Herne Bay, Kent

Whilst in England this time, we had a lovely day trip to Herne Bay. I particularly liked these gnarly trees:

... and someone's amazing watering can collection:

Then we headed over to the ruins of St. Mary's Church in Reculver which dominated the hillside... and includes Roman ruins.

There's no denying this poster gets its message across. I love the simplicity and clarity.

My First Island Winter

Winter has come to the Island... and it's so amazingly beautiful.

The ice storm was frightening... but left such beauty along with the destruction.

There's still lots of berries for the birds...

I finally visited Snake Island in the snow... and viewed the city beyond the iced-over lake.

Square Felix Desruelles

One of the delights of Paris is that you often come upon something unexpected that takes your breath away. 

I particularly liked this beautiful wall. Apparently it was built for the 1900 World Expo (designed by architect Charles Risler and sculptor Jules Felix Coutan) to highlight the porcelain made in Sevres.

Pigeon Deterrents

These poor angels looked so uncomfortable. I think having birds roosting on this would look less painful.
(At the Palais de Tokyo, Paris.)

Parisian Graffiti

There was a definite underwater theme to some of the graffiti I saw in Paris on this last visit:
octopi seemed to abound at every corner...

often sharing a wall with various other characters...

and then there were fish...

and fish time-bombs...

and of course - scary mermaids

Vote Early - Vote Often

Recently I was in New Brunswick when they were holding their civic elections. I loved that some people had designed their own election posters. I found this on a lawn in Fredericton... 

 ...and this one near Boiestown. 

Unfortunately, I wasn't eligible to vote for either of them. I found Chad's message particularly refreshing - and he has the kind of face you could trust.

Opeongo Return

I was fortunate enough to return twice to Lake Opeongo this year. Both times we stayed at 'Hudson's Bay' which is just such an amazingly beautiful spot. The island we call 'Blueberry Island' is just a short paddle away. It's a magical place.

Canada Malting

I've always been fascinated by the Canada Malting building which looms to the east of me. For a while I was just taking pictures of rainbows and somehow it would sneak into one side or the other. Recently I've been taking photos at sunrise and that magical golden hour before sunset. Here's a few that I really like.

Very Scary

Here's Nancy's delightful pumpkin carved and looking very frightening indeed. It's one of our very own rouge vif d'etampes that we grew from seed this year at the Fort.

Hard to believe it started out looking this innocent:

Harvest

Here's some of the harvest from this year. We were so pleased with our results. We did have a few losses... one pumpkin rotted and one got stolen. However, we managed to harvest 1 prizewinner, 2 rouge vif d'etampes, and 2 galeuse d'eysinne. We learned a lot about tomatoes... we didn't give them enough space this year and we didn't trim them back enough so unfortunately we ended up with quite a jungle. Alas... next year we will know better. We got lots of tasty carrots and beets. Favourites were the golden detroit beets and the atomic red carrots. We also had lots of luck with our rhubarb transplanted from my mom's backyard this year. It just kept giving and giving. Oh yes and speaking of which our chard (ruby red) was a winner all summer and fall.

And now... it's time to start delving into the seed catalogues to plan for next year.

Square Foot Beginnings

June 4 everything was so small and there was so much room. By July 16 it already looked like this. It's pretty delightful.

Opeongo

The beginnings of warmth after the harsh winter have me pining for Algonquin. Ah to see the sunset on Lake Opeongo and hear the loon call. I long to paddle quietly along the shore. To soak in the serenity and peace. To hear the wind rustle through the trees.

Haiku by Q

Stein and B. Toklas

often

baked hash brownies

hence

birds on grass

alas