This “volunteer” chrysanthemum (I didn’t plant it; it’s right next to a large, red chrysanthemum bush that I did plant) showed up this autumn in shades of pink and rose. The yellow petaled flower is one of my rudbeckia (black-eyed susan).
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Ilana-Davita talks about what it means to obey, and what it means to listen. Mrs. S. comments about the student who does exactly what told to do vs. the student who takes the assignment to the next level. Speaking of Mrs. S., she is wondering how she should rename her blog.
Startup Wife (aka Abbi) has a Greens, Mushrooms and Noodles recipe that her kids wouldn’t look at (sounds like my kids).
James has some beautiful reflective photos of Lambertville, New Jersey. Ellie is looking down at the North Carolina State Fair. And Mary went to Sleepy Hollow, New York.
I am planning to write a post on soup – what’s your favorite? If you have a link to a soup recipe, feel free to put it in the comments, and maybe it will appear in the post.
The weather got warmer midweek, and the sparrows seem to enjoy my house.
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While going through old photos last week, I discovered this photograph I had taken in the 1980’s on my parents’ porch. I didn’t really get into art photos until the digital camera age, but one could say this was the beginning of my discovering that photography doesn’t just have to be portraiture. The pottery was made by me; what luscious glazes this pot had!
For more photos with a bit or a lot of red, visit Ruby Tuesday:
I was going through photos of family for our upcoming celebration of my son’s bar-mitzvah, and I found this one of the road on the way to the Kinneret in Northern Israel. So in honor of my cousin who lives near here and said he is sorry but “he won’t be in the neighborhood” for the bar-mitzvah, here’s the photo.
Reluctant Veggie educates about nightshades and remarks “it makes perfect sense that the food we put into our body has a direct impact on how our body performs. or, rather, how it doesn’t perform. and yet, most doctors have no clue. or would rather treat the symptom versus finding the root cause.”
Ilana-Davita had blogger’s block, but yet she managed to write an elucidating post about Bereshit.
Mimi posted a scrumptious photo of her Moroccan fish.
Is this azalea confused? Doesn’t it know it’s fall, not spring?
Just in time for cold autumn weather, we have one vibrant nasturtium flower. Our groundhogs ate our nasturtium in July, so we did not have the pleasure of nasturtium in salad this past summer. But we caught two ground hogs mid-summer and set in them loose in Johnson Park; we also installed two molar pest repellers, which seem to have discouraged more nasturtium-eaters from our garden. So by late August the flowers grew back, but not in time for a bountiful summer crop.
Happy are the sedum in my garden!
Here is information from Michelle, our Nature Notes host, about fall foliage:
The major factor influencing autumn leaf color change is the lack of water. Not a lack of water to the entire tree, but a purposeful weaning of water from each leaf. Lack of water to each leaf causes a very important chemical reaction to stop.
Photosynthesis, or the food-producing combination of sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide, is eliminated. Chlorophyll must be renewed (by photosynthesis) or be taken in by the tree along with photosynthetic sugar. Thus chlorophyll disappears from the leaves.
The variation in foliage — the shades of red, purple, bronze, yellow and orange — is all about pigment and what type each tree carries.
Carotene (the pigment found in carrots and corn) causes maples, birches, and poplars to turn yellow.
The brilliant reds and oranges in this fall landscape are due to anthocyanins.
Tannins give the oak a distinctively brown color.
The best colors show up when we have cool nights, bright sunny days and low humidity.
My neighbor’s burning bush: I get such a kick out of the name of this plant.
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I bought some orange chrysanthemums at the local Farmer’s Market on Friday. As they are in a pot, I can place them wherever I want in the garden before taking a photo. I may decide to plant them directly in the ground in November. The marigolds in my garden are holding up nicely in the fall, with red in the center of their orange petals.
For more photos with a bit of red or a lot of red, visit Ruby Tuesday:
We are in the middle of celebrating the holiday of Sukkot, in which observant Jews around the world eat (some sleep) outside in little booths called Sukkot (singular = sukkah). With my son’s guidance, this post will teach how to create a sukkah decoration (recipes vary wildly from family to family – there are no set traditions for decorations).
Ingredients:
First my son drew the initial sketch with pencil. Then he painstakingly colored in the drawing:
The spaceships have no religious significance. The Hebrew says “Brukhim Ha’Baim” – Welcome to All Those Who Come, which is a common greeting to put at an entrance to a sukkah. You can see those words on the front of our sukkah at the bottom of this post.
When the drawing is complete, one cuts some clear contact paper slightly bigger on all sides than the drawing. Then one cuts one more piece of contact paper the same size as the first. Carefully peel off the backing and place the contact paper on both sides of the drawing.
Here is the drawing hanging in our sukkah. There are also a lot of red apples in the sukkah; my son made a game for our guests of “count the apples” – he claimed we had 50 apples pictured in the decorations.
Here is a photo of the sukkah from further back. Unfortunately, this may be the last year of this sukkah. My husband says it takes too long to put up (he created it himself), and it is also not big enough for hosting guests. So we may get a new one, probably a pre-fab that is easier to put up.
Do you have any decorating traditions?
For more photos with a little or a lot of red, visit Ruby Tuesday:
I took this photo of flowers at Howell Living History Farm in western New Jersey in the middle of the summer. This shot was taken with the sepia setting on my camera.
This photo was taken a few minutes later, in full color.
Mary is celebrating the 50th round of Sepia Scenes. Glad I was able to share in this one. And WordPress tells me this is my 900th post.
By the end of September my rudbeckia develop a worn look but also a reddish glow inside the yellow petals. Marigolds pop up between the rudbeckia and are looking well, with their ruffles of orange and yellow.
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