A Snowbird in Paradise

Jackson Perkins Midas Touch

 It is October 19...October 19!!!  This rose bush has grown larger, faster, and fuller than any other one I have ever grown.  None of my mother's roses ever got this large.  It looks like the rose bushes we see in Florida that  have all year to grow.  I hate that I am going to have to cut this down for the winter and cover it with a Styro-cone.

Hybred Tea Rose Midas Touch

The trellis behind it is not because the bush is a climber...it isn't.  It is a hybrid tea called Midas Touch and it has been in my yard for two summers, now.  I use a Bayer rose food that is dry grains, a handful scattered around the base of the rose before I put the mulch on in the spring.  That's it and I did the same thing with the neighboring roses.  I have NO idea why this one took off so much this summer, or if it will do it ever again.

Honey bee...I hope I can keep these happy.

What a gorgeous day!  The afternoon sun made every insect flitting about my garden so eye-catching that I just had to grab the camera. 

Pretty dragonfly

Geese stopping over

The weather was so gorgeous that we went for a little ride around the Lake Erie Metro Park, camera in hand, of course.  The Picnic area is right on a bay that invites migrating and non-migrating birds to stop over.  Last year I only had my purse camera when I discovered the gathering of birds.  The next day when I returned with my DSLR camera all of the birds had left.  This year I had the DSLR with me and got these photos.

Coming in from all over on their way South

Seagulls, ducks, swans and geese all in one shot!  This is a small sample of the hundreds of birds in this bay.

Plenty of action

While I was there quite a few swans and geese came in and joined the crowd.  Above is a small flock of swans that flew in from Canada in the background.

Landing!!!

A few minutes later a couple of small flocks of geese came from the same area, flying across from Canada.

Canada, US...they see no boundries

Swans and the Ontario Wind Farm

I liked the swans peacefully swimming (here in the US) with the Canadian Wind Farm in the background.

Geese, ducks, swans, gulls and the Edison Power Plant