Did you spot the little spider on the Black-eyed Susan flower from my garden above? He's right at the top of center. That's spider number five thousand, four hundred and sixty-three I spotted today.Two were hanging from my garden hat at one point. And kind though I am to spiders, I unknowingly barged through and utterly destroyed quite a number of little webs in the garden this week.
Some not so little. :)
Autumn is the time for a spider's last hurrah before winter when things get pretty bleak for our eight-legged friends. Live fast, die young, I guess. Some of them live really fast. You should've seen the fat brown one that ran over my shoe move.
I'm on the look-out for two particular kinds I haven't seen yet: my mom spotted a spider that imitates a large ant in appearance and my mother-in-law claims there are also HUGE SCARY FAT yellow spiders scampering around like puppy dogs.
Spider Girl is on the lookout.
These last couple weeks I haven't been near my blog much.Partly because it's the beginning of the new school year and that's the time when teachers of little kids everywhere go a bit crazy-busy.
My past two weeks have been full of new kids with new little personalities and new little eccentricities to discover.
Activites have included:
*participating in slug hunts
*tasting mud pies (mmmm...yum)
*dipping myself in paint, glue, day-glo coloured shaving-cream, and any number of messy forms of abstract preschool art
*learning the fine art of cutting out a hundred construction paper leaves without having my fingers cramp
*trying to grow the eight arms which would suddenly become very helpful
*discovering how many pairs of socks have been left outside in the sandbox
*closing my eyes and trying to go to my inner quiet happy place
As I'm a sucker for punishment I have also applied to and been accepted in a Early Childhood Education research/discussion group course through UVic. Once again I'll be a student of sorts. An online one at least.
Another reason I haven't blogged (at least this week) is that I have nearly four hundred flower bulbs in various stages of being planted. (I have my mom to thank for a lot of those daffodils next spring!)Between my mom's gift and my own budget splash-out on bulbs (daffodils, tulips, crocus, jonquils, allium), I have my work for the next week of non-rainy evenings cut out for me.
It's tedious work--dig hole, stir some bonemeal at the bottom, plop the bulb in, cover up, repeat. And repeat. And repeat. I think I was practically meditating by the time I got through the first bag of one hundred.
The zen of planting bulbs.
11 comments:
I found a golden orb weaver trying on camo on the end of a bamboo leaf; it was adorable. Do keep up with your garden photos! Some of those arrangements are nicer that a florist's display. By the by, our "little" Em has just enrolled in ECE, so you have -some- company on the educational path, if on opposite ends.
LJ
BULBS!! I knew I was forgetting to do something!
Also?
A spider weaved (wove?) a web across my steps just this morning.
If I didn't know better, I would say he was going to try to have ME for breakfast!
Fortunatley I saw him before I became entangled in his web, a hapless victim flapping in the wind.
I had only to break a small 'gate' through leaving him his home mostly intact.
A fairly kind gesture considering his intentions!
AND!! Those Japanese 'wind flowers' are sublime.
Love the garden photos. If you find the scampering puppy dog spiders, take a picture. I'd like to see that. Up here, spiders are small while the beetles and mosquitoes are huge. I'd way rather deal with abnormally large spiders.
Firstly -- your garden pictures are lovely, and I think you ought to write a book on Zen and the Art of Bulb Planting. It would look good amongst motorcycle manuals.
Secondly -- if ONLY it was spiders in my garden right now.... it took a shovel, twenty plastic grocery bags and half an hour to clean up all the poop in my back yard today. Winnie the Pooh knocked down my fence last night, tore apart my compost, and left little piles of apple-sauce feces everywhere! BLAH!
Thirdly -- I hope you guys can make it to the lecture on Saturday! It looks like it might be really popular, so I urge you to call and reserve space... you can phone me, or the museum, to save a seat. It'll be fun!
Pretty pretty pretty
Can hardly wait for the pictures next Spring! I would love to plant bulbs up here, but too cold, too much snow for too long!! Spring (and Fall too) only last about a week. Summer lasts for about 3 weeks but we are usually on the Island at that time. Love love love looking at your fleur pics!!!
Will you come and make my yard pretty too?
Spiders terrify me!!
We have finally ventured outdoors and have been trying to turn the unloved wastage of ground at the back into a nice garden. It is going to take some time!
Beautiful. I need to get outside more once the rain stops. If my thumb were greener, I'd plant something, but instead I'll pop in every now and then and peek into your garden.
These pics are therapeutic. Thanks for sharing.
Spiders are everywhere in our garden...
ugh.
:D
Not much of a spider-person.
Nice pictures
The recovering arachniphobe saw the spider IMMEDIATELY, trust me! lol
Your activities of the last few weeks sound delightful. Glad you and your kids are having so much fun!
It's nice to be back. I've missed you.
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