Flotsam and Jetsam

The above phrase has become a composite meaning "odds and ends". So on this Labor Day Weekend - a time set aside to honor the working woman/man - I'll show you some odds and ends existing in my life at present.

Look how tall the Impatiens have gotten this year! This picture was taken from inside looking into the window boxes, and is a record for us.

Physotegia - "Obedient Flower" and new foliage of the Grape Hyacinths.

BAD! BAD! Sedum Autumn Joy

Properly trained Autumn Joy!

Wood Aster in the perennial garden and a wild white aster.

Pretty Snapdragons - Doubly lovely because there were too few this year.

Beginning blossoms of Sweet Autumn Thug - Oops - I mean Clematis and the flower of nearby Fountain Grass.

Why on September 2nd have I only gotten about 4 ripe tomatoes off this dwarf plant? Because the deer kept "pruning" it each time a new branch would start growing! Notice the Alyssum right next to it - the tomato plant was meant to be small - but not that small!!

Hot Hungarian Wax and Jalapeno peppers managed very well except for a little slug damage to the leaves once the drought was over.

The Golden Rod was covered with all sizes of wasps and this fat, vitamin C -filled Rose Hip is a sure sign of Fall.

We like to set booby-trapped , dilapidated lawn furniture around the yard to surprise unwary guests. That's a very thorny shrub rose growing between the seat and the back of this chair. ( Many years ago Ashley and I rescued these from houses that were being demolished not far from here. They were old then!)

"Leaves of three, let them be." My older brother, who sometimes talks in maxims, quoted this as we walked the Poison Ivy infested paths. These ripening Jack-In-the-Pulpit seeds don't look real - something like those plastic picks you stick in Christmas bouquets.

My ubiquitous mushroom picture. I guess it wouldn't be a genuine "Alyssa" blog without a fungus somewhere! These are rather unique - they are only 1/4" or less tall !! (See, I told you they were special!)

Pumpkiny-looking gourds growing in a flower bed right outside the patio doors. Why are they there, you ask? I'll admit it, in the dead of winter I found some molding gourds left from Thanksgiving in the house (I don't know how that happened!) and I didn't feel like plowing through snow to the compost bin, so I just threw them out the doors into the flower bed. And there they sprouted. The flower is a Sedum of some sort.

It was a very good year for pond plants (right Mary) and I have another container that looks just like this. I can't bear to toss them into the compost bin. And a feathery piece of perfection!

Gardening stuff Sale Time!

A Target bargain - a Smith and Hawken watering can, originally $24.95, marked down to $6.95! I can't imagine who'd pay 25 bucks for that thing....

Three grape plants (see the tags) and a thornless Boysenberry plant marked down. I looked up in my "Gardening in Wisconsin" book and none of these were listed as hardy in my zone! Same on the Internet. The thornless Boysenberry is hardy to 5 degrees according to a web site I found. The tag on the plant says it is hardy in my zone. Now who do I believe? I'm going leave the picture tags on - That could be the only grapes I'll get off the plants. Same with the boysenberry.

I know this Juniper will do well here. This was not very cheap even with 30% off, but I told Steve it was a present for him! He was admiring one just a few weeks ago. I always have a feeling that Monrovia takes malformed trees, lops off a few branches here and there, calls it a bonsai, and then jacks up the price 4 fold! Now, all we have to do is figure out a place for it - we have NO idea.

Rummage Sale Bargain !!

Aren't these pretty? They are only a tiny fraction of green glass containers an old woman (she's dead now) had collected! Her niece was selling them all and they were marked down to a couple dollars a piece. The most expensive was the small vase, farthest to the right - supposedly hand blown - or mouth or whatever - in Finland. It has a tiny sticker with a little man blowing glass and says "Finland". I especially like the chicken covered bowl so I will give it to my sister.

This weekend was the first time this year we sat in our lovely gazebo. I know, BAD! BAD! Steve and Alyssa! Look on the center of the table and you'll see green onions standing in a glass. That was dinner - no, just kidding. We also had grilled chicken and yuca mojo (I'll explain the yuca mojo another time.) It was very nice and .......

this is the view from the other direction. I snapped this just before the fire in the pit started to show real flames. I like the way it looks here though. It got pretty dark but we had a candle going and we listened to the loud crickets, toads, and a lone owl. Well, then we started to feel guilty about the pugs in their crates and went to get them. They both pooped and it was so dark we didn't want to step on any "surprises" so in we went.

It has been a very nice Labor Day week end so far.

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I have long been of the opinion that if work were such a splendid thing, the rich would have kept more of it for themselves.

Bruce Grocott (1940 - Observer 22 May 1988)

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Bye for now,

Alyssa

From The Sublime To The Ridiculous !!

I just found out I was nominated by Mary of Mary's View for an award called "Bloggers for Positive Global Change". Here is a direct quote from Mary's blog explaining what it is:

The progressive folks at Climate of Our Future created this award as a way to encourage or "blogging with a purpose". Those who receive the award may bestow it upon five other bloggers who they think are helping to “build awareness among their readership in order to create a more sustainable and enlightened future”.

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I'm not able to nominate other bloggers right now (I want to take my time and do it right!) but I will do so in the future.

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I'm very glad that my love of nature and our planet Earth was evident to Mary (and I hope others, too) and I will do my best to live up to this award. Mary's generous compliments make me blush and want to give her a hug.

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On our little plot of ground Steve and I have tried to maintain a, somewhat,

balanced environment without letting it all become wild. Probably 2 of the 3 acres is relatively untouched and we do have lots of wildlife. We have food and water out for the birds and shallow watering trays on the ground for non-winged creatures. Besides natural vegetation growing in the wilder areas, we've allowed Mullien, Milkweed, False Solomon's Seal, Solomon's Seal, and

Goldenrod to grown in our gardens. We've also planted lots of fruit bearing shrubs as well as wild flowers from our nearby Retzer Nature Center. Steve has built me a wonderful 3 box compost bin which we've used for many years and only Roundup is used to battle garlic mustard and buckthorn.

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I've always recycled glass, plastic, metal and newspaper and now we are able to recycle junk mail, magazines, etc. and all cardboard items. We have only about a bag and a half of garbage a week now. Any packing materials that come here I either reuse myself or take to work and use when I send out parts to our customers. We usually buy our chicken and eggs from an organic, solar-powered farm and also purchase tea and coffee from fair-trade companies over the internet. Since I have very little time to devote to physically becoming involved with worthwhile causes, I donate money to numerous conservation and human and animal rights groups. And, lastly (but not least), I try to elect officials who will take care of our planet and protect all creatures who share our beautiful Earth.

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And now on to the Ridiculous . . . .

I mention in my profile my love of video games. The rest of this blog I will explain that to you.

First the needed components to play a video game:

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1. A system - That is the machine you put the game disc into. I'm sure you've all heard the names PlayStation and XBox. I have PlayStation 2, XBox, and XBox 360 systems and there are some others also. I did own a PlayStation but gave it to my daughter years back. You see games are made for a certain system and only occasionally do they "cross-over".

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2. A game - That's pretty obvious. There are many different types of games that fit nearly any player. Some examples are racing, sports, army, shooters, arcade, (do you see a male orientated thing going on here??) strategy, action adventure, massively multi player on-line, and role playing. (Sometimes I think you need a pair of you-know-whats to play video games!!)

I don't have a pair but I really enjoy the role playing games. Most have to do with hero/heroine (yes, they are starting to have a "female" option) going on a quest and saving the world etc. There are numerous beasties to slay, items and money to amass, comrades and enemies to make and huge unknown and scary worlds to explore. It can be pretty heady stuff. Here is a picture of only some of the games I own:

The photo isn't real clear, but you can get the idea how pretty the covers are (doesn't that sound stupid?). They are not all role-playing - some are variations on fighting and army-type stealth. I've played through (key word - "through") some of them and those I care for almost as much as my beloved books. Others, such as the much bemoaned "Grand Theft Auto" series,

are fun to pick up and spend a few hours with. They all take you to somewhere where you (at least not me) could never go in this real life. (I'm very surprised that I make a pretty good sniper! Who knew?)

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What I'm playing now:

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The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion

This is a huge game with typical "save the world from evil" plot but contains numerous side quests and character development. I like the fact that it is not a "pressure game" that I have to make quick decisions in and can slowly move through at my own pace. Here are pictures of my female battle-mage (sort of like a fighting magician - think Gandalf). Her name is Cycanea Cour , a name I made up. I also made her look the way she does - she's a type of human- size elf (think Legolos). There are a number of races you can pick from and build on to as you desire.

... in her fighting regalia and some stats

.....with some items she has ...

... in a Medieval town she's exploring ..

I have to add that Oblivion has fantastic graphics and very pretty, almost classical music playing through-out. The characters all have spoken voices (many video games have written dialogue) and the voice acting is done by famous people (think Captain Picard on Star Trek something or other). It's very pleasing on the eyes and ears.

Game and Walk-through:

In complicated, big games such as Oblivion I really need a "walk-through" - a game guide that explains lots of things that aren't included in the tiny booklet that comes with the game.

There are lists of items, armor, enemies, potions, spells, and maps of the town, caves, dungeons and the game world in general. For me it is necessary. Also on the internet there are a number of gaming sites that have hints and cheats to use in a game.

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I do enjoy completely the other world of gaming. It is like a book that I can control and make things happen in. The only bad thing about it is the time that I take to play . So far I have about 70 hours into Oblivion and am no where near done! One of my first large role-playing games I totaled 120 hours! And I can only play on weekends and I usually don't play in the summer - it's more of a long winter night thing. So, as you might guess, I will be playing Oblivion for a long time. (P.S. I also have a sniper-stealth game going on the side - just for a little mindless action !)

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One half of the world cannot understand the pleasures of the other.

Jane Austen (1775 - 1817) Emma

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Bye for now,

Alyssa

Flowers, Fruit, Fungi and Rain !!

There aren't many new flowers blooming at this time. I thought I would photograph the fruit of past flowers and some fruiting bodies of fungi that have sprung up and a few late bloomers too. It has been raining almost continually the past 3 days and very quickly everything has become lush and green. There is a definite feeling of Fall in the air it is wonderful.

See how much water there is in this wheel barrow!
And just in the nick of time.

Notice the window boxes have filled in nicely.


The nearly invisible three-tiered planter and bountiful impatiens are what greets everyone at the front door.


Autumn Joy sedum and Nicotiana langsdorfii


Northern Sea Oats and a flower I can't name.


Hyssop (I think) and a moth sheltering from the rain under leaves.



Crab Apples and Wild Grapes



Gourd in the compost bin and the Dreaded Buck Thorn!


Blue fruit of Solomon's Seal and red fruit of False Solomon's Seal.



Turkey tails and Shelf fungi.


I've given up trying to identify mushrooms. There are about a trillion of them and they all look alike! So I just enjoy their beauty.

Here are some more fairy sized mushrooms like I posted a few weeks ago. Except these are an acre and a half away from the first ones.

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Some people might say I'm crazy, but I'm looking forward to Fall and Winter. As much as I love to garden, Summer is quite stressful for me and with the drier climate it has sometimes become a real chore. I can't wait for the colored leaves, shorter days, and cool breezes. And, yes, snow.

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Snowy, Flowy, Blowy,

Showery, Flowery, Bowery,

Hoppy, Croppy, Droppy,

Breezy, Sneezy, Freezy.

George Ellis (1795 - 1815)

"The Twelve Months"

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Bye for now,

Alyssa