Day off, day's end

Here is what I saw when I peered closely, in the dusk, at the rock garden flowers. Pulsatilla alpina, aka Easter flower or Paque flower, closes tightly at night and the little fine hairs on the outside protect this gem from frost and cold - the temperature still dips dangerously close to freezing here at night.

pulsatilla alpina

For the benefit of those who don't plant potatoes, we dig trenches, plant the little fellows, mound the dirt up around them and wait.

There is a mountain in the background.

And here, in case you agree that it's rather ugly, is what it looked like outside, when I stopped hoeing.

My family thinks this is possibly the most unattractive photo I've ever taken of our mountain home. I think it is like most snapshots, and that is fine. It shows the beauty and the story that lies beneath the surface image.

Here, then, are my newly planted potatoes, which of course you can't see. And for pleasure, afterwards, the nearby pond.

the pond, reflecting dusk sky

The clouds that are reflected in the pond