local flooding, but we were ok, and it was my day off, otherwise I would have been stranded at work. The weather matched my aching heart completely: and still I cannot understand why, and how, Angel was found on the side of the road: she was always in the garden, and I often thought what a good girl she was to stay on the property, unlike some of the others. We will never know who, or why...

As I sat on the edge of the bed after a bath recently, I was thinking how our little routine would never be again: upon exiting the bathroom, Angel would come to cuddle with me, sensing the warmth off my skin and inside my bathrobe. This time, as I sat there, sniffling quietly to myself, little white Tristan hopped onto the bed and nudged me, as though he sensed my pain. He looked at me briefly with that at once funny and sad little face and then quietly lay down beside me...

"Life is sad
Life is a bust
All ya can do is do what you must."
(Bob Dylan)

Angel

So, the cosmos decided to give me another birthday present this year: I just got news that Angel is dead – found by the side of the road. She never went out onto the road, she was always in the garden. Lately she was getting more and more affectionate – and we had a routine, after my bath, she’d hop out of her basket and cuddle with me. We never know when it’s going to be the last time. Last year at this time, Timmy was alive, but fading fast - a sudden illness, and was gone the day before the 29th, my birthday. Then Chesney in May. Three have now gone – in one year. Angel appeared as tiny kitten that fit in the palm of my hand - on my birthday - all those years ago. She would not, could not, ever be held - affection was on her own terms - when she chose.

Sometimes it seems like life is just one long misery. Teaches me to have the blues for no good reason...

Fading of the green...into blue

[What is it? Answer further down...]

While I do love the fall with its cooler, more humane temperatures and glowing foliage, I also get the blues big-time knowing what is waiting just around the corner. I hate not being able to dine in the solarium as it's too cold - the increasing darkening of the days - the fading blooms on even the stalwart rudbeckias and such. Today is the last day of summer, as the Autumn Equinox teams up with the full moon to officially end the season tomorrow. And of course all summer I have half expected to see Chesney wander back into the garden; his sudden disappearance in May certainly cast a shade of sadness over the summer.

But, we have had lots of good times: cat visitors, cat adventures, long evening dinners out on the porch, chilled rose wine at weekend brunches, and of course flowers, lots of flowers:


Answer: Water bead on Elephant Ear (Colocasia esculenta) - don't you just love that?!




Droopy and healf-dead all winter inside, Abutilon, or Flowering Maple, explodes with delicate blooms by mid-summer and continues until frost...

Tigridia, or Mexican Shellflower: a gorgeous but annoying flower as it can only be seen early in the day as I leave the house in haste on my way to work. I take a quick photo, because by the time I get back, it has already closed. Good grief, even the Daylily has the decency to remain open until I get home! I don't think I'll grow it again until I retire - so I can see it all day :)

More to come....

Tristan Brings a Friend

Tristan is a little scrapper - albeit a sweet one. He often stays out all night, refusing to come in with the rest of the gang at the end of the evening. And sometime he'll come back with a slightly bloody ear, or a nick on his nose, or some grease mark on his pure white fur. Naughty boy! He is obviously going where he shouldn't be going. Early one morning he brought over this fellow - who looks a little bewildered...

Happily this rather serious looking visitor has a collar and and ID tube...
Bandito is hanging in there despite his diabetes. In summer it is sometimes hard to chase him down to give him his shots, but we do what we can....
The new patio furniture is so popular we had to buy another chair! And even so, sometimes we go in to the solarium to find all the "good" chairs occupado by the felines...
And Chaiyka demonstrates that clearly the new couch is only made for one - no room for anyone else - no sirree!

In other news, a small ginger cat was spotted up the street - I hope he's not homeless; a friend is feeding a grey cat that was abandoned after moving day - she cannot keep him; ((sigh)); and Rascal is still begging for food, at times looking totally desperate, at others turning his nose up, and SOMEONE is cutting out his mats - hmm....

Oh yes - that's him on our table - hmmm.....

August in Bloom

Amaryllis "Matterhorn"...



A simple bouquet in the sun...



Impatiens balsamina...very prolific/invasive, but lovely, and the bees LOVE them...

Daylily "Jen Melon" - a gorgeous shade of melon yellow.