Magic Kingdom

This floating island covered in sphagnum moss looks like a miniature magic kingdom - I wasn't able to capture the fairies with my camera, though.

The perfect little mushrooms gave some extra interest and height to the varied colors and textures of the sphagnum moss.

Score!

I paid a very low price for this fantastic New York Sirloin steak last week - $4.87 for 1.6lbs of beef. 

That's because it had been packages and mislabeled as 'pork blade Boston butt roast,' at $2.99/lb, and I had luckily stumbled upon it. The other steaks in that section were marked at $8.99 per pound - I was delighted and quickly snatched it up. It tasted even better knowing I'd scored a bargain.

Beauty in Brown

Drab or beautiful?

Browned bracken, oak leaves, acorns:

Beautiful texture!

Late Bloomer

What a lovely late-blooming beauty the New England aster (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae) is! It's an important late season food source for songbirds and some generalist nectar-feeding insects.

What a lovely, cheery sight they are amongst the other plants that look as if they're at the end of their lives. And it is, of course, native.

Plant one! You'll be amazed at the rewards.