Actually, the first few are of the bird feeder hanging from the eaves just outside the backdoor. This is not your typical bird feeder. It's an upside-down feeder, with the holes placed under the perches!
The upside-down feeder is filled with thistle seed to attract goldfinches, but it's the upside-down-ness that really draws them. They have no problem at all simply flipping upside down for a few seconds to grab a seed, and the bigger birds like sparrows and house finches can't manage it! For a long time we hadn't seen any goldfinches for a while, just the bigger house finches or purple finches, which seemed to be bullying them away. Then when we got the upside-down feeder, we started seeing goldfinches again! And we found out that they were still around in the winter - but they lost their color! Instead of the bright canary-yellow (on the males, anyway) they are a drab gray-brown with hints of yellow.
How many can fit on here? There are six perches, and I've seen them all full, with several waiting impatiently, clinging to the wire or the lid. When the seeds get low and there are only two perches available, they can get quite aggressive, even pushing each other off! Here it is with five...
Looking out across the yard - you can see the field from the park is just behind the back fence. We've got some nice big trees. There are two more feeders on that pole, which we usually fill with thistle seed on one side (this one has right-side up perches) and regular bird seed mix and sunflower seeds on the other. The one on the right, which gets the regular bird seed, is supposed to be squirrel-proof - it's got a frame that sinks down if anything that heavy lands on it, so that all the holes are covered. It can be pretty entertaining to watch the squirrels, as they first try to scramble up that pole, and then can't figure out how to get to the food they know is there!
I planted some marigolds out by the patio before I left in May.
This is just to the left of the backyard photo above. A pine tree with a couple of blueberry bushes under it. After the tiny blueberry plants I was harvesting from this summer, they seem pretty big!
And now the front yard. We have a garden along the porch, with not much left in it at this time of year, but the roses out in the yard are still doing well, even though it's been getting pretty cold at night.
Just a few cosmos still blooming, as well.
The bees are still out working as well! Got to get every last drop of nectar while they can...
The zinnias I planted in April have been doing very well - but the day after I took this, they got bit by frost, and turned a uniform brown. Once they dried up a little I went and picked all the flower heads to use for seed next year - I'm also collecting marigolds, cosmos, purple asters, and the pods from butterfly weed and swamp milkweed. (Those last two are tricky, as the seeds are attached to bits of fluff so they can float away on the wind...)
Here's another view of the backyard, from around the side of the house.
The blueberry bushes always turn a very pretty red.
We ended up with a surprise crop this year - three gourds! The vines came up on their own, from when we tossed some gourds last fall after we were done decorating with them.
With the gourds we bought at the apple stand, we ended up with quite a harvest display!
Also, the pumpkins we bought that day had to be carved for Halloween. Joanne came over and did one, and I did the other. Hers is on the left, mine is on the right.
We did not plan it out to have hers be *scared* and mine be *scary*! It just happened that way!
I was quite pleased with how mine turned out - doing the eyes that way was an experiment! They both looked great, out on the porch on Halloween night.
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