4 Responses to “Mixed messages”

1. 

   Georgia Green Stamper October 29th, 2008 at 9:13 am

   The geraniums are what amaze me in this photo. They are blooming with as much enthusiasm as they had in July even though it is 40 degrees, almost Halloween, and the maple tree is showing off in the background. The locust trees are never rational, however. They’re always out of sync. They are the eccentric uncles in our yard, prickly and unpredictable.

2. 

   sherry October 29th, 2008 at 11:12 am

   Well, Georgia, your locusts may always be eccentric but eccentricity seems widespread to me this year. I’ve noticed as I make my commute that, while the maples seem now, after frost, to be turning a nice rusty red, other hardwoods are either dead brown or stubbornly green. It’s an odd year. They all seem to be odd years any more.

3. 

   mike lovell October 29th, 2008 at 11:55 am

   That is a beautiful picture. I really like how the deck and nature seem to blend in together in a symbiotic relationship…

4. 

   Georgia Green Stamper October 29th, 2008 at 12:19 pm

   Thanks, Mike. Small city lots are challenging – especially to a couple of farm kids like Ernie and me. But you have to work with what you have, and what we have are about 10 old locust trees. The deck is built around three of them and snuggles against the others. Sherry, what I meant by eccentric is that the locusts – still green in late fall – have been dropping yellow leaves since spring. The yellow leaves worried us re: health of the old trees, but the locusts have had a banner year for growth and density. They look healthier than they have ever been in the nine years we’ve lived here.