The size of the moon when it first appears on the horizon is enormous. It appears like that because our brains perceive a low moon to be larger than one that’s high in the sky.  They actually have a name for this ~Moon Illusion. The moon also can appear warmer or reddish on the horizon.  This is caused by moonlight passing through a larger amount of atmospheric particles than when the moon is overhead, this scatters the bluish part of moonlight (which is really white light reflecting from the sun), but it lets in the red parts of the light which travel a straighter path to our eyes.

 The Harvest moon is actually the full moon closest to the fall equinox.  It usually occurs in late September or early October.  It was called that because it’s brightness made it possible for farmers to harvest after dark.

  After doing a little reading I found out the November full moon which is also referred to as the Beaver moon which lets you know it is time to set your beaver traps before the swamps freeze. This info ensures a supply of warm winter furs for a trapper. So if you are a trapper, get to work soon.  If you’re not you can do other things when the full moon is out like dance by the light of the moon, or howl at the moon, or turn into a werewolf…

It all sounds like lunacy to me.  

 

Men should take their knowledge from the Sun, the Moon and the Stars.  ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

 Mouse over for type of pruner, then click  on the picture for the info and prices of each one from our online catalogue. 

   

Well done is better than well said.  ~Benjamin Franklin

    This guy was in my son’s room, needless to say it went by the wayside, neglected and looking for love.  I took it outside in early August and cut off every brown tattered leaf on it.  It was pretty much a stub of a plant.  Within a few weeks it started all these beautiful shiny leaves and was thriving once again. 

 This spider plant lived all summer out on my front porch, I took it in a few weeks ago and it seems much happier inside than it was outside.   

Last but not least is my hibiscus that made me so thrilled when it bloomed all summer long planted in my garden.  I put it in a pot, brought it inside when the weather got cold and it immediately turned brown and dropped every leaf.  I was sure it was doomed.  I cut off every branch and now it has sprouted all new leaves as you can see. 

 So far so good with the plants I moved inside. 

 

Plants give us oxygen for the lungs and for the soul.  ~Linda Solegato

Visit Tootsie Time to see the other Fertilizer Friday posts. 

 

 

 Her husband was into gardening.  He had a greenhouse and many plants.  After he died, she weeded through alot of his gardening things. 

Lucky for me, this was one of his flower pots she didn’t want.  I always enjoyed visiting him.  He was very proud of his plants~he would call me over to see a new blooming orchid or bulb that had emerged in his green house. I would usually end up going home with a cutting or plant that he wanted to share.  I miss him and his passion for gardening. He was a good man.

 

This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave.  ~Elmer Davis

 

Visit Coloradolady to see more vintage thingies.

 Let me enlighten you,  Priapus was the son of Aphrodite in Greek mythology. Priapus was a protector of gardens and orchards, and is typically portrayed as a hideous looking man.  Birds tended to avoid fields where Priapus resided, so Greek and then Roman farmers soon adopted the practice of carving wooden statues that resembled Priapus in thier gardens to keep crows from eating the corn.  

In the Middle Ages children worked as crow-scarers.  They would run around in the fields, clapping blocks of wood together, to scare birds that might eat the grain.  Later as the plague claimed many lives, farmers found there were less children to shoo birds away so they stuffed old clothes with straw, put a gourd or turnip on as their head and mounted the figure in the fields.  These lifelike figures kept the crows at bay.  Also before the white man arrived, Native American men would sit on raised platforms and shout at birds or ground animals that came near the crops.  The use of scarecrows also came to North America with immigrants from Europe. German settlers in Pennsylvania called them bogeyman, which stood guard over the fields.

So now you know a quick history of where scarecrows came from.  We tend to only use them as decorations that represent fall harvests these days. Who amongst us doesn’t enjoy seeing a scarecrow overlooking a lush vegetable garden.    I know I do. 

~If I only had a brain! ~the scarecrow, Wizard of Oz

 

Visit  A Southern Day Dreamer for Outdoor Wednesday

 

 

Celebrating my 100th post on this Scenic Sunday!  Thanks to all of you that visit and to all of you that I visit and learn so much from.  Bloggers are one great group of folks that are always willing to share, teach, enjoy and get to know.   

 

 

  A friend knows the song in my heart and sings it to me when my memory fails.  ~Donna Roberts

 

Visit Scenic Sunday.  There are amazing sceneries to see!

 

 I paid somewhere around $25 dollars for it and that was a splurge for something so unusual and weird, but I had to have it.  Except for some chipping glaze, it was in great condition then but now it shows the ravages of time (or in other words  the ravages of hanging around me~ I dropped a ceramic snowman on it one Christmas time and cracked the base.)  I felt so bad.   It adds character or so I tell myself. 

 It stands about a foot tall and is about a foot wide.  The bird is some sort of water fowl.  One of my friends once told me what kind of bird it was but I can’t remember the name.  I can’t find anything like it in the bird field guides, so if anyone knows I would love the info. 

 This piece is signed, W. Sewell with the word Zena underneath the name.  There is a carving of a womans face and a glaze insignia of what looks like a tree on the bottom of it. I have no idea when it was made or where it was made.  I only know I think it is very cool! 

 So there is my Thingie for this Thursday.  Visit Colorado Lady to see other interesting Vintage Thingies. 

Have a great day! 

 

 

A flower’s appeal is in its contradictions – so delicate in form yet strong in fragrance, so small in size yet big in beauty, so short in life yet long on effect.  ~Adabella Radici

Have a great Monday!Visit Lisa’s Chaos to see other Macro Monday Entries.

I guess you can’t keep a good aster down. 

 And my front porch geraniums are still hanging in there. 

  I also found my beautiful Japanese maple practically glowing in the front yard. 

 This is the first day it’s color really jumped out at me. 

The holly caught my eye also with those pretty bright red berries.

Since that is hardly enough to talk about, I decided to check out the indoor plants and see if I had any excitement going on there. 

My African violets had some pink flowers. Yay!

Alas, a bud on my Christmas Cactus.  That would make it a Halloween cactus, I guess, but I’m not fussy, I will take a flower blooming in any shape or form.  

May you live as long as you want,
And never want as long as you live.
~Irish Blessing

Thanks for visiting!  Stop over at Tootsie’s blog to see what other gardeners have growing. 

The rose bush surprised me with a couple of new buds, even though I thought I had seen the last flower last week.

The daisies are still making up for lost time,

my hibiscus gave me one last bloom before I brought her inside  

and the little pink flowers must like the cool temperatures. 

My geraniums are still flowering as well.

  And the morning glories seem to go on endlessly in the cooler temperatures.

 

I am happy that the colder weather hasn’t taken them all away

Yet!

  Visit tootsietime to see the flaunting of flowers in other gardens.