LATE AUGUST SKIES

                 Orcas breaching the clouds. I see them so clearly.  These are some of the sunsets this August......late in summer. Untouched photos, by the way.....they are exactly as they are.........

 I think the sky is so beautiful. I'm always looking up to see...

 The clouds are so pink..............like marshmallows someitmes.

 Other times the sun sets red hot.......and the sky  burns.

   Other times it just melts like ice cream.

                   And the clouds roll in.

                    Tinged with gold.........

                                 Beyond the huge trees .......

                         Over the forest..........

    Until they are Orcas playing in the clouds at night......

     New picture with Morgan......you can see the sweet pea pods stringing along their vines, in the corner............end of August...

WEATHER CHANGE

 Last week of August. Weather is changing. Days are more unsettled. Clouds roll in. Then roll out. Light gets  weird. Very weird.

 Black Bacarra rose has bloomed again.I haven't seen it bloom like this for ages. Must be the fertilizer. And the hot weather we had this summer

 A summer of sitting on the porch, watching the clouds roll by. Spencer knows.

 Rudbekia has show up, but garden has started gong to sleep, little by little.

 Spencer knows. He gets cuddles from Dale once in a while when he leaves his chair.

 And of course, Cordelia. She knows the weather is changing.

 Two of ours sit in the window and sniff the air. It smells different...has the hint of fall in the air. That means allergies are not far off..........ha.

 Our neighbourhood  cats gather for  their daily meeting. Soon it will be too cold to lie on the cement.Spencer knows.

            Last of the roses are blooming madly. They know.

   Sleeping on pavement will be a thing of the past.And the daily meetings will be more short and sweet.Spencer knows.

DRUNKEN PEACHES....and what to do about it.

 DRUNKEN PEACH Sauce. (Don't worry no one gets  tipsy in the making of it).The peaches are absolutely beautiful this year. You will need about 7 pounds of peaches, about a cup or a cup and a half of rum ( whatever is left from making fruit cakes),and 5 cups of sugar.

 Take a large glass bowl, fill with cold water and a 1/4 cup lemon juice. As you cut up the peaches dunk them into the lemon juice bath. That way they will not brown. No need to peel the peaches, by the way. Besides I realllly dislike peeling peaches.....lazy am I.

 Plop as many peaches will fill a large soup pot on the stove. Pack them in well. Take a Braun hand blender and chop up as fine as you want.  Add the sugar, and the rum and cook, stirring often, till the fruit is soft and meshes with the sugar. Be really careful not to have the heat too high, as it will burn. Just watch it and everything will be fine. Takes about 20 minutes or so. Skim off the high foam that will be created as it boils.

 Take leftover peaches ( you will have some) and make peach pies that you can freeze. Sprinkle a large bowlful ( sorry,no measurements, just guessitimate...have fun with it, doesn't have to be exact), sprinkle with flour and sugar and pile into the crusts. Wrap well and freeze. In the small container you will see the Rum Peach sauce. Good on all sorts of desserts, or toasts, or with main dishes.  Kind of an all purpose  condiment. The Rum has been burned off as the peaches cook. If you put the rum in at the end, it will remain as such....will make the fruit taste boozy,so don't do that. Cook it with the fruit. Process the glass jars in a boiling water bath, about 10 minutes to seal.

 Then later on you can let the cats have their way and sit beside you while you label up the jars.

RAIN

          Hosta. Rain rain don't go away.

                      Rain. Plop. Plop.

                        Roses are blooming again. Coral. One of my favourites.

 Cordelia. Looking smug. She beat Spencer to the fence.

                        Hibiscus. Huge. Thirsty.

                               Purple Hibiscus. Also huge.
                                      Bush has turned into a tree.
                                            Nearly swallowed the post man the other day.
                                                  I saw the Hibiscus shudder when I brought out the shears....

                                   Webs. Tangled with fuzzy seeds. rain. spiders. bugs. ick.

                                    Climbing roses. Huge.As tall as the house. Need a ladder.

                                 Spencer.
                                      Didn't get to the fence first. 
                                              Soggy kitty. Soggy Smokey. Drying out.

                                              Tangled tomatoe plants. Picked all the tomatoes to ripen inside. Yum.

                                        Grapes. After the rain. Like a jungle. Where are those shears...........

MUGGY DAY

                             Hard to do things on a muggy day. Not much for a feline to do, except flop.....

                 And flop they do. Like their humans, I suppose. Even the flowers are flopping in the heat.

                                 The porch moss pots are faring best. Som of the ones in the sun are starting to look straggly, but these ones are still lush. The sweet peas are starting to straggle as well.  But not in the shade. They've even bloomed better than some of the ones in the sun.

                      Most beautiful thing in the garden right now is the Japanese Anenome........

         And the funnisest, is the fact the racoons come every night and knock over the pitchers of water. Contrary to popular belief, they are not really meant for the cats. I just saw them used in a gardening catalogue and thought it was a really cool idea. The felines think so too...

  Muggy evening. Everything is sweltering and misty

     Cook under the grapes.............

        But Cordelia finally gives in and flops.................

IMAGES.............at Sunset

 Images...............on the last day of July in perfect weather at the Pier......

                       Marina.................

                                                                                 Sittin' on the dock of the bay, sunset watching.....

                        The ice cream line up at 8:30pm..................

Quadra Ferry crossing.....

                       Boy fishing.......dreaming of marlins...

                                                                               Tourists............

 Light changing.........................

                                                                        Quadra Island lighthouse in mist..........

                          The Boardwalk.................

Reading in the park in the evening.......

             

House on Quadra.......

Skin art on the boardwalk.......

Seasoned fisherman in the last light....

Last light.......

                           Couple waits........................last of the sun....