Origami Night Lamp: One Week In The Garden

Eugene, oregon, garden, quan yin, stone temple lantern, japanese maple, fall

Kwan Yin Corner, With Frost

It's only been about one week since I was out there last, but there have been noticeable changes in the backyard garden. We had some days of intermittent showers, and a two day long heavy rainstorm, followed now by a couple days with clear skies and below freezing temperatures at night.

Almost all of the leaves on both the six year old autumn blaze maple and the still-potted Japanese maple have fallen, many of the less hardy shrubs are wilting, and most of the ground in this corner of the garden is now frozen.

The colder weather has brought with it a return of some of the birds that spend a portion of the winter months with us: Oregon Juncos, a couple varieties of Sparrow, Wrens, Townsend's Warblers, Towhees, Stellar's Jays, and Downy Woodpeckers, as well as the Flickers, Scrub Jays, Starlings, Crows, and Mountain Chickadees that are usually with us, along with the charming flocks of tiny Bush Tits that flit through the trees gleaning the branches for what insects they can find.

As autumn does its slow slide into winter, a lot of the wildlife that have been spending their time at higher elevations are being seen more often here in town, such as the quite sizable well antlered deer that just now ambled through our front yard. There are also the flocks of wild Turkeys which seem to be most numerous at this time of year - creatures so massive that I sometimes forget that they're actually birds.