Poe, Burt & a bit of Boston - Haunted Humpday VIII

Nick and I went to see our son, Andy in Boston this past weekend. It seems that the trees in the east are refusing to give up their summer green too. The Public Garden did have a couple colorful ones.

Of course since it's close to Halloween we had to visit the new statue of Edgar Allan Poe.

Though I have to admit that I find "The Raven" both brilliant and a little cheesy in parts.

That's our son and his girlfriend behind the raven, patiently humoring me.

Hey, what are parents for if not to embarrass their kids now and then?

Another sign of fall on our walk.

Meanwhile back at home Burt was making himself useful with the Raven related decorations.

It took me three years of after Halloween sales to assemble this wreath. The black silk roses and metal Happy Halloween part came from Target and I found the ravens at Tuesday Morning.

  

Burt decided he looked cool with a raven on this head.

Time to fill up the raven candy bowl.

Ravens for the mantle. It's been cold and rainy all week, leaving poor Burt . . .

. . . chilled to the bone!

Finally, a good use for the velvet pumpkins!

Moving on to the dining room always in need of a few lights and garland.

Another find from an after Halloween sale at Target a few years ago. It says "Stop in for a Spell" but the "S's" look like "G's" so we put it up high and just tell anyone who asks what it says.

Here's the Halloween Village.

I'm joining Marfi at Incipient Wings for Haunted Humpday VIII

Happy Haunted Humpday to all!

Haunted Humpday VII - Burt and the Lunar Eclipse

Burt showed up really, really early to watch tonight's eclipse.

To pass the time he offered to help out with a few chores.

Seems like the lawn always needs to be mowed.

Then the flamingos had to be put back in place.

I think he enjoys cleaning out the filter in the pond!  Burrrr!!! 

Then it was on to planting the daffodil bulbs.

Sometimes turning over the ground brings up a surprise. 

Wait! Burt! It's a Halloween decoration!

See, it's just plastic. 

After the shock wore off and all the work was done it was time for a snack.

Nick made a special pie for the event and Burt had recovered enough to dish it up.

Then we needed LOTS of coffee to stay awake half the night.

Luckily the sky wasn't cloudy and we had a great view of the entire event until it set still in eclipse.

Did you see the eclipse or the full moon tonight? Was it red? It just looked dark here.

Oh, and one more thing...

Best wishes to Ms. Misantropia on her birthday from Burt and his crew!

I'm joining Marfi at Incipient Wings for Haunted Humpday VII.

Happy Haunted Humpday to all!

Haunted Humpday VI - Seeing Stars

Burt came over to check out the night sky and it looks like he came prepared.

Now that the days are shorter and the nights are longer it's a perfect time for star gazing.

Nick and Burt have a lot in common and share a deep passion for astronomy and beer.

It didn't take them too long to get the telescope set up for the evening's viewing.

 

Before dinner there was an in-depth discussion of recent astronomical events.

Burt was kind enough to help with the cleanup afterwards.

Then he checked out the 3-D photos of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko online.

Looking good in those 3-D glasses.

Nice hat, too!

Eventually the moon set and it became dark enough to see the stars. A perfect fall night.

This morning I was surprised to see we had a guest sleeping on the living room sofa.

It appears someone had a good time last night, glad he decided not to drive!

I'm joining Marfi at Incipient Wings for Haunted Humpday VI.

Happy October everyone!

Fall Bugs and Flowers

Walking past these maples after leaving the Farmers Market last Saturday I finally had to admit that fall is really here. From the look of these trees, it just might turn into a truly spectacular one.

Luckily, the days are still warm and sunny and the bugs are still busily bussing about.

The Monarchs (or Viceroys, or both) continue to migrate through our backyard. A few years ago we noticed that there were more than the usual number passing by so we started to count. As it turned out  there were so many we gave up somewhere in the seventies but they continued to fly by for hours afterwards. This year a cold snap slowed them for a bit but now they're back and on the move.

This poor Viceroy (I think) flew into my backyard a couple weeks ago. Actually it glided in as it was missing a big chunk of one of it's tattered wings. A little sad, but I had admire it's persistence. 

It's easy to get carried away photographing them and completely ignore all the garden chores.

Guess that's what is meant by the phrase "chasing butterflies".

The serious side of all this is the fact that flowers and bugs can't exist without each other and

for that reason I just use my own compost and try to keep everything as organic as possible.

These volunteer Black-Eyed Susans are so annoying when they come up in front of the roses or crowd out the foxgloves. Some of them get to stay because they are very popular with the bees.

Not all bugs are created equal but the cute and fuzzy ones do look great on the roses.

 Fall flowers for zone 5a are limited but there's a few like this perennial anemone.

Gardens would be pretty dull without bugs and what would the birds and toads eat?

  

 I just read an article about how butterflies smell with their feet. That's a turn around, ha!

  

Sometimes it takes some research to discover just what I've taken a photo of. For instance this elaborately patterned caterpillar eventaully turns into...

. . . a Cabbage butterfly with a rather simple wing design. (Some might call it classic.)

One thing you can always count on in the insect world is variety. This guy looks like he just walked off stage after performing with a death metal band. Do I detect an attitude there? 

I never know exactly what's in the close-up photos I take of bugs on flowers until I get a good look at them enlarged. Usually I'm not surprised by their appearance but mostly they look just plain weird.

Interactions can be entertaining, it turns out that these two don't like to share.

Never know what I'm going to get, here's one of the cute ones just going about it's business. . .

. . . and some other ones having an orgy, hey guys it's fall not spring! 

How does Autumn arrive where you live?

Hope everyone had a fantastic weekend.

Yesterday I was attacked by hoards of mosquitoes. To be fair I believe they were only

doing their job and in no way was it in retaliation for being left out of all the insect photos.