"It's a Beautiful Day in my Neighborhood"

      This huge poplar tree is directly across the street from me. Since it's such a large tree and has brilliant yellow leaves I couldn't resist a photo. I wanted more light from the rising sun , but that was not to be.

Many of the leaves have dropped from this tree but it's still got color

      Trees in the neighborhood are from 6 m (20 ft.)  to 14 m (45 ft.) high with some spruce at 28 m (80 ft.) Some variety of poplars were planted and are up to  30 m(100 ft.) and stand out over the whole district. The tree dwarfs the house in front of it.

    The spruce help to show the yellow of the poplar leaves.

      So it was "a beautiful day in my neighborhood."

EeK! Irish Triplets!

      Two posts ago I wrote about my brother and I being the same age for a couple of weeks because our births were less than a year apart. I didn't intend it to be a serious post and it wasn't. I was really surprised by how much we learned. Tina at Bringing Along OCD  calmly dropped the term Irish twins. Very few people had heard of Irish twins including me. It was a term that intrigued many readers so thanks Tina.

    So I had to find out more about Irish twins. I wanted to know how it originated. So as with all things Google it didn't take long until I found it's origin. It's as I thought. The term originated in bout the 1850's and was a derogatory term used to refer to Irish immigrants who had many children.

    What I also found is that there are Irish triplets. That means that there are three births within two years. For I minute I almost thought I was an Irish triplet , but not quite. I was born late Oct. 1939. My brother was born early Oct. 1940. My sister was born early Jan. 1942. So I was two years and two months old when she was born. My brother was 1 year and 3 months old. So my Mom had three kids and the oldest was 2 years and two months old. Not quite Irish triplets!

   My sister is the little girl in the front of the picture. I am right behind her and my brother is the little guy with his legs sprawled out in the aisle. 

My Age is Established

      Yesterday I posted a bit of a riddle on my age related to my brother's age.

      Yes, we were born less than a year apart. It was always interesting when we were little kids and someone would ask our age. When we both said the same number people would automatically ask us if we were twins. We hardly knew what twins were but we knew we weren't twins.

     The situation of our births being less than a year apart brings up one of those questions I wish I'd asked my Mom before she died. I wish I'd asked her if my brother's birth was a little early or maybe even a lot early. But I didn't ask so I'll never know. I believe that there are many people with births less than a year apart because the younger one was premature.

    I've had fun with this situation all my life so I thought I would share it with you.

    I was surprised that such a simple post attracted do much interest. Several  readers got it bang on.   Check these blogs too. I given links to these blogs. Several more were in the ballpark and some were mystified by the situation.

    I had fun with this post and was surprised how much I learned. For example,  the term Irish twins refers to siblings who are born less than a year apart.

We were in gr. 2 and 3 in this school picture. So second row from the back...we are second and third from the right, I'm the dude with the bib overalls behind the teacher to the right. My brother is standing beside me on my left.

    At this age I was much bigger than my brother. It didn't stay that way. In my prime I hist  5' 10" In my brother's prime he was 6' 1" or 2".

    My bother was a farmer all his life so was outdoors and doing heavy work. I was a teacher and was inside so we have some differences in physique. 

What About My Age?

     It's my brother's birthday today and he's 73.

     I'm also 73.

     It's not my birthday today.

      It wasn't my birthday yesterday and it won't be my birthday tomorrow.

       We both have the same Mom.

     What's going on here?






   
Both photos about 3 years ago.

Red on the left and brother on the right.

Handsome lookin' dudes!

     

The Thanksgiving List

     I was introduced to the thanksgiving list a few years ago where we would say what we are thankful for. It's a good exercise. It puts some meaning into Thanksgiving and leads us to stop and  appreciate things .

  Since this is the blog world I thought I would keep my list connected to the blog world.

   1. I'm thankful for the people who follow my blog. You are the ones who put meaning into what I write. I very much appreciate that people stop by and visit Hiawatha House.

   2. I'm thankful for all the great blogs that I get to read. I go for variety . So some blogs publish excellent photography. Others are humorous. Some blogs are very descriptive other other places. Other blogs relate daily life. Many blogs have very attractive layouts. Some blogs stick to a very narrow topic that is covered in depth. I have to be thankful that you work so hard on your blogs and that I benefit from it.

    3.I'm thankful for comments. Comments do many things. Comments make me think more about what I wrote. Comments often gently show another point of view. Comments are always enlightening for me!

    4. I'm thankful for the genuine friendship of fellow bloggers. You have to really care to read and comment on what I write. You pick up on things that you like and things that I struggle with. Thanks for the help and support.

     5. Some of you are great huggers! So thanks for the hugs. They are most appreciated. 

     I look forward to more high quality blogging. 

Fall From My Yard

     The other day I took a few minutes to take a look at fall colors around my yard. Once leaves turn color here it doesn't take long and they fall off. 

     So here are some photos taken from my yard on Oct.

My cheerful little white birch

Already some leaves have fallen

My green ash. Yesterday, Oct.10, most leaves had fallen from the ash.

Some birch beauty contrasted with cedar

My neighbor's birch trying to help brighten up a gray sky

      Happy thanksgiving to Canadian followers and anybody else who cares to accept good wishes.

Fall Gardening

      Gardening is winding down in this part of the world.  I think of vegetables first when gardening is mentioned. I like planting vegetable  gardens, watching them grow and eating the fresh produce as it comes directly from the soil.

I can taste these by just looking at them

A few beets are still left.

Onions have been pulled for a while so that they can dry and be stored.

The onion crop was poor this year as they didn't have time to complete growth.

I will leave the miserable sunflower for birds to pick through.

The remains of the bleeding heart

The bleeding heart in prime time.

Who couldn't like bleeding hearts

     My Dad and maternal grandfather were skilled gardeners. I guess my brothers and I were influenced enough that we all like gardening. For my Dad the vegetable garden produced a major proportion of food.  Vegetables were processed or stored and had to last to the next summer. In Dad's day produce was not sold in stores. A vegetable garden was vital.

     Sadly gardening comes to an end each fall. I have to harvest the late produce, clean things up and work the soil. I have just a small garden patch and I work everything by hand. I use a fork to work up the soil. My soil has become very hard in the last few years so I'm trying to add plant material to soften the soil. I get two loads of shavings and work them into the soil. So as well as good food I get a tremendous amount of exercise and fresh air.

    So I've had a wonderful summer with these plants and will be ready next spring to start over again.