Happy solstice! How are you holding up? What are you up to today? Here at the solstice, in the dark of winter, I am dreaming of my garden at the summer solstice. Here is a snapshot of what was in bloom within a week of the summer solstice. First up, breadseed poppies and feverfew. (1/

Good morning! How are you holding up? What are you up to today? Since we're coming up on the winter solstice, I find myself looking back at the garden at the summer solstice, and making plans for next year. This was my first year trying salipglossis. I will grow them again next year :)

Good morning! How are you holding up? What are you up to today? Yesterday was sunny here. We can't really enjoy it at home (the tall trees cast long shadows at this time of year), so we ventured to Nisqually Wildlife Refuge to enjoy the sun and birds. Lovely afternoon! Today will be chores at home.

Good morning! How are you holding up? What are you up to today? I knocked out a batch of pecan toffee first thing. Here it's melting chocolate chips. You can just do that and spread the chocolate -- but it breaks the temper. I will add a layer of tempered chocolate, but this layer helps it stick.

Good morning! How are you holding up? What are you up to today? We had a fair westerly Friday night, which brought down a bunch of alder branches. Each is a tiny ecosystem of lichen and moss. Today I'll be making my first batches of holiday candy -- chocolate clusters and toffee. Have a nice day!

Good morning! How are you holding up? What are you up to today? The woods are now winter green. Although the leaves are off the deciduous trees, our native Big Leaf Maples support a massive ecosystem of moss and licorice ferns. The ferns are dormant in the summer, so the trunks are most lush now!

Good morning! How are you holding up? What are you up to today? The garden is mostly dormant -- which makes anything that is still blooming that much more noticeable. This Mexican creeping zinnia is a couple years old now, and is spangled with tiny golden flowers from June until first frost.

Good morning! How are you holding up? What are you up to today? It is continuing mild, so the pineapple sage is looking splendid. Its saturated crimson doesn't photograph especially well, but it brings me great joy. I wish I could transmit the full effect, including the fragrance of the leaves!

Happy Thanksgiving! I know that this is a difficult day for many, for historic/justice reasons, for personal/family reasons, or just because they are going through a lonely time. To those for whom it is difficult: I hope you can find another day to enjoy good food with friends and family. (1/

Good morning! How are you holding up? What are you up to today? It's late fall here, and although it has been unusually warm and dry, there isn't much blooming. One of the exceptions is the tea -- camellia sinensis. It has very delicate, simple white flowers, unlike its showier cousins.

Good morning! How are you holding up? What are you up to today? I'm gearing up for Thanksgiving (US edition). Doing a little grocery shopping today. Have some nice Turkey Tails growing on a local log :)

Good morning! How are you holding up? What are you up to today? The last lingering autumn color here is a subtle one: the hydrangeas! They turn a rather lovely purple around the edges, and a faded yellow in the middle. We're very acid; I'm curious whether they show different colors in base soil.

Good morning! How are you holding up? What are you up to today? I disturbed this lovely little salamander when moving potted plants as part of my winterizing -- a common hazard, since they like it when hard surfaces meet duff. Fortunately it's warm enough for him to find a new hidey hole.

Good morning! How are you holding up? What are you up to today? The Ginkgo has lost about half its leaves now (our "Ginkgo drop day" is usually 2-3 days). I love how the leaves look on the grass! I enjoy the idea of Ginkgo forests in our mountains ~15 million years ago.

Good morning! How are you holding up? What are you up to today? The pineapple sage is blooming! This is exciting because it is a late-autumn bloomer (its blooming is triggered by the shortening nights, so it won't bloom earlier). That means it's always a race against the first freeze. (1/2)

Really fascinating article! This series looks at a Pan Am flight’s fraught trip home after the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. Great glimpse into the heroism of normal people, and hints at an era in aviation beyond my ken. Flying boats? Airline navigators using astrolabes? Great stuff!

The 23 yo daughter of a friend and former coworker of mine received an unexpected diagnosis of stage 4 colon cancer. It's metastasized to her brain and lungs. She has two young girls herself. Please consider donating if you can. 💙 gofund.me/ece7d7dfb

Had a great time Chanterelle hunting with Rob today. Lovely autumn day, and lots of mushrooms!

Good morning! How are you holding up? What are you up to today? Yesterday we stopped by Tumwater Falls. The salmon are done running there for the year, but the falls were beautiful, and the Big Leaf Maples (which tend to just go brown) were actually putting on some decent autumn color!

Good morning! How are you holding up? What are you up to today? Did you have a good Halloween? We're semi-rural, so we don't get trick-or-treaters. Instead, this is the night that Rob gets to pick a scary movie for us to watch. He picked Psycho 2 (1/

Good morning! How are you holding up? What are you up to today? Here is our Ginkgo yesterday, at near-peak gold. We had a big blow last night, so it may be looking a bit tattered today. We're lucky because we still have power; a lot of folks in our area are in the dark this morning...

Good morning! How are you holding up? What are you up to today? This lovely Japanese maple is entering its week of glory. Most of the autumn color here is supplied by non-native specimen trees. It will be very rainy here this weekend, so the week of glory may be cut short.

Good morning! How are you holding up? What are you up to today? Mom gave me this pretty white aster, a division off the big clump in her garden. I'm worried I won't have enough sun for it, but for now it looks pretty with my other late-season flowers. We got an inch of much-needed rain last night!

Good morning! How are you holding up? What are you up to today? I stopped by Mom and Dad's earlier this week. They get more sun than I do -- these beautiful dahlias had taken over their compost heap. Dozens of blooms! Stay safe out there today!T

Good morning! How are you holding up? What are you up to today? We spent a couple days in Eastern Washington visiting family. It's sagebrush, vineyard, and orchard country. Native sagebrush becomes vineyards and orchards when irrigated. Fun to see everyone, but it's good to be home!

Good morning! How are you holding up? What are you up to today? Here are some late sulphur cosmos to brighten your day. We’re going to a niece’s soccer game and hanging out with family this afternoon.

Good morning! How are you holding up? What are you up to today? We got a huge bag of peeled garlic last week, so it was time to make confit garlic! It's similar in flavor and use to roasted garlic, but it's easy to make large quantities -- and you get bonus garlic oil. (1/3)

Good morning! How are you holding up? What are you up to today? Autumn is definitely here. We're far enough north that the dark is creeping in noticeably at both ends of the day. Nova is happy for us to spending more time inside with blankets....

Happy book birthday to @franwilde.bsky.social for A Philosophy of Thieves. This looks like a great romp! www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/781353...

Good morning! How are you holding up? What are you up to today? It's definitely feeling like autumn here. The highbush cranberry is giving the first bit of autumn color. I love autumn, even if ours tends to be rather abbreviated for us.

Good morning! How are you holding up? What are you up to today? The deer chomped the hollyhocks hard about a month ago -- but that means bonus autumn color!

Good morning! How are you holding up? What are you up to today? The garden is fading, but you can always count on the calendula... it often continues to flower through November here. Backed by blue borage.

Good morning! How are you holding up? What are you up to today? Here's a chocolate cosmos I grew from seed this year. They are perennials, and it will have far more flowers next year! The geometric patterning on the upper part is a spider's web in the foreground :)

Good morning! How are you holding up? What are you up to today? The autumn crocuses declare that autumn is here :) (Colchicum autumnale - not really crocuses!) I have them in areas that are dead dry all summer; like the hardy cyclamen, the flowers are a harbinger of fall :)

Good morning! How are you holding up? What are you up to today? The garden is fading, but one of my favorite planting combinations is holding strong: tiny-flowered scented geranium, sweet alyssum, and lemon signet marigold. I'm a little achy today because I got my COVID booster yesterday (1/2)

I often glimpse a garter snake around the garden, but this is the first time I have seen more than one. I’m pretty sure these guys are making more garter snakes :) Love doesn’t undermine their sense of self preservation; the trio was gone 10 seconds later.

Good morning! How are you holding up? What are you up to today? Here is another picture from our Mt Hood jaunt: Umbrella Falls. It was a short but very beautiful falls, just a few minutes from the road. It was a good trip, but we're happy being home. Lots of normal chores to do today!

Good morning! How are you holding up? What are you up to today? We took a little post Labor Day trip to Mt Hood. We’ll have to come back in July: there were wildflowers gone to seed everywhere, and they must be gorgeous midsummer! I loved the big clumps of Mountain Ash.

Happy book birthday to @matociquala.bsky.social! Karen Memory was a great ride in a steam-punk alternate history Seattle, and I’m looking forward to seeing what happens next!

This is Pepper. She needs a home where her job is weighted blanket and not terrorizing every other cat in the house + making them ill. She's very territorial but extremely sweet with (adult) humans. Do you live within driving distance of Houston + need a solo lap cat? I will bring her to you!

Good morning! How are you holding up? What are you up to today? This crab spider is lying in wait on the coreopsis. With autumn coming, there are orb weaver webs everywhere as well!

Good morning! How are you holding up? What are you up to today? Please enjoy this verbena flower against a backdrop of signet marigolds. Autumn is approaching here. Much of the garden is looking a bit worn, but there are always pockets of glory.

Good morning! How are you holding up? What are you up to today? I love that these two are cousins. All three major Cosmos "garden" species are from Mexico; not pictured pink/white Bipinnatus, since I don't have any this year. The kinship is clear in the petal shape. Sulphur and chocolate cosmos.

Good morning! How are you holding up? What are you up to today? Please enjoy this big bumblebee on a sulfur cosmos. She looked queen-sized, but that would be unusual at this time of the year. I really like this sulphur cosmos variety: "Ladybird" cosmos, which is a dwarf cultivar.

Good morning! How are you holding up? What are you up to today? The Salpiglossis are still going, a few stained-glass flowers at a time. They're a bit fussy and need to be started indoors, but they have earned their keep this summer!

Good morning! How are you holding up? What are you up to today? We got an inch of amazing rain in the last 36 hours. It mostly fell as a fine mist, no runoff at all. It was wonderful but surprising -- we usually get 1-2 rains in August, 1/8" or less. The plants are so happy!

Good morning! How are you holding up? What are you up to today? I’ve been seeing these pretty poppies here and there for years, never at a time to snag a few seeds. This year I got some Atlas Poppy starts at a local nursery, and it just started blooming. The pretty poppy is now mine!

Good morning! How are you holding up? What are you up to today? I started some chocolate cosmos from seed I harvested last year. First one just started blooming. I love the contrast between the burgundy and the pollen :)

@wobbidoodle.bsky.social The fourth and final zinnia has opened! Same color, looser habit. The staying power is impressive! The first bloom has been open 3 weeks :)

@janelindskold.bsky.social Congratulations to you and David Weber on your Dragon Award nomination!!