Brown or Black

We had quite a warm day today and I spent a lot of time sitting on the porch and just looking over the back yard. At this point the Sedum and Brown-eyed Susans are providing the most colour.  Then I started thinking about Brown-eyed vs Black-eyed Susans and which was right. To my surprise when I went to look it up I found this: 

What is the difference between brown-eyed Susan and Black Eyed Susan?

Brown-Eyed Susan and Black-Eyed Susan are not the same flower! Brown-Eyed Susan will be somewhat taller than Black-Eyed Susan and bloom later. The flower heads of Brown-Eyed Susan (1-2″ diameter // 2.5-5 cm) are also smaller than Black-Eyed Susan (3″ diameter // 7.5 cm).

I went out to cut a couple of my flowers and I found that some are bigger and some are smaller. So that doesn't help me know what mine are.
 

Then I found this which seems to say that they are the same plant:

Many of the rudbeckias have dark cones: brown or nearly black, and so have been called black-eyed or brown-eyed Susans.

I was so confused I decided I'd better have a big cup of tea. I used my Autumn mug.

 

If you have any thoughts on brown or black eyed Susans let me know in the comments.

G.M.

A little more Decorating.

 It's a pleasant Sunday.  We had a lovely walk with the trees and shrubs all refreshed by the showers we had yesterday late in the day. It's not enough to reach the roots but every bit helps.

I had time this week to change the look of my Mom's old Singer sewing machine. 

This is before....

 ...and this if after.

I hope you're having a lovely Sunday!!

GRANNY M

 

Signs

 Youngest son gave me this Welcome sign for my birthday.

I have already shown this Herbs sign that eldest daughter made for me,

 now she made another one which I've put on the other side of the path to the tap.
Sorry it's so hard to see. I don't have the knack of taking great photos.

She also made this sign which is about 18 by 9 inches and I've hung it over the gateway to the area where the swing is. I tried to get it into a picture but the sun and shade made it impossible.

The Share the Love of Autumn sign hangs on the inside of the back door.

 

We're having a federal election later this month and of course there are all sorts of signs that have been erected for the various candidates. I thought this little cartoon was very apt.

Thanks for stopping by today,   Granny M

A New Breed of Sheep

 

I saw this on Facebook this morning and I thought it was the most creative thing I've seen in a while!!  I hope you'll like seeing what can be done with old telephones.

 Granny M.

 

 

Books and Tea Cups

I'm trying to reread my own books with the idea of donating the ones I don't want to keep. I must admit so far I've put exactly one in the donate box.  I finished these two by Flora Thompson. Lark Rise to Candleford is  semi-biographical  and I enjoyed rereading it as much as I enjoyed it the first time.
Still Glides the stream is fiction but every bit as interesting as Lark Rise.

 

Sisters in Two Worlds is about 2 young women who grew up in a manor house in the Suffolk countryside. They married and left England to live in the backwoods of Upper Canada in the mid to late 1800's.  Aside from recounting their struggles in their new homes the book contains over 200 colour and Black-and White images. One of the sisters, Catherine Parr Traill, wrote and illustrated books on Canadian plants, the first of its kind.

I've decided that every time I post I'll feature one or two tea cups from my collection.

These two cups are not fine china but I just love the patterns.I'd love to find blouses in these exact prints.

We had  perfect weather for the first of September. The temperature was only 8C when I first checked but we reached 25 by the afternoon.  (That would be about 45F and the high 77).

Thanks for stopping by,  GM

Welcome Autumn

 September first is the first day of meteorological Autumn. DH and I have had a friendly argument going for years about the beginning of each season and now I learn that all along I was going by the meteorological version and he was all for the astronomical one.   I copied this little bit of info from the internet ( in case you're interested).

 You may have noticed that meteorologists and climatologists define seasons differently from “regular” or astronomical spring, summer, fall, and winter. So, why do meteorological and astronomical seasons begin and end on different dates? In short, it’s because the astronomical seasons are based on the position of Earth in relation to the sun, whereas the meteorological seasons are based on the annual temperature cycle.

 Meteorological Seasons

Summer runs from June 1 to August 31; fall (autumn) runs from September 1 to November 30; and. winter runs from December 1 to February 28 (February 29 in a leap year)

 

 

There now. I've managed to bore you with my trivia and I'll go on to bore you with tea cups. Here are a couple of the saucerless ones I collect, ones with Autumn tones.

This one has sort of Autumn colours.  Both this tea cup and the next one are Queen Anne china.

I got out my Gather sign , the same one I used last year, and hung it on the front door. It was a gift from GD Kate.  I'm always the first one on our street to put out anything seasonal. I have another sign for the back door which I just remembered. I'll go find it and hang it today.

Thanks for coming by,

Granny Marigold

A Small Project and a Cheeky Squirrel

I found some interesting pieces at the thrift store. I'm not sure what the long one is for  but the three smaller ones look like butter knives (?). I like the way the handles have been wrapped with wire and coloured glass. DH drilled holes in them and eldest daughter brought fine wire to attach them. I hung it in front of my garden shed.

It's odd. The blades are shiny but in the picture they're black.

We have a very busy squirrel who brings nuts from way down the street to bury in our yard.  Once in a while it takes a break and sits on the lawn swing to eat and keep up his energy. I foresee many Hazelnut  and Horse Chestnut trees needing to be pulled out next year.

We're continuing with our cool days. I was out doing some gardening earlier and a very light rain began falling. I hope we  get a significant amount.

 

Thanks for visiting,  GM