The Fall Gardens-We Have Mums; Kaitlyn Challenges the Ocean

Got a Fall 2006 garden update here and yes, he have mums.

Also, Kaitlyn Mae goes to the ocean and issues that body of water a challenge it couldn't resist.

Pic of the Day
Click to watch the video of the stupidest dog alive.

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Quote of the Day On Grandparents (taken from papers written by a class of 8-year-olds) Grandparents are a lady and a man who have no little children of her own. They like other people's. A grandfather is a man grandmother. Grandparents don't have to do anything except be there when we come to see them. They are so old they shouldn't play hard or run. It is good if they drive us to the store and have lots of quarters for us. When they take us for walks, they slow down past things like pretty leaves and caterpillars. They show us and talk to us about the color of the flowers and also why we shouldn't step on "cracks." They don't say, "Hurry up." Usually grandmothers are fat, but not too fat to tie your shoes. They wear glasses and funny underwear.

Web Site Worth the Visit The Horses Sing Wait for the entire screen to load up with all four horses and a fence in front of them. Then single click on each horse (not a double click). Make sure your sound is on. Re-click on any horse to make it turn off or turn it back on again. Someone did some real wizardry of programming to coordinate this! Try clicking on the horses from left to right then right to left then just one or two at a time... Do them in random order for some weird songs. It's fun and a good stress reliever. HERE

TIDBITS THE OYSTER There once was an oyster whose story I tell, Who found that some sand had got into his shell. It was only a grain, but it gave him great pain, For oysters have feelings, even though they're so plain. Now, did he berate the harsh workings of fate that brought him to such a deplorable state? Did he curse at the government, cry for election, And claim that the sea should have given him protection? No! He said to himself as he lay on a shell, "Since I cannot remove it, I shall try to improve it." Now, the years have rolled by, as the years always do, and he came to his ultimate destiny: stew. And the small grain of sand that had bothered him so Was a beautiful pearl, all richly aglow. Now, the tale has a moral, for isn't it grand What an oyster can do with a morsel of sand? What couldn't we do if we'd only begin With some of the things that get under our skin? Author Unknown

 


Kaitlyn’s Not Afraid of the Ocean

Although I live very near the Atlantic Ocean, alas I do not venture near or in it at all. Which is regrettable in that I’ve always loved the ocean, have spent much of life at or around the ocean and remember how much I loved playing, swimming, floating and riding the wild and wooly waves of the Atlantic.

So when Kaitlyn and her Mom agreed to come pay me a visit and since it was then after Labor Day with the tourists all back in school, I said we’d go up to the Rehoboth Beach, Delaware boardwalk and make a day of it.

It was fun. For when the tourists leave, often the sun continues to shine brightly and the summer warmth lingers. The favored tourist spots remain open but unfettered by the crowds of the summer influx. Thus our trio was able to do all the silly tourist stuff such as buying fudge by the sea, browsing the unique shops and, of course, enjoying that great big ocean. There’s plenty of parking right at ocean side and all the meters have been turned off.

The beauty of the Rehoboth Beach ocean area is that it’s but a short walk from the boardwalk to the ocean. Down the road in Delmarva, Merryland’s biggest ocean resort, Ocean City, requires almost a mile long hike to get from street to boardwalk to the ocean. Just as soon as we managed to get parked and wend our way up to Rehoboth’s famous boards I noticed that the ocean was, well, it was right there!

I had no intention on actually going INTO the ocean when I mentioned a visit to the beach with Kaitlyn’s mother. But when I saw those waves rolling in I simply could not resist.

Not that I was properly attired for wading in the ocean what with socks and loafers and long pants on my body that would, ahem, get wet from the waves. Kaitlyn too had on shoes, socks and long pants that would get soaked from the Atlantic’s mighty rolling waves.

So we took off our shoes and socks and rolled up our pants. Kaitlyn’s Mom agreed to hold our belongings as Kaitlyn and I ventured to the ocean to wade in the rolling waves.

I held Kaitlyn’s hand and understand here that the waves of the Atlantic do not roll to the beach in any sort of orderly and organized fashion. Often one can look out to the horizon and see a huge wave roaring in from out of nowhere. The beach front does have a waterline from where the sand had been battered by earlier waves and this is generally where the art of wading begins. At the very edge of the wet sand, a barefoot beach wader should be mostly safe from the big waves but there’s always an errant wave that surprises those waders who simply want to walk in the ocean waters up to their ankles.

It’s been a while since I so much as even waded in the ocean waters and now I had Kaitlyn by my side and such a young child could easily be plucked by an errant wave and carried out to sea before the adult in charge even knew what happened. I held both of Kaitlyn’s hands tightly and together we both faced the Atlantic and dared the waves to come get us.




Kaitlyn adored the water and was not stopped a bit by the chill of the Atlantic. We waded along the beach’s water line, occasionally a tendril from an incoming wave would come in much deeper than anticipated and would cover our legs up to our knees. Kaitlyn and I would giggle at the surprise.

I faced the Atlantic ocean directly, Kaitlyn in front of me. I wondered what it must be like to be a small child and look out to a mighty ocean that said child could never have imagined. Kaitlyn’s eyes sparkled and joy spread over her face at the sight of that big ocean right there in front of her.

“Come on Kayley Mae,” I shouted, “tell that ocean we’re not afraid of you.”

Kaitlyn, thinking this to be one hell of a fun game, shouted out “Come on ocean, we’re not afraid.”

The ocean took our dare and the waves continued to roil in as Kaitlyn and I enjoyed the tickle of ocean water on our feet, ankles and calves.

As always happens with these types of things, one big ocean wave gets it into its head to come in hard and heavy, this right when the silly humans have set down their beach chairs at what they’d considered the water’s edge.

I saw the wave coming out of the corner of my eye and I quickly grabbed Kaitlyn. This wave would have been over her head, or close to it. I looked behind me and Kaitlyn’s Mom was watching Kaitlyn and I frolic Oceanside. I noticed my shoes and socks sitting by her feet. Just in time I yelled at her to grab them and at the same time I picked Kaitlyn up by her belly.

Holding Kaitlyn, I ran from the rogue wave. My shoes and socks were saved from a watery death in the Atlantic ocean. All three of us had to run towards the dry sand and we made it just in time. Kaitlyn was giggling with the sheer delight of the adventure and we got high and dry to see the beach chairs and toys of the few tourists left get swamped by an uncaring wave.

It was a hoot.

We capped off the afternoon by a visit to the candy store and a pizza parlor. Kaitlyn picked out a blue lollypop but was told she couldn’t have it until she ate her pizza.

Kaitlyn was so tired from the ocean breezes that she fell asleep in her car set on the way home, right in the middle of enjoying her beloved lollypop. The entire bottom of her face was a blue and she resembled a tired Smurf.


More Kaitlyn posts HERE
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Fall 2006 and the Garden Roars Even as the Trees Wane

There are some fall plants emerging as a result of the season change here in the swamps of Delaware. Of course I have completely forgotten what they are going to be although I think one handsome circle of greenery is going to be a winter cabbage when it grows up.

The chrysanthemums, of course, are roaring to full bloom. These mums, I say proudly, are from one of those mums one can buy at the grocery as instant fall decoration that I purchased last year. I planted the two purchased mums last year with a shrug. They’d already decorated my door steps the entire month of October 2005. I figured what did I have to lose?

One mum is so big that it collapsed from the weight of its bloom. The other bloomed pretty purple mums and even now is going strong.



It’s the annuals that brighten the fall gardens. For the marigolds, dahlias and zinnias make a sudden growth spurt with the onset of cooler weather. Roses too make a pale imitation of their spring bloom. The Impatience plants sport fertile seed pods that can be popped. If the seeds survive the winter, more impatience will grow the following spring.

I survey the happy green grass and bursting annuals and know that soon they will be gone, replaced by the drear of winter. I’ll try to enjoy it all while I can.

More Gardens and Bird posts HERE
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