Winter

Winter

Monday, December 21, 2009

Happy Winter Solstice 2009

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I didn't think this photo would come out.

I took so many of them, hoping against hope, with my little camera, that I would get just one good shot.

It's certainly not the best moon shot in the world.

But I managed to catch the penumbra.

And Jupiter.

And that's good enough for now.

On this night close your eyes, take a deep breath, let it out slowly and welcome the return to light.


Happy Winter Solstice!





Copyright © 2006-2009, Raven Ridge Gardens. All rights reserved.

Monday, December 07, 2009

Autumn in My Garden 2009 - Frost-Nipped Teal Hydrangea

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This small hydrangea lives along the pathway to the house. In the spring, summer and early fall it's a soft blue color but when the frost starts nipping at it, it turns a beautiful teal blue.

Tonight's weather forecast, down in the 20s; it's possible we'll have some snow soon. Brrrrrrrrrrr!





Copyright © 2006-2009, Raven Ridge Gardens. All rights reserved.

Friday, December 04, 2009

White Camellia

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The weather may be cold and gray in my little corner of the northern coast of California, but it was sunny, warm and wonderful in Sacramento when we visited family over the Thanksgiving weekend.

Look closely and you will see the blue sky peeking through the leaves of this lovely camellia.





Copyright © 2006-2009, Raven Ridge Gardens. All rights reserved.

Monday, November 30, 2009

Autumn in My Garden 2009 - Fungi

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A walk around our yard a few days ago revealed these varied fungi. The two bottoms ones are Amanita muscaria, a rather poisonous specimen. Something eats it . . . I wonder how it fared?





Copyright © 2006-2009, Raven Ridge Gardens. All rights reserved.

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Happy Thanksgiving!

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Copyright © 2006-2009, Raven Ridge Gardens. All rights reserved.

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Autumn in My Garden 2009 - The Last Viburnum Leaf

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Hanging on to the bitter end.
I'm thinking the rain due at the end of this week will be its demise.





Copyright © 2006-2009, Raven Ridge Gardens. All rights reserved.

Monday, November 23, 2009

In The Greenhouse - Mystery Winter Squash

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Will you look at what's happening in my greenhouse on this chilly, almost Thanksgiving day? Yes, those are tomatoes. Volunteer tomatoes. Subject for another post.

What I really want some help with is this squash. Also a volunteer, I've not seen one like it anywhere. It turns orange and green and then falls off the vine and rots. Sorry I don't have a photo of the mature fruit. I'm hoping this one will mature and allow me to get a shot.

It mostly grows upright like this, fruit and all, until the growing fruit weights it down and it ends up on the ground.
If any of my Blotanical friends know what kind of squash this is, I'd appreciate your comments.




Copyright © 2006-2009, Raven Ridge Gardens. All rights reserved.

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Autumn in My Garden 2009 - Searching for the Perfect Rose

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Roses are rarely perfect in real life, like my garden. But that doesn't keep me from trying for the perfect shot.

Over and over again.







Copyright © 2006-2009, Raven Ridge Gardens. All rights reserved.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Autumn 2009 - Chrysanthemum Petals

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This flower was part of an arrangement in a vase on a table in an ice cream shop in Arcata.




(I loved writing that sentence)




Copyright © 2006-2009, Raven Ridge Gardens. All rights reserved.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Autumn in My Garden 2009 - Morning Sky with Rainbow and Chickens

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Since the world fell back to a more civilized time frame on November 2nd (I'm speaking of that magical time of 2 am on Sunday morning when daylight saving time goes back to where it belongs - not on our clocks, and not, for a time anyway, skewing the lives of those of us who get up with the dawn and get sleepy when night falls), I've been happily rising at 6 am, making my tea and heading outside to watch the light creep softly down the redwood trees to finally land on fencetops, garden and chicken yard.
The neighborhood roosters will have been crowing for at least an hour and my hens are either cackling away, proudly announcing the production of each and every egg, or they are talking softly amongst themselves, waiting for the door to open, then spilling out, tumbling over each other to be first. At what remains a mystery.
All this was going on several mornings ago, when I looked to the western sky and saw a rainbow out over the ocean. It was not raining, there were just a few high clouds, but the rising sun must have been hitting the ocean moisture just right, because there it was:
An auspicious beginning to an already beautiful day.






















Copyright © 2006-2009, Raven Ridge Gardens. All rights reserved.