just walkin' the dog

on occasion, darry laments the fact that he is no longer a part of the trendy food scene. he has worked in many top notch restaurants, hotels and country clubs where the food must be of the current trends and fads or classically prepared from high end ingredients. however, he is reminded somewhat frequently of why he left that scene; scheduling and benefits. this was the case on labor day when we had a not so frequent monday morning together. what did we do with that opportunity? not much, we just took the time to enjoy a quiet and lazy day together, reading the morning paper with a cup of coffee and then walking the dog the long way around the neighborhood. we live in an old neighborhood, no new development in the last 20 years and it is right next to the nashville zoo.

pretty little flowers growing along the road, some call them weeds but i want some in my yard in the new wild flower border we are building.

persimmons on a tree by the road, we can't tell of ours have fruit but several in the neighborhood are loaded.

one of the treats of living by the zoo, seeing the giraffes as they walk from their house to the display area. look closely in the center of the photo and you will see one.

there goes another, they have 2 males and 1 female. they are all masai giraffes.

here you can see two of them walking

this one spotted us, most likely he picked up the scent of our dog

sometimes, they get confused and return to the house rather than go on to the display area. that meant we were able to see two of them up close at the same time.

heading the wrong way again!

it's falling and i can't stop it...

it's labor day weekend and that must mean summer is over...living in the south means that we should have at least another 6-8 weeks of warm weather, warm enough that plants will continue growing and producing and coats will not be required to work in the garden. i like fall; the smells, the crispness to the air, the colors and the lack of high heat/humidity. even so, i will miss summer and i will wait patiently for it to return.

this summer we finally built our patio. we did it real cheap; free stones from a stone yard that manufactures architectural stones and moss plugs from our own back yard. now all we need is some outdoor dining furniture.

a preying mantis in the perilla plant in the herb bed

thai roselle plant, it is a member of the hibiscus family. if you are a fan of herbal teas, that big red calyx is what is used when hibiscus is added to teas.

nasturtiums and lemon verbena in the herb bed

our little fig tree has a little fig!

the little fig tree has more than doubled in size this year and we will most likely get a bunch of figs next year, i can't wait!

the bed out front has really filled in nicely. i like the morning glories that are growing on the metal bed frame better than last year's cardinal climbers.

now that fall is approaching, the flowers last longer into the day and i get to see them more.

our petunias and yellow flowers in the bed