Gather Ye Rosebuds

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may, Old Time is still a-flying:

And this same flower that smiles to-day, To-morrow will be dying.
-Robert Herrick (1591-1674)

Well, actually, the rosebuds (and lavender!) have already been gathered and placed in a decorative jar on my desk so I can see them and reminisce about my flower garden when it's covered in snow in another month.

The red, pink, & yellow miniature roses produce such tiny little pretty petals. When they're blooming I pick a few petite buds each week, along with a sprig of a ferny asparagus leaf, to place in miniature vases on the kitchen windowsill. Every now and then, as the buds in the vase go to full bloom, I'll pluck a few out & let them dry on the sill.

Little by little I start filling the rose jar with dried petals. This year I mixed in some of my lavender for color, too. I like to open it now and then and let the delicate scents of summer perfume the air.

So that olde line from the 17th century poem kept running through my head last Saturday when Ben came down to help Papa & I Gather Ye Cord Wood While Ye May...

Earlier that day, before Ben showed up, Papa had been out in the orchard sampling the apple crop.

He came in the house and said, 'Honey! Grab your camera and come get some pictures of the walnut tree. This is the best it's ever looked in the Fall.'

So we were outdoors moseying around when Ben came to get the wood-splitting party started. He & Jenny-dog ended up moseying along with us, too.

I call this next one the Ben-being-Eli shot...

"Why? WHY? is this [apple] red when it tastes so sour?"

You've got to click on the pic to truly appreciate that look on Ben's face

Truth be told, he was really just being grumpy at the photographer cuz she kept wanting more and more pictures... and did that stop her? No way José. I went a step further and started in on some live video in the afternoon. heheheh :D

About a half-hour into it in the late morning:

The pine rounds were kinda wet -on what must have been the north side of the standing tree- so they piled up the pieces to dry for the next few days before I wheelbarrow it all into the woodshed. So my job was boxing up any kindling, then removing the punky middles and bark as the fellas split. I stacked 'em up along the south side of the airplane garage so the sun will finish 'curing' them so they'll burn instead of smolder in the woodstove. 

Got some noisy action shots after lunch:

And some quiet, peaceful ones, too =)

Listen for the geese calling:

...and see that goofy camera shy pup (again):

One of the bulls showed up. I fed him apples:

..while the guys took the rack off Ben's truck until next year:

..and chewed the fat for a bit before Son One went home to his cabin.

Then I just had to get another shot of that walnut out back.. the light changed the perspective, doncha know ;)

..and then took one l-a-s-t picture. This time of the lilac & forsythia and the ivy on the elm at the north-east corner of the house:

-The End-

(of a perfectly, lovely, ideal day)

** Credits **

GabbyJaynlette 

for the inspiration, education, and tutoring of attaching HTML videos

Ben the Beloved 

for helping me figure out my camera's video issues

Eli-o 

for providing inspirational quotes 

Papa 

for feeding my addiction to taking pictures :)