First, the folks participating in HoNoToGroABeMo (or How Not to Grow a Beard Month, for the acronym challenged) are, as the name suggests, attempting to grow beards throughout the entire month of November. Each day they will update the status of their beards. Also, and most importantly, they are collecting donations for the Ann Voegerl Memorial Breast Cancer Research Fund (lovingly referred to as Beards4Boobs). Anyone may sponsor one of the beard farmers in their quest to grow the mightiest of beards. It is a wonderful cause and I highly suggest everyone to sponsor a beard or two. 100% of the donations go directly to the fund. Personally, I know most of the folks participating, and really, they could use all the sponsorship they can get - I mean, just look at their feeble attempts thus far. And those chins, they really need to be covered up. Think of the children. Also, I have it on good authority that the more sponsorships they receive, the more full and lush their manly manes will grow in. Donations are like fertilizer for the beards. It has been scientifically proven by leading scientific labs. Really. It has. More information can be found at the HoNoToGroABeMo website.

Secondly, this is the time of Movember. A (albeit, larger) group dedicated to growing mustaches for the month of November. You may also sponsor any of the mos with proceeds going to the Prostate Cancer Foundation and the Lance Armstrong Foundation. Personally, I don’t know anyone that is participating, but it is still a good cause, nonetheless. You can find out more about Mobember at their website.

Gentlemen, start your facial follicle growths!

Feathers are always useful in helping to make meetings go by faster.

Say AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH…

At long last, it had come down to the two of them.

Ozzie squinted in the harsh afternoon sun. He tilted his hat to shade his eyes. Distracting glare would not be good at a time like this.

“So, it’s just you and me now,” said Ozzie to the figure about five paces ahead.

“Yup,” said the figure. “This garden ain’t big enough for the both of us.”

Ozzie nodded, mostly to himself.

He remembered the day when it happened. It began when one of the squash plants had crossed the path and silently smothered the neighboring radishes. It wasn’t his squash or his radishes, both belonged to rival gardeners, although he was silently glad. He never did like radishes.

That’s when the war started. First it was stampeding cantaloupe, then a ‘Big Girl’ tomato broke free of its cage and smashed a bed of infant carrots. Peas and bean vines were set loose upon neighbor’s spinach and chives.

Ozzie tried to stay out of the cross fire, but that all ended the day a troop of nasturtiums ambushed his strawberry patch.

He had wept upon the discovery of the bruised, battered, and crushed berries one foggy morning; red juice staining the dark soil. He remembered looking across the dusty path to the hostile garden and seeing old Mr. McCrawbriddle standing there, with a sly triumphant smirk teasing the corners of his face.

If that was how it was going to be, Ozzie vowed that the other community gardeners would rue the day they pulled him into the war.

Corn toppled, cabbage heads split, numerous varieties of flowers met their untimely ends; the battle for the garden was in full boom. Eventually all the gardens had been destroyed. All except Ozzie’s and Mr. McCrawbriddle’s.

They stood facing each other. Ozzie plucked a large blossom from his last remaining plant, a purple coneflower. He thoughtfully brushed the sharp spines of the flower. Mr. McCrawbriddle plucked a hefty foot long zucchini off of his last vine and menacingly thumped it against his hand.

“Prepare to feel the echinacea’s wrath!!” screamed Ozzie, raising the flower to the sky.

“ZUCCHINI HO!!!” yelled Mr. McCrawbriddle as he brandished the squash and charged.

~

No one really remembers what happened in those final moments. It’s still not completely clear how the coneflower beat the zucchini. The garden scripture lacks any definitive details. Some say it was a miracle, others insist that the coneflower really is mightier than the zucchini. Others still, say that the zucchini was just too slow to match the speed, agility, grace, and sheer viciousness of the echinacea. Whichever was the case, Ozzie found himself victorious.

To this day, a mound of purple cone flowers grow in the place of honor at the center of the garden. In fact, rumor has it, that plant is the very same noble herb that won the garden and brought a one hundred and fifty year (and counting) rein of peace to the gardeners.

—

On a side note, if it was coneflower versus artichoke, the artichoke would win, even if the coneflower was being wielded by a garden ninja. Just sayin’.

—

Technical Details
Aperture Value: f/4.8
Focal Length: 185mm
Exposure Program: Aperture Priority
ISO: 200
Shutter Speed Value: 1/200 sec
Location: Vancouver, WA

There’s a short path leading from the parking area directly to this little gem of a lake. I’m not really sure why it’s classified as a lake. It seems more like a pond to me. Is there some sort of official classification for bodies of water when naming them? Where is the defining line between a pond and and lake?

The “lake” is spring fed and this is believed to be the origin, not from volcanic processes as the name would suggest. That sounds like more misleading nomenclature to me. The lake is a LIE, I tell you. However, don’t let that dissuade you from visiting if you are in the area. It’s quite the package of pretty and easliy accessed for the less athletically inclined sightseers.

(embedded video - Cup of Brown Joy by MC Elemental)

Fancy a cup of tea? :)

I had originally gone out to take photos of this daylily as it was its first season blooming for me. This little bugger was nibbling on the petals, but was too cute and photogenic to relocate to more approved pastures.

Technical Details
Aperture Value: f/4.8
Focal Length: 185mm
Exposure Program: Aperture Priority
ISO: 200
Shutter Speed Value: 1/640 sec
Location: Vancouver, WA