Up behind the garage where the apples are ripening and where the sumac grows the afternoon sun was shining on the wild clematis.



Each day brings its own glory.....



and the light of the autumn sun performs it's own miracles. (click to enlarge and enjoy the lovely glitter...)

Sky Watch Friday



A charming Saturday evening sky in the Similkameen...



And on Tuesday some comic relief, - if you have the eye for it. (click to enlarge)



The evening settled down and was lit by a golden lantern, skimming the tops of the hills.

Many more wonderful skies at SkyWatch Friday.

ABC Wednesday

Moving along the alphabet we come to "G"

G is for Gillyflower



Sweet old fashioned flowers that take on many disguises.

Some of the old names for "Pinks" and carnations and gilliflowers are cloves, Picotees, and Sops-in-wine

Gardeners now call them pinks, clove pinks, Scotch pinks, old laced pinks, lilac pinks and of course, Sweet William. (Dianthus)

By any name Gillyflowers are one of the oldest of favourite garden flowers.

It is old and precious, - loved by our grandmothers, and their grandmothers, and so prolific in gardens that it is even recognized by non-gardeners, even if they don't know its name.

Slide down the garden path over to ABC Wednesday and see what other wonderful things G stands for.

Late this afternoon Charles and I went off to pick up the newspapers and take pictures of river and rock, trees and skies.

At the Sportsmen Garage, where the papers lie in wait for us, we took our first picture of the Talus Slides that are found on the mountains of the Similkameen. In this picture you can see the trails of the rocks which slip away from the tops of the hills and slide to the bottom where they form a rocky debris. When No. 2 son was in his teens he and a friend were recruited to help a research team studying the formation of the Talus slides.

On slides which are more or less stable there is some growth, - in the summer a green haze covers some slides, and in the autumn the growth turns red and gives a rosy cast to the slide.



These Talus slides are unique to this area, and you can find more information about them here.

We turned down a back road, admiring an orchard planted to pillar type trees, heavy with scarlet apples.



Across the bridge and meandering eastward down the riverbank, the low water sparkled in the sunlight, rippling over rocks that hug the bottom of the river bed when the river runs swift and high. Now there were people wading in the small pools and a fisherman casting from the edge of the water.





The water and trees are quiet and serene, and inviting on a hot afternoon.



A scout quail keeps watch on an old log while his charges scurry off the other end when we slow down, into the grass where they are hidden.



Westward from the bridge the road winds through ranch country until it comes to a great outcropping of multicoloured rock.



The river, the rocks, the sky and the warm afternoon, - we all say goodbye to August and will enjoy the crispness of September.





We came home to supper in the slow cooker, - another plus.