I suppose everyone thinks their dog is the best dog in the world, which is rather unfortunate, as we actually have the best dog in the world. Three years ago today, we added this wonderful girl to our family. At eight years old, the gray has spread further around her mouth and to her eyebrows as well, but Ellie is the same lovable goofball she was the day we met.
What a blessing to come home each day, met by Ellie dancing in joy!
The dog park section of Irving Park is surrounded by old oaks and maples so a couple of weeks ago I took Ellie up for a photo shoot in the fallen leaves. One of us was a little bored by the lack of running and/or hedgehogs.
All part of my evil plans to attract the entire world's hummingbird population to our little yard. MUHAHAHAHA!!!!!
This past weekend we went to the nursery to pick up a few plants for the yard. I wanted to replace the lobelia the slugs devoured last fall, and pick up a couple of hostas and maybe a fern for the shady spot out front. We went to pick up a few plants and came home with twelve. And a bird bath. And a little stone owl.
We started a hummingbird garden last fall in memory of my mother-in-law, plus a dogwood for the backyard and a handful of plants for other parts of the garden. This is more of that story. In the first picture, I’ve labeled the plants of the hummingbird garden, as well as whether they were planted last fall or this summer.
I also labeled a few plants in the back I transplanted in previous years. The patch of daisies at the back is where many of my insect pictures are taken, including this ladybug that remains one of my favorite pictures.
When we moved in, this little patch had an overgrown grape vine above and overgrown weeds below. I dug those out and then the raspberries and mint took over until last summer when I cleared it down to bare dirt. And then again and again until it stayed clear enough that I could get the hummingbird garden started.
And while the slugs got the best of the lobelia I planted last fall, I did get to see it bloom, its brilliant red flowers against the maroon stems and leaves, and knew I wanted another. We got two for good measure, we’ll see how long they last. I’m thinking of setting up some really tiny electric fences.
I'm going to sit up all night beside the lobelias, cradling a shutgun, for as long as it takes. You hear me, slugs, you hear me? It ends here! It ends now!
The other plant that appears not to have survived, done in not by slugs but by the long wet spring, is one of the salvias (I haven’t given up complete hope, not yet, and left it in the ground just in case). We picked up another salvia ‘hot lips’ since we like the one we got last fall, as well as another salvia ‘black & blue’ since the black and blue flowers are both arresting and provide a nice change from the red flowers of many of the other plants. And a salvia we haven’t tried before, ‘icing sugar’, with more pinkish flowers.
The bee balm I planted last fall has come back strong so we added a little dwarf beebalm at the far edge. Both varieties of coneflowers survived the winter and spring, the little green coneflower in the front and the ‘hot papaya’ variety behind it (of all the plants I was most worried about that one as it isn’t as hardy, but it has grown like a champ and is about to bloom).
Then there’s the zauschneria, a native to the Western U.S., which has soft leaves and should bloom orange-red flowers in the fall. Our cat Emma was giving it such rapt attention that I thought she was eating it, but on closer inspection she was just sniffing each and every leaf. I thought back to last summer when she discovered the catnip for the first time and had such a wild look in her eyes that I began to fear for the safety of Sam and Scout.
Finally there are the cape fuchsias that I grew by transplanting runners from the plant out front. I planted half a dozen runners in this part of the garden during the fall, hoping one would take, and now five are thriving. I may remove a couple that are in the back since it does spread quickly, but for now it’s filling in the garden nicely.
"Give a hoot, don't pollute! Or let the dog pee on me!"
I’m glad the transplants are doing well because the original cape fuchsia out front, planted by a previous owner, wants full sun but gets full shade. It has never thrived there and was looking rather ragged after the long wet spring, so it was time to dig it up and put in some shade-tolerant plants. This little strip shown below sits beside the steps leading up to the front of the house. The hostas are probably too close together but I didn’t want to leave too much of a gap since it’s such a visible area, I’ll move them later if need be.
The hostas will die back completely by winter, balanced by the helleborus that will bloom during the winter and early spring
I woke up to little Sam peeking out from under the covers. I use my iPhone as my alarm clock so I grabbed it off the nightstand and took a quick picture before he snuggled onto my chest and the moment was gone.
While my iPhone can’t hold a candle to my Canon 7D, especially in low light, it takes a nicer picture than the 7D during those times when the iPhone is in hand and the big camera is sitting in my office.
I handed my iPhone to a stranger so they could take a picture of me shooting free throws to help seal the victory of my Portland Trail Blazers over the Los Angeles Clippers. I had never noticed it before, but I look an awful lot like Andre Miller when photographed.
Old oak trees on a foggy night in the fall in Portland's Irving Park
Even though Irving Park is only a few blocks from our house, I never set foot in the park the first six years we lived here. But since adopting Ellie two years ago, I’ve visited daily during our walks. But during those two years I never took one picture. Not a single one!
A few weeks back while walking Ellie I was struck by the beauty of the old oak trees on a foggy fall night and wished I had brought along my camera. Then I remembered I had an always-with-you camera in my pocket and pulled out my iPhone. Its tiny sensor doesn’t do well in low light — which unfortunately is my favorite light to shoot in — but I’d rather have these pictures than none at all.
The next few posts will contain some pictures taken with the iPhone. It’s not good enough to make me forget about my big camera, but it has reignited my desire to take a camera with me more often. May be time to get a small camera bag to complement my shoulder bag. Maybe a small camera too.
Hoop Dreams
While on our walk Ellie suddenly started barking into the night. I couldn't understand why until I noticed the lights of this spaceship hovering over the horizon. Unfortunately the aliens that emerged were rather small and hedgehog-shaped. First contact did not go so well.