Halloween Fun Time

Halloween is here, and people all over the world are doing the strange changing of their identification/looks to that of a movie character, comic book hero, dancing girl, football player and who knows--oh some are looking like Zombies!!! Good Grief, get me outta here. Now as for me and my delightful spouse, we plan on a night of television mysteries, ice cream cones with the mysteries, and a night of relaxation and mystery. Well that is what we hope for. But the doorbell will ring, and on opening the door to a chorus of "Trick Or Treat" our relaxation and the continuity of the mystery movie will be interrupted. Oh well. Life goes on!!!!! A Pastor I know once said that in his Homily during a Service!! I do faintly remember Halloween, many years ago--and I mean MANY, as I now get senior discounts at stores and some cafes!!! That will tell you I am no kid anymore, only a kid at heart. The one Halloween I remember my costume was dressing up as a pirate. Someone, probably my Mom or Dad put something like charcoal or art chalk on my cheeks to fake a beard, I had the costume and bandana, but no sword. What the heck!!?? No sword, what kind of a Pirate does not have a sword? Well my Dad found a small piece of plywood that had no sharp points and that was my sword, and it worked fine! What a Halloween, it was fun, but the memories are faint. As to the other Halloweens, no thoughts or memories flood my foggy mind. My Grandsons in Ireland are fantastic, their Mom sent their photos of them in their costumes, wow, fantastic. They looked great!! And they were going to a party too! Well anyway, Happy Halloween. And I am happy to say my remote control on my TV/VCR has a pause button for when the doorbell rings. I think I will make myself up as a senile old fellow, and when I answer the door, will say, "What is Halloween? I have never heard of that. Candy, no way that will rot your teeth.!!" On second thought, I had better play the game right, so I can get back to the movie, it may be in a critical place in the plot, I cannot miss that!!!! Happy Halloween to all out there.

Geraniums

I have been out in the patio this afternoon working on my geranium plants. I have many growing in pots on terraces in the patio. They are doing well this time of year. The photo which is above is of a geranium called Pretty Polly. One of my daughters gave it to me several years ago. It does not bloom often, but when it does, it is beautiful and graceful. It is indeed one of my favorites. With the kind of warmish weather that we are currently having, plants need to be checked frequently for water needs. I did that today, and almost all of the geraniums needed water. Also our new Lavender plant and new Sage plant needed a drink too. Gardening is fun and really interesting. We have done it for years and will continue to do so. The beautiful hues of the geraniums are outstanding. We cut bouquets and bring the flowers into the dining room table everyday to enjoy them. What colors!! My daughter in Ireland also grows geraniums in pots at her house there in the Irish countryside. They are always very nice and beautiful, their colors ranging out into the environment for all to enjoy.

Thinking of Butterflies

Thinking of Butterflies

Today I am thinking of Butterflies. They are so beautiful and graceful. We have quite a few gliding these days throughout our garden. Once I saw the movie, "The Bridges at Toko-Ri", and there was a scene in that movie when a butterfly landed on the shoulder of one of the actors. The statement was made that some people believe that it brings that person good luck if a butterfly lands on your shoulder. I liked that! What a wonderful thought and idea. Who can say whether it is true or not? The butterfly that I photographed above is a Blue Marine Butterfly, and is not very large. It is beautiful and I found it on one of my ivy geraniums sometime ago. I particularly thought it was very beautiful and peaceful, and I like that thought. This is the time of year when you can see Monarchs, Yellow Sulphur, Swallowtails and others gliding throughout the garden each day. When my Daughters were small we had some very tall poplar trees and butterflies would come and lay their eggs in the deep green leaves of the poplar, and soon caterpillars would hatch out, then the crysallis would form and then butterflies would come out into the world. The girls would be most interested in them and we all had a very good time studying them and talking about them. The past is always with us, in those memories that we always carry with us in our minds. Someone said that butterflies are flowers that fly. I think that is true. They are beautiful and bring a rush of beauty into our daily experience. When you next see a butterfly, pause and enjoy it and marvel at its beauty.

May the wings of the butterfly kiss the sun

And find your shoulder to light on,

To bring you luck, happiness and riches

Today, tomorrow, and beyond.

---An Irish Blessing

Beautiful and graceful, varied and enchanting, small but approachable,

butterflies lead you to the sunny side of life. And everyone deserves a little

sunshine.

---Jeffrey Glassberg

Dungarvan

In County Cork, Ireland there is a very old city called Dungarvan. We have been there several times, and there is much to see and do there. There is a Castle being restored, a lovely harbor, a fine shopping mall, and all the other things that go with a town in Ireland. The town dates from well before the 1600's and many historical events occured there.

The town is located on the sea with many beautiful views emanating from within its boundaries.

Montmartre | Blog.com

A long time ago in my life, I had the opportunity to go to Europe and visit several very wonderful countries. I went to Paris, and visited Montmartre, that famous hill on the Right Bank of the river. It is the location of the white-domed Basilica of the Sacre Coeur. Many artists have studios there, and it is a most interesting district in Paris. I found it to be a most interesting area of the City, and enjoyed seeing the artists and their paintings on that August day in 1961. I took a photo of what I was seeing.

County Cork in Ireland has beautiful beaches. This is one that we often visit when in Ireland, in the coastal town of Youghal. It is beautiful and breezy and walkable most of the time if the wind is not howling. I especially like the clouds in this photo, like a field of cotton coming in from the horizon.

It feels like Spring is here with all the sunshine we have daily. The fog lingers off the coast and slips in -- in the evenings to leave dew on the plants and grasses, a nice sight in the mornings.

The new carpet is in, and it looks very nice. I don't know how long between new carpet one has, but new carpet has a renewing and newness to life.

The Towhees and Sparrows are very numerous in our hedges and grasses. We enjoy their songs, and of course the Anna's hummingbirds are here and enjoying our Mexican Sage blossoms and our bird feeder. How marvelous they are! Our day nears end, and we now are having sunsets near 6:00 p.m.

Coming For Nectar!

This hummingbird is on his way into the Mexican Sage plant in our front garden for a sip of nectar. They love the sage and come to it several times daily at this time of year. They buzz and hover in and out among the branches, often staying for a relatively long time. They are beautiful and wonderful as they move about the plant's branches. Sometimes when I am out gardening in the area of a Sage they will come in and if one stands very still, you can see them very closeup, as they feed. We enjoy their presence very much.

Wow, there are such beautiful clouds in the sky with their grey and dark patterns, as we await the first good rain of the season here on the Gold Coast. I have been gardening today, and what fun it is. They are predicting wind gusts up to 50 mph with this storm and that is significant for us. We never know when a transformer will blow or wires will blow down leaving us in the dark. So we have our portable battery-powered lanterns out and ready to go. We have had more than our shares of power outages in the past. Keep your fingers crossed we will not have one this storm. It feels a bit cooler today for us in this mild climate. The hummingbirds have been feeding at the Sage since early this a.m. I looked out the window at 6:30 a.m. and sure enough, some were feeding at the Sage at that early hour. Hummingbirds have to eat several times a day as they use up so much energy hovering and flying. They are a beautiful bird as they flit about the garden.

I like to think this is an artist's sky, sketched across the sky with charcoal. The wind continues.

An Artist's Sky

The sky tonight looks as though some artist has taken a piece of charcoal and drawn across the sky: a black blot here and a gray misty blot there and others across the sky. We expect rain in a day or two, the first of the season, and the arid land can use it. The last rain we had here on the Gold Coast was in June, 2011, and that is quite a long time without nature's moisture, but we have that all the time. The rain will water with nature's soft, life giving water, the new Salvia plants that are now in the ground in the East Garden. The plants are Pink Autumn Sage and Hot Lips Sage, and the Hummingbirds have already discovered them and visit every day. At this time of year we usually have the Anna's Hummingbird in the area as they remain year round. We enjoy them very much, as they hover about the various blossoms in our gardens. We await the rain with anticipation and I would like to share a favorite poem with the reader about rain. It is by Susan Toth, really a quotation from her book rather than a poem, but it says it all about England, one of our favorite countries. I hope you enjoy it:

"The best kind of rain, of course, is a cozy rain. This is the kind the anonymous medieval poet makes me remember, the rain that falls on a day when you'd just as soon stay in bed a little longer, write letters or read a good book by the fire, take early tea with hot scones and jam and look out the streaked window with complacency."

~Susan Allen Toth, England For All Seasons

Thor Olga on a beautiful summer-like S. Cal day in October. The colors are fantastic!

The Christmas Cactus (Schlumbergera) are blooming prolifically now in early October. Why? I always ask myself. It has to be our temperate climate here on the Gold Coast I suppose, plus I have them all in the SE corner of the patio on and near their terrace with limited sun, small amounts of water and monthly liquid fertilizer. Anyway, that is my analysis. They will bloom again sometime in the next few months again. I have told the story before, but my Mother used to always have a few Christmas Cacti, sitting outside in their patio some 160 miles to the south, when we would visit for Christmas. How beautiful they were! I shall always remember them. Perhaps that is why I started growing them, because Mother did, I think so!! They are not a real cactus, but they are in the succulent family. I love their neon colors! They are wonderful!! The one I am going to upload here today is Thor Olga, one of my first Christmas Cactus plants. The red and white color are really beautiful, and the plant is covered with blossoms. The Hummingbirds really like them, and I imagine it is the colors that attract them. We have a Thor Olga right near our patio door, and often the Hummers will come right up to the window, hover and appear to look in. How neat is that!!! I like it.

Barryscourt Castle, Ireland

Barryscourt Castle is located in County Cork between Cork City and Youghal, near Carrigtwohill. It is huge, and it sits near the highway, looming tall in the green Irish landscape. We have visited it before on previous trips to Ireland, but it was never open to receive visitors. On a recent trip, it was indeed open and we enjoyed the visit---inside of Barryscourt. The Castle is located very near the highway one can easily view it from there. The inside is very interesting and restored quite well. Behind the Castle is a garden also being restored. According to the HeritageIreland web site the Castle was the seat of the Barry family in the 16th Century. It is a fine example of an Irish Tower house.

Below a poem that I have written.

Barryscourt

Why are you here

O Tower house?

Thrusting skyward from the

Emerald green of the Irish countryside.

Is it to bear a message to us?

Is it to tell us of days gone by?

You magical castle--forever your secrets

Are hidden in time.

----BT