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Posts Tagged ‘aster’

Most photos: John and Suzanne’s Mom.

Time for photos from the last few weeks, starting with a typical New England sight — the stone wall. When my husband’s uncle visited us years ago, he couldn’t get over all the stone walls, having lived in a busy city or at the shore.

And you may remember all the stories of the early colonists not fighting “fair,” according to British soldiers used to marching in straight lines. Our side was unfairly fighting from behind stone walls.

The next photo shows the dry Sudbury River out back of our retirement community. The asters on our balcony did not last long, but the asters in the wild flourished weeks after ours were all brown.

I liked the starlike effect of a dried weed. My PictureThis app says it’s a wild carrot. Next I show bittersweet. You can understand why people picked it for floral displays and wreaths — it’s so pretty. But inadvertently, they spread the seeds and it became a plague. Next is a bee, drunk on sunflower nectar.

Musician Len Solomon plays his homemade pipe organ in front of the British shop at our town’s harvest market. Nowadays Americans love the British. We stopped shooting at them from behind stone walls.

There are two photos of the new boardwalk where we live. Everyone was excited for the opening. The path accommodates wheelchairs.

Kristina Joyce took the picture of the little house Ralph Shaner built for his grandchildren to decorate in the height of the pandemic.

The little painted rock was along a trail in the woods.

David Smyth created the whale ship for the juried show at Concord Art.

I wind up with a couple of my favorite photographic interests — reflections and shadows.

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Nice to run into Judith and Paul at the annual downtown farmers market. We always talk shop a little because we worked together in the ’90s. I was interested to hear she is back doing writing for our former colleague Kate, currently a principal at leadership consultancy SweetmanCragun.

Now about these pictures: Main Streets Café is always creative with their seasonal displays. I don’t know that I would think of lining up pumpkins under a bench. The squashes are from Hutchins Farm. First Root Farm’s display includes radishes, beets, and carrots. The chrysanthemums and asters were tempting, but the car was parked too far away for me to carry a big plant.

Finally, please note the funny vehicles the kids are racing. I include a close-up of several late-model vegetable cars. (Pick a squash; add wheels.)

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091215-farmers-market

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091215-fall-flowers

091215-veggie-cars-racing

091215-late-model-veggie-cars

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I noted the little blue talisman but didn’t stop, walking on toward the path. Then I turned back. “Asakiyume would take a picture,” I thought. On the way back up the path I saw the little white talisman.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Although I have always bought chrysanthemums in the fall and put them out on the front stoop like everyone else, this year I decided I was tired of them.

I consulted a woman who gardens, someone I see on the commuter train. She said, “How about asters? How about kale?”

So that’s what I’m doing this year. I need a few more, though, because my neighbors’ chrysanthemums do look more substantial.

In coming down rather hard on chrysanthemums, I am reminded of the A.A. Milne poem about the dormouse. Do you remember?

The dormouse’s favorite thing was to lie in bed of delphiniums (blue) and geraniums (red). But a doctor and a team of experts decided the dormouse was sick, sleeping too much. The doctor prescribed chrysanthemums (yellow and white).

The self-effacing dormouse says wistfully, “I suppose all these people know better than I.” He lets them have their way and they tear up his beloved delphiniums (blue) and geraniums (red) and plant chrysanthemums (yellow and white). The dormouse comes up with his own solution.

“The Dormouse lay there with his paws to his eyes,
“And imagined himself such a pleasant surprise:
” ‘I’ll pretend the chrysanthemums turn to a bed
Of delphiniums (blue) and geraniums (red)!’ ”

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