A Castle in the Sticks @nncastle - Tumblr Blog

If you haven’t already, plant some cone flowers. They are the greatest.

#garden #flowers #gardens #mygarden #cottage garden #bees #pollinators #cone flower #echinacea

I love how coppery it is.

#frogs #frogs and toads #pond #wildlife

It’s time to enjoy the wine berries.

#wine berry #berries #wine berries #wild berries

Hazy day out there.

#garden #flowers #gardens #mygarden #cottage garden

Nymphaea

#garden #flowers #gardens #mygarden #pond #water lily

These cutie tree frogs just hatched.

#tree frogs #wild animals #cuteness #cute animals #frogs #frogs and toads

Smoke, smoke, smoke

Last night we hit like 450 on the AQI index by me. I went to bed with a sore throat and the smell of fire inside the house. We have a really powerful filter that gets rid of particulates, and even still it was bad. I wore an N95 mask the last two days. I’m extra sensitive to smoke and the idea of smoking a pack a day didn’t really appeal. I watered my plants as quickly as possible, then stayed inside. Today the sky is clearing up as this smoke cloud makes its way south. It pains me to think that some people live with this level of pollution everyday. When my husband was in China for two weeks he developed a persistent cough. Up in Parma/Lucca in the winter of 2025 we saw the same thing: AQI’s in the 300’s everyday. We are fortunate enough to live in a zone where the average air quality is 9 so when exposed to bad air, it drains us instantly. Yesterday, breathing was thick. I could feel my heart having to work harder. I worked out for like 25 minutes and it felt like an hour and a half. Anyway, stay indoors if you can and check on the older folks in your life.

#aqi #smoke #canadian fires #canada fires #bad air #air quality #canadian wildfires