Labour Day Stink Bug.

School starts tomorrow, so daily walks with the young ones are over for a while. They haven't learned to use their ears yet, but certainly are sharp-eyed. I'll miss their keen ability to spy things on the ground.

My son spotted this Green Stink Bug nymph, which I otherwise might have stepped upon. I'll have to start looking down again.

See an adult Green Stink Bug at Wanderin' Weeta.

Sheer maple.

There's a maple tree down the road I often look at. It's a columnar street-tree variety, but has an errant branch that seems to be signalling a turn. The picture above was taken last October. (Last year was especially good for fall colour.)

I looked at the tree yesterday, and noticed that the leaves were tattered. Some pathogen or pest had ravaged the foliage.

Or perhaps a hunting mishap?

Later I passed the Norway maple in Paulik Park, which is a few blocks from the first tree. It too was tattered, or moth-eaten, or whatever. I checked other street maples on the way home. Same thing. I haven't been able to find out the cause. Any suggestions would be appreciated. This year's fall colour is bound to be somewhat faint.

A rock to roll.

If a rock is too large to bring to your garden,

bring your garden to the rock.

A hearty patch of Echeveria at Paulik Park.

I'm keeping an eye out for flippable rocks, which tend to be scarce on this island, for International Rock Flipping Day is fast approaching. I will try to surpass my results for 2008. I hope to find a trunk snake, or perhaps a mole rat.

International Rock Flipping Day is on September 20, and this year is being hosted at Wanderin' Weeta. Thanks, Susannah!

Last day of summer.

It isn't truly the last day of summer, of course, but it might as well be. Today is the last day of sun before we sink into a rainy stretch of cool, fall-like weather. It is also the last day of the last full week of summer vacation. I am not distressed by the latter fact. It has been a long, draining summer; the fun needle is sunk deep into the exhausted corner of the gauge. Yay, school!

One of the plants whose flowers mark late summer is this Ligularia. Even upon first emergence the flowers seem dishevelled and tired, which I think captures the general mood of things. It's a tough, long-lasting plant, usually carrying flowers into October.

You may have noticed in the first image my concrete frog birdbath in the background. This is the birdbath whose crumbling condition I lamented earlier in the year. It was also the structure transformed into a cake stand during last winter's record snowfall. As you see, it has been reborn as a Sempervivum garden. So far, the plants seem happy there. The birds are not impressed.

Black birds.

The Northwestern Crow flights are a clockwork event here. Outside the breeding season, every evening the birds fly in thousands to night roosts in west Burnaby or north-central Richmond. Every so often someone notices and becomes alarmed. What is this horror? What can we do about it?

We can sit in our lawn chair and look up at it is my answer. There should be a contest to see how many can be captured in a single photograph. The image above is a weak entry. Taking the picture was an afterthought after many minutes of watching many more.

Wobbly Wednesday.

Ha. There, lurking in the lakeside weeds.

Another Scarlet Trundler.

Plums!

This summer has provided a bounty of orchard fruit in the Vancouver area. Flower production and pollination must have had an A+ year. Many older properties have apple, cherry, pear or plum trees that are more or less neglected, and much fruit ends up as above. Fortunately there is an active local fruit salvage organization that collects the bounty and passes it on to the food bank.

Today, Festival of the Trees #39 is up at Arboreality. It is one of the richest editions yet, with a theme of things hidden (or lurking) among the trees. It's too much to consume at a single sitting, so drop by a few times and find yourself some plums.