Red White and Blue Day

Thanks to all who have served, died,
and especially to those who serve
in harm's way today,
so we may enjoy
the freedom we have
every day.

~Wishing you a peaceful Memorial Day~
~Aerie-el

The Other Side of the Door

Many of you wondered...

And now you will have the answer to...
what was on the other side of the Garden Gate?

Enjoy!






"This has long been my
fondest desire: to own a
piece of earth of modest
but ample size and
there by my house to set
a garden and in it to be
blessed with fresh
flowing water and an
overhanging patch of
noble forest."
~Horace, Italian poet, 65-8 B.C.

Wishing all your dreams come true too.
~Aerie-el

Wordless Wednesday - A Garden Gate

For More Wordless Wednesday posts, click here.

~Aerie-el

Skywatch Friday - birds of a feather and a little weather

To begin, a backdrop of lovely sky blue sky...

I heard the crows before I saw them.
They were raising such a ruckus!
I knew there must be a bird of prey in the area
that they felt threatened by.
Sure enough, I snapped the picture above
of a large number of crows attacking a hawk.

National Wildlife Magazine, June/July 2010 issue
has a segment under 'news of the wild'
about how crows can recognize a face
for as many as 4 years later.
(I know some people who can't do that!)
Honeybees can also recognize one human face from another.

Bet they can remember where the good flower beds are too!

I took the next 3 pictures when I was in Massachusetts recently,
and saw more blue skies.

Above is a male ... goldfinch or is it a Baltimore oriole?
(Please click on any of the pictures to see them bigger.)
Click here for a link to Cornell Lab of Ornithology
information about orioles.

Above is the female who was traveling with the male.
Click here for the link to information about the
American Goldfinch.

What's your conclusion?
What's your child's conclusion?
Baltimore Oriole or American Goldfinch?

But the weather turned from blue skies
to shades of slate and charcoal,
which I found just as beautiful,
if not even more interesting than the blue skies.

For more Skywatch Friday links, click here.

Have a great weekend!

~Aerie-el

WW - A View from the Window

Click for more Wordless Wednesday photos

24 for GBBD

That's how many hours late I am for posting
for Garden Blogger Bloom Day.
But what would Jack Bauer do? What to say?

No excuses really, other than succumbing to
the sweet siren call of the beautiful weather and the garden.
Everything seems to be blooming now.

No more delays.
Let's get to some blooms.

Having just returned from Massachusetts,
I'll share with you some photos of what was in bloom there
as well as what is blooming in my yard in Washington State.
Above is a photo of one of the seemingly endless rivers of
(unopened) delicate flowers I found
in the old cemeteries in Massachusetts.

Below is a closeup of them opened.
(Please click on any of the photos to see them bigger.)


Also in Massachusetts, the Pieris is loaded with blooms.
The bees loved it!
Maybe I'll call this photo (below), 'the bee's knees'?


This sweet Aerisema sikokianum is on its way out,
but I thought I'd share this shot of him in his glory.


And am I ever a sucker for a Trillium.
I don't think I ever met one I didn't like.

Trillium grandiflorum is this one's name.
The Epimedium behind is now in bloom too.


Lilacs, also waning now, but still so fragrant.
I wish this blog had smell-o-vision.

There are dozens of other things in bloom here too...
wisteria, irises, lupine, mountain ash trees,
Armeria, Euphorbia, Columbine,
and the list goes on.

Happy Garden Blogger Bloom Day (belated)!
Visit Carol at May Dreams Gardens for links
to other GBBD posts.

~Aerie-el

Skywatch Friday - from the Old Burying Ground

The Old Burying Ground Cemetery.
Established in 1668, it is no longer an active cemetery.
The headstones are beautiful, works of art,
made of marble, granite, slate, sandstone, and limestone.

Different from modern headstones,
most of these do not include a birth date.
Instead they list how old the person was when they died.
Some include years, months, days.

Some headstones have epitaphs.
"Adieu my friends a long adieu
I leave the joys of earth with you."

"Hospitable and benevolent to all
he faith fully discharged all duties of social life.
His ears were ever open to the cries
of the poor and in him they found
a ready helper in time of need."

"The sweet remembrance of the just
Shall flourish when they sleep in dust."

Click here for more Skywatch Friday posts.

~Aerie-el

Wordless Wednesday - but what if there's a crossword puzzle?

Click here for more Wordless Wednesday posts.

~Aerie-el

For Moms Everywhere

Here's a bouquet for your Mother's Day.

Wishing my family, friends, and all the sisters out there
a peaceful Mother's Day.

~Aerie-el