The marina

Just realised I hadn't posted any pics of the marina, a couple of streets away. These are from this weekend. There are three marinas in the village, but this is the only one I know so far!

Snakes on a blog. Well... one snake on a blog. A flat one.

It was in the street all curled up and squashed and the wrong way up. I lifted it by its tail and laid it flat. Flatter than it already was that is. It's been steamrollered. Ironed.

I think it is just a garter snake, but bigger than any I saw in Sac.

Look at the kitchen!!!!

Sunday evening at the beach

Just as the sun was going down, we went to the beach. Few people, still warm. Water calm and turquoise.

Poison ivy... treeeeee

I was in the back just cutting a few vines so that they will go brown and dry and I can stomp them in a few weeks... saw a few poison ivy leaves, avoided them (Walter at the beach showed me the blisters on his hands this morning, now I know exactly what it can do)... and then noticed a couple of intertwined trees. One of the twining trees was the marsh elm. One of them was poison ivy, and it's trunk was as thick as the real tree. It just had little roots growing out of it. All the way up. Yuck. It doesn't give me blisters, it just gives me the creeps.

Radiators

Saturday, I went to Home Depot and bought what I thought were replacement covers for the living room baseboard radiators. These radiators are like bare pipes with a million metal fins sticking out from them. When they are installed, they have tidy clean covers on them, but all the houses I saw while house-hunting in New York had tatty, broken covers. So I would very much like to make ours nead-and-tidy. You can buy really nice--and really expensive--custom metal or wood covers, but for now I just want something clean.

So I bought four six-foot, one four-foot cover and two end pieces.

The end pieces were both right-end pieces so I messed up there (well of course there are different ends for left versus right).

Opened the box for the four-foot length and discovered that I would not only have to remove the old cover, but also the finned hot-water pipe. No way that is going to happen this week. Then had the brilliant idea of using the new front pieces of the cover to replace the old tatty one. They didn't fit... but I found out how to remove the old ones, and how to re-place them correctly. So that they work.

This morning, I returned the covers to Home Depot, (180$ cash), and bought heat-proof spray paint (four cans, total 20$) (I liked that). Then I went into the garden center and spent 80$ on new ceramic pots (which may well crack in the winter freeze), a Shasta daisy, and a load of purple, white and peach pansies. So much for saving money.

City

In the city

Was in New York for a few days. Good trip. I have to make the effort to hop on the train more often: I like the city, the energy, the buzz...

The building with the carvings and the dragons is the Petrossian restaurant on W. 58th Street. The stonework is amazing... one day I may have to go taste the caviar there.

The finished deck--almost

I just have to stain it now, when the wood has seasoned a little. Then add brackets for hanging baskets for planting next spring.

It's not finished yet

... but hopefully by this time next week... maybe...

The way they met up the kitchen tile and the hardwood floor looks good. The floor is mostly still covered in cardboard to protect it until everything has been installed. Countertops arrive next Monday, a few other things need to be finished before they are installed, and then once all that is done the appliances can be hooked up and we can eat properly again.

Egret

Now I remember why I bought the big zoom lens. I also remember why I bought the tripod. Now I just have to remember to use it... once I can find it.

Breeze and blue sky

The sun is shining brightly. The sky is pale blue, with a few small clouds. The breeze is cool and there is an almost-red tree in my garden. I'm told this is unusually early, and winter may be long this year.

We will see. I hope, before winter arrives, that I'll be able to move the stuff out of my bedroom and get into my closet for a few pullovers.

Osprey

I saw an osprey this morning. It has been raining all night, no-one was around when we went for our morning walk, just a dumped bag of rubbish in the road near the wetlands, and a nice lady sitting in her car near the little beach. We took the rubbish to the beach bin and the lady made a fuss of Fury.

On the way back past the wetlands, there was the osprey. He hung in the sky like a tern, then dived, then hovered again. He was bigger than a tern... I had never seen an osprey before, wondered if he was maybe a marsh harrier.... but then he dived, splash, right into the water, white tummy showing, splash, did he catch the fish? I don't think so, because he hovered again and dove back in.

Here's WhatBird information about ospreys: http://identify.whatbird.com/obj/39/overview/Osprey.aspx

Summer has ended

Jade said that a few days ago, and I thought, no... it's just hiding. But she was right: it feels different. The air has changed. The blackbirds are back.

One lone, bedraggled starling is sitting on the lamp post.

Floor is finished...

... and it is beautiful. Will post a picture when I've removed all the cardboard that's protecting it from contractors' feet, appliances etc. But it is really really nice. Light oak.

Floored again

Today the new floor is being installed. It took about 15 minutes for them to install the under-floor, then they started laying the prefinished oak... and then they left for lunch.

English visitors

At least, their ancestors were English. Or Scots. Or Irish. Apparently, starlings are not native to the USA. But they sure have made it home.

I must remember

I must remember to write down the plants I put into the garden.

This weekend, I planted an Itea virginica "Merlot", or Virginia Sweetspire, in the front garden. I have also planted a small yew, and a Japenese privet, both in large pots in the front yard.

September 11th again

It is raining today. And I am enjoying the rain.

The (American) robins are becoming braver and have been standing on the deck railing. They can't get into the bird feeder as they are too big (not like English robins which can also be seen following gardeners around (hoping for worms) and on Christmas cards).

Somehow the rain makes things quieter. It is a gentle rain today.

Bits and pieces

Northern Mockingbird sitting on garden fence. And walking over the lawn flashing white feathers at American Robins who are crowding the lawn there are so many of them. Starlings too.

Guess who reseeded the lawn Saturday with top-price grass seed? Guess who's feeling stupid?

(I hung up a bird feeder full of nice songbird seeds too, but they are totally ignoring it. Grass seed must be the gourmet food.)

Alvin the turtle has gone walkabout. I took him out of the pond yesterday because I was worried he was a land turtle and was drowning. He is somewhere in the raised garden--I fixed the fence--but is hiding.