first frost

A clematis in bloom, discovered today while cutting back the frost-bitten dahlias.

backyard

"Even if something is left undone, everyone must take time to sit still and watch the leaves turn." ~ Elizabeth Lawrence

autumn rain

Dahlia 'Eternal Snow'

House windows flutter quietly in the day - now more, now less - and breathe deep the garden air, still warm with the radiance of summer ... a dahlia blossom, made heavy by the rain, nods on a bent stem and finds its way into my kitchen ... this is autumn. - MMW

happy birthday

Moon, plum blossoms,

this, that,
and the day goes
- Issa

electric blue

hakonechloa macra aureola
shimmering in August

The Summer Day, by Mary Oliver ... I don't know exactly what a prayer is. I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass, how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields, which is what I have been doing all day. Tell me, what else should I have done? Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon? Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?

Chicago, impressionist

Japanese Bridge, Claude Monet 1899
Outdoor room No. 2, Sean O'Keeffe 2009

muriel's birthday

Fuji chrysanthemums @ ladies' lunch out. So very ... Martha