Balcony views

 

On July 20-21 the morning sun came through the front door and hit my little moon-goddess sculpture. By the 24th it had moved on (the sunlight angle). I like that the sleeping goddess from Malta stayed in the shadows, appropriately enough.

Then one day I sat on my pocket balcony with my first cup of coffee. I was sitting in my new blue fabric sling chair. I had to throw away one of my first, since the fabric finally split along the weakest point. The new one was somewhat itchy fabric, but I think that might go away with time.

 These are the sights I see from my pocket on the second story. 

I like seeing the squirrels play sometimes, but there are many fewer than in the past. And it was good to see the lilies of the valley snugged up under that old maple tree. Drainage pipes from the roof gutters are strewn about. 

Our current landscape crew follows the corporate instructions to prune drastically and then cut little ditches next to the sidewalks, which are crazy dangerous for people on wheels who might run a bit over the edges.

My next door neighbor's balcony shows her green thumb.

You can see one of our air conditioning  units...we each have one in the living room and bedrooms. What my son brought up has made me wonder ever since. Why isn't there any drain for the air conditioning?

This is the downstairs neighbor from my view...next door balcony is her entryway roof. She also has some great plants.

I finally hung up the little windchime, but seldom hear it because most of the time the windows are closed to the heat.

The first of my second batch of blooms on this orchid. Another plant has also sent up a stem with buds. The heat is good for something!

So glad to say goodbye to July. Well, some things have been good. But I'd like to skip it next year, ok?

Today's quote:

Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us, or we find it not.

RALPH WALDO EMERSON From the old  photos  album: Sons Marty and Russ preparing the wedding decorations to go on the stage in the bar where Marty and Barb were married. The bar usually had a boxing logo on the back of the stage. Marty and Barb are married on stage. The reception was in the same place, and a wonderful venue...dance floor and a wet bar for those interested (most of them) Good sound system. A bit difficult for the cake cutting however. I discovered cake pops!

The last post of fall colors

And here's another batch of enjoying my local colors! (Which have all gone away by now...but I still like seeing the photos!)

On Saturday Nov 2, there was a lot of frost on this picnic bench and table outside our laundry room. Frost was also on cars, but quickly melted as the sun hit them.

 On Tuesday I started to walk around Lake tomahawk (Nov 5)

 There are many bare branches...

But look who was walking towards me...my old neighbor and dear friend Sarah Vekasi (another potter too!) and her new dog Griffin.  We talked about problems with lunging and barking (Griffin) and how my son Tai has worked with a special collar on my grand-dog Zora.  So bim bam, and a few texts later and she (Sarah) got the info from Tai about the collar to maybe help train Griffin.

By Nov. 7, I have more mountains to see, and the maples have thinned down considerably outside my living room windows. I'm on my balcony, where I was piling up all the pots which have plants still alive, but which I don't plan to winter-over inside.  So I took this from outside, rather than through the tinted glass windows.