English Breakfast Tea plus scones lavished with cream and blueberry preserves on a rainy day.

Fantastic!  I was wondering if you would be making an appearance, and here you are!  Come in and sit down for a lovely cup of English Breakfast Tea, and perhaps a few scones lavished with cream and blueberry preserves.  It’s a wonderous day inside, as the heavens outside keep erupting with rolling thunder as storm after storm passes through.  I have been known for being adventurous, but sitting in the rain would most likely change the composition of my scones to rubbish.  So indoors it is. 

As I begin to write in my little writing room where usually writing is a myth, I have become carried away with what my mind really thinks about humans who don’t think about nature at all, as they live prioritizing humanity over other organisms.  I think the word idiot showed up a few times, especially about the plastic pollution...

…but on to lighter conversation.

I am the oldest of my four siblings.  My youngest sister died of cancer almost five years ago.   The next up brother died of pneumonia when I was in my twenties.  The next up sister is quite alive with her share of ailments unique to herself, and we often keep in touch.  The brother, just eleven months younger than me, disappeared from my life when I reached my forties and divorced my then husband.

We never think of all these little dramas when we are young.  Mom pinched pennies to clothe and feed us, and provide those important Christmas presents under the tree.  We thought it was always just there.  It never occurred to us the sacrifices that helped it happen.  Life seemed easy for us, although we were never materialistic, due to a lack of private income.

I was happy making mud pies with gravel raisin, or playing Red Rover, Red Rover, Throw the Ball Over the roof of our house.

My younger brother and I had many adventures together, most likely from our closeness in age.  We had no other siblings at that time.  Sometimes I was not always his best friend with the immature choices I made for our outings.  A hike to the foothills, the ones that seemed so close by, but were not, led us through the garbage dump grounds for the town's rubbish.  

Every trip to that wonderous site was like dangling a wad of cotton candy in front of us on a stick while we poked around in all that glorious trash to find some treasure.  You know how its is being young and full of dreams and curiosity.

Past the town dump was an excrusiating long hike before we reached the foothills.  His asthma attack almost did him in, so on the way back we took it slow. it was Mom who met us on that dusty road halfway back to town as dusk was settling in.  I don't think she ever said anything, and we were as mum as a dead mouse about the asthma attack.  

He was my buddy, but there came a day when he began to make friends outside of the family, and that closeness was lost forevermore.  I was on my own.

The art of making friends really doesn't have much to do with the art.  Shyness and the fact that I never fit in with the group, well... the bare bones of it all was I had no money to compete with what my peers thought was most important in their lives at that time.

This reminising is fizzling out fast and the lollipops and roses are no where to be found.  Change of subject to present tense works well. 

I haven't been well, but am at a better place for the moment.  We bought a Red Nova Rollator for me this afternoon, so no more dragging that not so loved walker all over the place.  It won't save the kitchen floor with its thousands of scuff and drag marks, but it did perked me up for the better with more mobility.  

I'm a happy person.

I'm using the Chromalux full spectrum light bulbs from the Scandinavia region for the living room and my writing room.  It's to see if this light will get me out of this funk I've been in ever since my stay at the Hotel California.  It's an experiment, so we shall see.

Sitting outside has been impossible for weeks due to spotty rain showers that always seem to find our yard.  Along with them comes the thunderstorms that announce their arrival with vicious winds.  I guess it's the small price we pay to leave the watering hose undisturbed. 

On days when the door may be left open with the screen in place, the mornings are heavenly with the smell of fresh air.  The Carolina Wrens and Goldfinch are always voicing their opinions, as a stray cricket may join in with the afternoon cicadas.  Hopefully I'll be able to sit outside a few times before winter wraps its icy cloak around me, forcing a heavy coat choice if I want to chill in the sun.

I'm watching 'Arrow' on Netflex, and have become obsessed with its tons of episodes always leaving me hanging on the edge wanting to know what will happen next.  I'm hooked on it.

In my writing room I sit, contemplating my best approach to end this post.  As usual, nothing spectacular or hogwash comes to mind.  Instead my mind wanders over to my golden swan bowl with seashell body and wings.  I collected another seaglass marble found by the seller on the beaches of Nova Scotia, Canada, to add to the small collection already there.

The marble's gigantic, about 1 1/2 inches in diameter, not really a marble to fit in between ones forefinger and thumb with knuckles to the ground to take a shot.  I'm wondering why it was created, and what mundane task it might have served.  Research doesn't help, as its clear glass with a large opaque green swirl that doesn't fit the norm.

Anyway, so much for meandering off topic.  I miss the outdoors, but if there is a blessing being shut indoors, it's definately my cats, Charlotte and Austin, born of the same litter, I chose to think.  They have always been inseparable.

They've been skittish lately, possibly pondering the joys of another veterinarian visit, and guess what... next month is a yearly check for Austin with a shot thrown in for good measure.  

I've perfected that totally dead pan look of indifference approach to these events and it's worked well, if one calls closing the bedroom door, sweeping broom under the bed twenty some times to chase kitty into the bathroom, then hugging the toilet to drag poor kitty out to pop into the carrier, easy-peasy.

Love always from this little place in Tennessee that has become my forever home for better or for worse.  Too many photos follow, but I think we can never get enough of a good thing, so I left them all ;-)  

They're worth the trouble, but if you don't finish, just skip down to the comments and let me know your attention span drifted off to that exciting vacation you're planning down the road to Bonaire with its flamingo flocks, pristine coral reefs, stunning sunsets, and clear desert air.  I promise I'll play nice...

...Maybe.

I have no idea the year of this photo, 

but it was before our school years.

Growing up, 

our neighbor always had hollyhocks 

growing in her front yard.

I'm especially fond of them.

The beautiful Grean Sweat Bee

on the Clasping Aster 'Paten'

The leaf clasps around the stem.

After the flower has been pollinated, 

the petal and the central disk begin to wither.

The petals roll inward and the disk florets 

change color to a dull redish brown as it goes to seed.

Behind this fading flower is one that hasn't opened yet.

Semiplume feather, I think,

of what bird I know not.

Celandine Poppy, Stylophorum diphyllum

beginning to change color as it goes dormant for the winter.

Question Mark Butterfly, Polygonia interrogationis 

The first one I have ever noticed.

It was too flighty to get any closer, so photo is lacking.

Eastern Carpenter Bee, Xylocopa virginica

I call them the gentle giants,

although the male bee can be territoral and intimidiating, 

but it's all a bluff because he lacks a stinger.  

This is a male bee in the photo, 

because the white face patch is visible on his face 

in the sixth photo down.

On the pink Turtlehead plant

Since it is too big to fit inside the flower,

it makes a slit near the base of the flower

to drink the nectar.

Leaf-Footed Bug in the Coreidae family

They suck juice from berries and other fruit,

but I have never found them to be a nuisance. 

The poor thing's just looking for a meal, 

so I leave them alone.

This one flew right past my face to land 

on the siding next to the deck table.

The flowers and seed heads of Erigeron canadensis, Horseweed.

This one is over eight feet tall, 

but the ones in the prairie garden are smaller.  

They have hundreds if not thousand of flowers, 

and many insects visit.  An annual, it dies at years end, 

but others will sprout up the next year.  

If you don't like it, cut it to the ground.

I love it since I garden for wildlife.  

It feeds plenty of insects.  

A type of Brown-eyed Susan with flowers an inch in diameter.

 Symphoricarpos orbiculatus, Coralberry

A member of the Honeysuckle family

Beefy Purple Tomatoes

Vic didn't water this one enough, 

so it was hard and papery.

He began to water it correctly, 

and I was going to photograph the three large ones, 

but Vic cut them off the vine to eat.  I just laughed.  

Tney are hard and not the reddish purple of the photo 

on the seed packet.  They're in the south window 

with its tinted glass, so we'll see if they actually ripen.

I have little hope, but I could be wrong.

Their biggest enemy at the moment is Charlotte, 

who keeps batting them off the window sill.

They're in a glass pie plate now.   

Winterthur Viburnum berries ripening from green, 

to white, to pink, then to blue.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

I still have my visitor pigging out on the Liatris flowers.

It came up behind my head with that loud rush of flapping wings,

but didn't stay for a chat.

Eastern Carpenter Bees on Liatris aspera

I think this is a Little carpenter bee (Ceratina sp.),

because it is small, black, and shiny.

I could be wrong. 

 It's hard to identify from these photos, 

as it is immersed in the flowers.

I think this is a female black sweat bee, due to the last photo

  The pollen is white because this specific plant has white pollen.

Only female sweat bees carry pollen 

tucked into the hairs on their legs.

Liatris aspera seed pods with a few seeds still intact

Callicarpa americana, American Beautyberry

The robins, mockingbirds, and cardinals 

have been eating the berries daily. 

Northern Female Cardinal 

in the tangly branches of the Blackhaw Viburnum.

Dog Gargole under the dogwood tree

with Uvularia grandiflora, Large Bellwort wildflower 

at the front of the photo.

The leaves are begining to die 

as it goes dormant until next spring.

 Blackhaw Viburnum red and black autumn leaf

I believe this is a female Black Sweat Bee 

in the genus Lasioglossum

Most female sweat bees carry pollen on just the hind legs,

but some sweat bees carry it on both their hind legs 

and their abdomen, as this one is doing. 

Lettuce Leaf Basil, Ocimum basilicum

Not a flavor I enjoy much.

It bolted and these are the flowers that will produce the seeds.

Tiny bee have visited them, so maybe sweat bees.

Euonymus americanus 

Butterhead Lettuce flowers

Didn't see this tiny insect until I downloaded the photos 

and started looking at them.  

Maybe a cricket type of creature.

 Cabbage White butterfly, Pieris rapae  

it is believed to have originated 

in the Eastern Mediterranean region of Europe,

and was accidently introduced to North America.

It is considered a pest, but is quite lovely.

Males have one spot and females have two spots 

on each upper forewing.

Leaving the flower

I remember doing this with Mom.

Always with Love~

Yvonne