Sunday Stroll - A Slow Meander

My stroll today was shared with my 15 year old daughter (blogging name: Haiku) and my 5 year old son (Tanka.) That's me in the black sweatshirt, holding Tanka's hand. We headed down the trail through the neighbor's fields to the little lake and then into the woods for a while. The trails are lined with wild New England asters, their deep purple contrasting richly with the mellow goldenrod. The trees near the lake are beginning to reveal their autumn hues.

We stopped often. Every direction offered a "photo op." Though I don't generally share family photos on this blog (just an occassional silhouette or distant shot), rest assured that I took plenty of pictures of my children. Haiku was taking plenty of photos as well. She took these photos of crabapples and of mushrooms.

Our canoe has not seen much action this summer. I guess we've all been busy with other pursuits, but autumn offers perfect weather and a quiet lake for a serene glide or just a few moments mediation on the dock.

As we stepped into the woods, I felt the hush I always feel there. Without meaning to, I soften my voice and step softly. Every step threatens some tiny wonder growing underfoot: like a small brown snail hiding deep in his fragile shell. Fourteen year old Maude flushed grouse up in the fields and in the woods, and when we turned toward home, she eagerly led the way.

photos by Aisling and Haiku, September 28, 2008

Sunday Stroll Invitation

"Be not afraid of moving slowly,
be only afraid of standing still."

~ Chinese Proverb

Our last Sunday in September has arrived. As you may have guessed from my limited posting here this month, the weeks have passed in a blur. I have taken some time, when I could, to appreciate the beauty of the world around me, to laugh with my children, to eat gratefully of the garden's bounty, but still the weeks have rushed by at a hectic pace. I scurried through housework, homework, and errands yesterday, so that I might take today slowly.

If you have time on today to stroll outdoors today, please post about about it on your blog and then come back here with a comment and a link to your post. You may use the Sunday Stroll button at the top of this post on your post or side bar if you would like. I will add participant names to this post so other strollers can walk through your garden too.

Look who's strolling:

Linda at Vulture Peak Muse

Joyce at Tall Grass Worship

Margaret at Periodic Pearls

Ruth at Everyday Woman

Abbie at Farmer's Daughter

Dee at Red Dirt Ramblings

Me here at The Quiet Country House

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These Hill in Late September

Sunday Stroll Invitation

There are so many kinds of light that wash over the garden. Early morning light, rosy and tentative, spills in from the east. The afternoon light pours from directly above, bright and clear when the weather allows. The evening light, is golden and mellow, and seems to love the garden well, lingering amid the leaves and softening the shadows.

If you have time on today to linger with the light in the garden, please post about about it on your blog and then come back here with a comment and a link to your post. You may use the Sunday Stroll button at the top of this post on your post or side bar if you would like. I will add participant names to this post so other strollers can walk through your garden too.

Look who's strolling:

Margaret at Periodic Pearls

Ruth at Everyday Woman

Abbie at Farmer's Daughter

Joyce at Tall Grass Worship

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Love at First Sight

Dear Quiet Country Readers,

This is the very first photo taken with our new camera. For those of you who are interested in such things, the camera is a Canon PowerShot SX110IS. Some of the features include: 9 megapixels, 10 x zoom, Face Detection Technology. And, we got a really big memory card. We really will take that long-awaited trip to Ireland one of these years. *grin*

I'm sorry I've been so quiet here. We are so busy with all of the various school schedules; five of us are in school right now, with four different schedules. We will be having out of town company, and Sijo is suddenly allergic to bee stings and possibly some other unknown allergen. Then there are work obligations for four of us with, of course, four different schedules. My own work this year, as a paraprofessional substitute at the local elementary, is more part time than usual this year, but I'm still subbing a couple of times a month, just to stay "in the loop." Five year old Tanka is playing soccer, his first sports team experience, and I'm back to being a "soccer mom" in a mini van. I'm not getting much done in the garden, but in celebration of Autumn, I do plan to buy my annual new mum within the next few days.

I'm tired just from writing that paragraph! I hope you are all filling your hours with happy endeavors. Enjoy the day!

from the windy hilltop,
~ Aisling

photos by Aisling, September 18, 2008 1) honey bee on wild asters Note: Will add these two pictures later. Blogger - or my dial up connection - was not cooperating. 2) a little stretch of the mellow butterfly garden of late September 3) Sedum coming into bloom

Sunday Stroll Invitation

The sky is in a mood today; dark, petulent, and threatening to rain. The gardens have been thoroughly quenched in these stormy days of September. The last few daylilies will be rain-battered, rather than sun faded, by day's end. There is something wild and windswept about September in my corner of the world this year.

If you have time on today, and if your weather allows a Sunday Stroll, please post about about it on your blog and then come back here with a comment and a link to your post. You may use the Sunday Stroll button at the top of this post on your post or side bar if you would like. I will add participant names to this post so other strollers can walk through your garden too.

If the storm clouds abate, I will get outside and take a few photos myself! '

Look who's strolling:

Nan at Letters from a Hill Farm

Margaret at Periodic Pearls

Joyce at Tall Grass Worship

Linda at Vulture Peak Muse

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Sunday Stroll - September Days

These bright pink znnia's stand at the head of each of our seven rows in the vegetable garden. Down the rows, weeds are vying with veggies for dominant growth, but vegetables are ripening anyway. Here is some broccoli that's so enthusiastic about growing, it has gotten ahead of the busy gardener (busy doing things outside the garden).

And here is some broccoli that is taking it's time. It will soon be roasted with olive oil and a few herbs and served on our table, if it doesn't end up blanched and in the freezer.

The first Brussels Sprouts will be sampled today, but this little cabbage will continue to grow for another week or two.

Watermelons and pumpkins are ripening on sprawling vines.

The ladybugs are enjoying the spikey silver leaves of the perennial artichokes, and the cucumber and green bean plants keep producing both flowers and vegetables.

The bright lights cosmos that I planted to fill in some empty patches in the garden rows are blooming, amid rampant wild mustard and a jungle of tomato plants that are producing an abundance of leaves, but few ripe tomatoes thus far.

I would have included a few more photos, and will perhaps share them over the next few days, but my dial-up connection is being particularly slow today. Where-ever you are, I hope your day is filled with bounty and abundance.

photos by Aisling, September 7, 2008

Sunday Stroll Invitation

"September days have the warmth of summer in their briefer hours, but in their lengthening evenings a prophetic breath of autumn. The cricket chirps in the noontide, making the most of what remains of his brief life. The bumblebee is busy among the clover blossoms of the aftermath, and their shrill and dreamy hum hold the outdoor world above the voices of the song birds, now silent or departed."- September Days by Rowland E. Robinson, Vermont.


If you have time on this September day for a Sunday Stroll, please post about about it on your blog and then come back here with a comment and a link to your post. You may use the Sunday Stroll button at the top of this post on your post or side bar if you would like. I will add participant names to this post so other strollers can walk through your garden too.

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Look who's strolling:

Abbie at Farmer's Daughter

Ruth at Everyday Woman
Linda at Vulture Peak Muse

Margaret at Periodic Pearls

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