Yarrow, Chickies and Trees

Morning......

Lovely breakfast of milkstand leftovers for the Brothers Grimm-

also known as Spearfighter 1 & 2.

Mr. Yarrow

Afternoon nap.....

Miss Marple and Poirot

Yarrow

Primrose, Spearfighter 2 and Spearfighter 1

Evening.....

Randomness and Bread

Daily Dose of White Oak

Finally have a pretty good recipe for Focaccia,

though still needs a bit of work.

BUT I used the fabulous blueberry salt Grace brought me back from Iceland,

which makes it totally awesome regardless. 

While it was baking, Fritha took to her toys with great exuberance.

Which only happens every other waking minute.

In case your day needed some insect porn,

I found these walking sticks mating on the side of the house, fairly high up.

Might need to click on picture to see.

Apparently a ritual that lasts from hours to days.

No idea what variety of walking stick this is, but pretty big for here- 

the large is the female.

For perspective.

Finished Focaccia.

not particularly fabulous looking but I know you wanted a pic anyways, Grace.

It was very good.

Kipperkites

Also known as Miss Kipper, Kip-Kip, Kippers...

and the nicknames only go downhill from there.

16 years and then some.

Until the last week, which was sadly pretty bad, not even dementia-

and alack of awareness of most happenings around her-

could slow her down. 

Although the lack of awareness thing eventually increased the chances

of anyone else holding on to their food long enough to finish it themselves.

Roses and Rainbows

It is a pity the Lockn Festival is having such poor weather. Yesterday was all right, until the downpours overnight, and today is wet gloomy and not overly warm. Latter might be best, actually. 

My bedroom window

Lovely Moss Rose I have this year-

not technically a rose but hey, it's in the name.

this one is blooming below my Zephrin Drouin, next to the thyme. 

It is a happy little fellow, so I am collecting seeds for next year.

Rose during rain....

And the rainbow!

Little Garden Bits

Forget-Me-Nots

Closed Gentian, slightly worse for the dry spell and the chickies

Ice Plant bud dancing open next to her shredded brethren.

I suppose that should be sisteren if I am using female pronouns.

Is there a feminine version of brethren, or do you use it either way?

Maybe you have to switch to comrades or something.
Actually, since you can hardly see the other shredded blooms in the fuzzy background,
I should probably just use a singular 'sister'. 
That is pretty boring, though.

Such questions I ponder.

Ta-da!

Yep, I think this post needed another Forget-Me-Not shot.

Dramatic skies , this time with a much needed storm rolling in.

Back Goat Yard

The back goat yard, around 5:30 when it is finally all shade-

From left: Yarrow (newly away from Mom), Genesis, and Whisper.

Miss Marple and M. Poirot have taken up residence in the back goat yard.

There was a great debate among visiting family as to whether this was by choice- 

meaning they got in when the gate was open and couldn't get out-

but I was sure that it was not a forced incarceration. 

Certainly all the other chickens have no trouble popping fence lines.

My only proof of this, however, seems rather hallucinatory.

In the space of one afternoon, after over a month of staying always within the fence,

I saw both Miss M. and M. P. in the front garden, then in the chicken yard,

and lastly foraging in the front goat yard.

By the time I went for the mail at 5, they were nestled down in the back yard,

for all the world as though they had never left.

Never, ever, ever trust chickens.

M. Poirot left and Miss Marple right

The past couple of days have had very dramatic skies,

here over the back goat pen.

Dramatic my friend, dramatic.

To evening and rest.....

Though Primrose remains unimpressed.

Thick Wet Evening

From the high garden, after an afternoon of thunderstorms that left the air actually a bit cooler, but made the trip to the compost rather like wading in the gloom.

Really need to get a goat behind the Tin Tube,

before those blackberries totally have their own way.

Have to be careful of the plants I have around the front sides, though.

The red light of the stove and my still-cooking dinner.

Sunflowers

The new pompom Chrysanthemums are lovely- the blooms are over 3".

There are also two shades of yellow, one I particularly love,

but for some reason those do not do as well and rarely reach full size.

Very sad. 

Everyone loves sunflowers.

Or they should.

Look at this handsome fellow, my tallest this year:

 Away up there, just hanging out, with high-flying bees....

Little siblings below.....

This red variety, maroon really, looks lovely against the house in the back.

Seriously, though-

that height. Airstream there strictly for size reference.

September 1st-

To state the obvious. 

Good morning.

Yarrow has grown considerably from giant baby to just giant.

He will be 12 weeks this Friday, is almost as tall as his Mom,

and is possibly part camel.

And the other part Mad Hatter.

It just looks like a Mad Hatter face.

Seriously.

He inherited his mother's love of being photographed.

Goldfinch pair on one of the many thistles-that-I-will-not-pull-up.

The female is just to the right of the male.

Fritha pleased with herself on the milk stand.

Best not to ask.

Yes, that is Amelia standing over her egg a couple hours in to 

the torrential downpour of the morning.... just a short distance from cover.

Again, best not to ask.

Very conveniently placed rainbow-

the pot of gold should be somewhere among the honeysuckle and Irises,

a bit north-east of the Forsythia.

I quite like Vultures.

Aside from anything else, they are very picturesque.

And keep the cow pasture clean when someone dies.

Big welcome to Genesis, this year's buck.

They are far less endearing in moving pictures than still. 

Whisper was mid wallop here.

Late summer has many ratty butterflies;

it amazes me how they can still fly at all sometimes.

You could insert a very sentimental poem about the beauty of the death of summer here,

if you like.

A very interesting squash mix from a friend.

She says they only planted zucchini and butternut, 

but those two are not in the same group so a no go.

And it would have to be a product of last year's pollination, 

so they must have had something else then.

It was really very good though. The flesh was pale yellow to pale pink around the seeds,

but turned green when roasted. So here's to adventurous squashing.

Another misty morning, thank goodness for the cool.