Wednesday, November 8, 2023

September hues

 So here we are and Autumn has well and truly arrived and we have all these lovely colours and I am talking the Isle of Man. Amazing when you spend time away from something and then when you see it again, after the time has elapsed, it is brand new for you. I had totally forgotten that the island had colour in Autumn! But being here it is so vibrant in all the colours and the flowers are blooming and the leaves are doing the curly thing. There is leaf colour but it is the hill sides that change colour as the bracken (ferns) turn brown. The Hawthorn trees in the hedgerow now have berries and they are the deepest dark red. The hawthorns are amazing, and they form lines in the hedgerow. Not forgetting the most amazing display from the hydrageas, they are such deep shades here and the tinging of green. Then of course the verdant green of the hillside and grass, all for contrast.


A lovely late summer evening in Stratford Ontario

And a monarch butterfly on a Buddleia (butterfly bush). 
They are so beautiful and they fly all the way to Mexico!  

nighttime mushrooms

and cheery sunflowers

This has to be best door to no where ever! 

Flying over the Calf of Man, at the most southerly point of the Isle of Man

Just wow. Look at those colours

This is so rare a blue flower! believe me, 
we never get them in Waterloo Canada at this time of the year. 
But here on the island hydrangeas are all shades, in varying intensities.

Storm coming


So much green on the island

I managed to snap this from the bus! In the centre of the picture, 
is the Witches Mill, as we knew it. 
It used to scare us a lot! 

Castletown and it's castle. Again this is a bus shot!

I pulled into a layby for this one. 
This hill side seen so many times over my life time, 
just captured me, the shape against that wonderful sky. 
The bracken really giving such a warm brown.
The curve of the road is also rather lovely. 
Maybe that's why I like this image, the sweep of the hill and the sweep of the road.


They really take hedge trimming seriously here, 
you could use this hedge as a table

Magic! ruby red

This little friend was at my feet on a path. 
Just minding their own business and sniffing about


and the crows and jackdaws lifted and wheeling by the wind

The storm been and the seaweed washed up. 
Although really this is mid storm. 
It looks so bright and shiny

Nasturtiums by the sea

Manx yard bombing. I just love the googly eyes 

Getting ready for Halloween or maybe a witch lives here all the time

Butterflies on the Isle of Man! wow, and it's a red admiral. 
There were two but they kept moving!

That would be a storm and us driving past it!  
The window was up and water on it 
but you can still see that heavy sea 
and the huge white of the waves
The weather can get very wild on the island but you always feel safe. 

and what says Autumn more than a handful of conkers!!! Fabulous

Geraniums and sunsets

Those are hawthorns trees and their berries. 
Hard to get these shots as the hedgerows are hard to get to. 
This was taken from the car, as a passenger I hasten to add!

The storm coming and revving up

Mid storm we get the most lovely rainbow for 2 minutes. 
For this the bedroom window was opened 
and made sure that it was the one that opened away from the sea 
and the prevailing winds and rain!

I just can't get enough of hydrangeas, 
and all the colours on the Isle of Man. 
These on the island are just fabulous!



Tuesday, September 12, 2023

August and summertime

 In the summer, Canada is definitely time of abundance.

 With this comes predictions of what's to come for winter! 
All I'm saying is that there has been a bumper crop and
 I am trying to make the most of it!

There has also been a surprising amount of rain
 and therefore wonderful mushrooms

Forests are looking very lush but 
we did find that standing still for a milli second
 meant getting bitten! So on we trudged

Imagine my surprise when I saw this guy walking the fence!!! 

love a sense of humor on a sign!!!

These are growing in some ones front garden....
they have quite the crop. 
I wonder what they will do with them all? 
That's a lot of Aubergene/Eggplant

more mushrooms...just hanging out 

Up close and personal with some sweetcorn



It really is quite a nice plant and I love the pink "hair"

At this time of the year there are so many fields of sweetcorn, 
streching on for a far as the eye can see

Farmers are super busy hay bailing 
and I love the sky above, almost a cross hatching



Just a little message for us all

Fab old truck

and fabulous reflections in Stratford Ontario

The whole image of the sky in the water

This is quite the cloudy sunny sky day




Highland Games!

We went to the Scottish festival and what a treat it was. 
This is a classic look


They had an old campsite, for those original scots


Sword fighting too!
They really looked like they meant it as well


And a mass pipers!!! This was spectacular

So many kilts

Dresses in tartan and a tartan converted denim jacket!

Next year I'm going to see the Scottish dancing!!!





This fox was hanging out chewing these things left for pick up. This is something that people do here when they are clearing out. So free stuff by the side of the road. They leave it for the day and clear away later what hasn't been taken.

More abundance. This tree was loaded!



This was just as a summer storm blew through Kitchener. 
I should have called this shot
'Tower blocks and old lights'

Talk about rain!

I was sitting at my desk and I saw a paw!

Yes, this narrow space is actually comfortable! 
and stop starring at me.



Transport for some in Elora

Summer time at the Gorge

Beautiful balloon plant



This was a row of houses I had never seen in Kitchener.
 I really do like a top porch and this is a beauty


Night time mushrooms

I often see patterns in the sky and this looked like a demon racing along
There he is grinning away

Then as I looked closer it appeared 
to me that I could see a Ballerina beneath him?


and more mushrooms! 
It looks like a city of mushrooms