I forgot to post these of my hardy fuchsia. This is the one that didn’t get eaten. Pardon the flash; it was getting dark.

Even the one that did get eaten is trying to recover. It’s too late in the season for it to do much, but at least the roots are alive (let’s hope that’s still true next spring!)

The old lady’s chrysanthemum. I dug them out of the patio flowerbed, but then felt bad for them and just stuck them in the ground in the border. Onje slept in them a lot, and I didn’t think they’d bloom after all I did to them, but they’re tough…and kind of pretty, as chrysanthemums go.

I was on the wrong side to get a good shot, but the maples at work are changing colour beautifully. Only yellow and green here; can’t see the orange. Still pretty.

I sent this to R this morning. Copypasta to save myself the typing…

I just heard the first white-throated sparrow! That is the first songbird I learned to identify by its call by myself (Dad taught me my first songbird because he’d pretend to talk back when they sang, “Chick-a-dee, dee, dee!”) We don’t have the white-throats in summer; we’re too far south. I’m sitting on the patio, and to the west, I hear, “Oh-sweet-Canada, Canada!” from the sparrow, while to the north, I hear the fussy chatter-squeaking of a hummingbird (they sound like angry typewriters). Winter and summer, singing at the same time. October is a funny month!