1830. do you hear cicadas?



rain keeps falling
and my ears keep ringing….
chilly morning
*
standing face to face
with the stone cold Buddha….
are his ears ringing, too?





According to the web ringing in the ears is common for people, and cats and dogs too. But what about Buddhas with their large ears?





 

1829. Skylar



surprise! surprise!
s - k - y - b - l - u - e
say “hello!”





Say “hello!” Well, he wouldn’t, though he’s a good talker but on his own terms! That’s Skylar, named for his sky blue color. He’s a Blue Indian Ringneck Parrot, getting his daily D’s hiking up on Andorra Meadow in the Wissahickon. What a surprise! You just never know who you’ll meet on a hike through the woods. 

1828. double take


final cut
reaching out for one last big bite
sneaky snaky tree


 

Walking along the trail, she did a double take. That fallen tree resembled a huge serpent ready to take a deadly bite out of that other tree! He quick pulled out his camera to take a shot….she did the same!😘





1827. it’s autumn


it’s mighty cold
and all the leaves are turning red 🍂
woohoo!


 

It’s 38° this morning and 21 days till Halloween. Red’s my favorite color. Just sayin’! 👻 




1826. kinda magical


before dawn
outside my front window
three deer
 



How many times I’ve looked out the front window and watched people passing by, or cars and trucks  or fire engines or the morning school bus taking children to school. This  morning, it was still dark as I was just about to sit down in my reading chair when I looked out the window and saw three deer under the street light standing there on the grass, leisurely feeding on the acorns fallen from the tree next door. Now and then they raised heads carefully to look around.  I wished them well and said a prayer for their safe return home to the woods nearby. A few minutes later, I looked again and they were gone. 

It’s kinda magical to me to be living in close proximity to the beauty in nature’s wild animals and now and again to observe deer and foxes and rabbits and herons and hawks, and Canadian geese flying high from golf club to golf club! And it’s reassuring, too.





1825. the host


autumn sprouts
clamoring to blossom and bloom
before the first frost

 


Taking up residence, three or four different kinds of young greens, sprouting around this tall trunk of a dead tree. Hmmm. . .it’s autumn now, not springtime. How unusual. Will they all be winter hardy? Could this be a sign of yet warmer temperatures to come? Hmmm. . .




1824. holy moly!


holy moly!
my mouth is puckering—
flying dragons!





Cold hardy, the Hardy Orange Tree. It’s also named the Flying Dragon Tree, with fruits too bitter and sour to eat but if you dare, you might live forever like the majestic, heavenly Flying Phoenix in Chinese Mythology. 





1823. caution! ⚠️


october sun
illuminating the foxtails 
beware!





It was the sun illuminating the tall, fluffy seed heads that caught my attention. Later I looked up the plant. Foxtail or Timothy grass? Timothy is a perennial that is beneficial for feed, while Foxtail is a summer annual weed with bristles that can be harmful to livestock and dogs. 






1822. fun house



in the funhouse 
posing for pictures 🐱🐭
cat and mouse



 


Captivating exhibition at the Michener Museum in Doylestown. “Interwoven”— Anila Quayyum Agha’s cross-cultural expressions in sculpture, embroidery, painting, and drawing. Exhibition runs now through January 11, 2026.




1821. flowers



mirror, mirror 
on the wall, who’s the fairest
of them all?
*
in it together
all these flowers—
sharing secrets


 

Shhh… We all have our secrets, even these flowers.






1820. white snowcaps



weaseling in
on a mountain of hot pink—
white snowcaps

 


Popping up in anyone’s bed wherever they please, it’s cool how mushrooms don’t follow the rules,




1813. the tango




step, turn, stretch, turn,
lifting arms, ruffling feathers—
the tango






Life is magical. Over by the golf course at the edge of a little pond, I turned to see the tango of two great herons—one white, one blue—dancing to their own music in the soft light of late afternoon. 





1812. cinnamon sky


cinnamon sky
a solitary bird soars high
singing for the moon






The moon is always where it is, in the sky up high, let me sing a little song.