The Color of Fall

Loving the autumn here... cold, wet, dark, then bright blue skies.  The colors are magnificent!

The last bouquet of zinnias and marigolds from my garden.  Last night a heavy frost finished off the last buds and blooms.  Roasted butternut squash is delicious baked with a coating of olive oil, salt and pepper.  A lone monarch butterfly came by last week seeking a few more calories for it's trip south.

By chance I caught the colors of sunset just right over the water.  Each day I am amazed at this lane through the maple trees and caught a photo before the leaves came down.

Fall Table Decor

A dear friend of many years loves to decorate her table and invite good friends for a potluck lunch.
Today was such a day!  Here's her lovely table all set for us.

Animal, vegetable or mineral?

What do you think this thing is?  It came in a bag of vegetables from a friend's garden.  It's very hard like a potato with a couple green leaves sprouting from the end.  I was stumped and had to ask.  A recipe came with the answer... slice thinly and fry until crisp and tender.  It's a kohlrabi.  And the kohlrabi chips were tasty!

Entitlement

This trio of mushrooms emerged in my yard the other day.  I found them to be quite exquisite. Their brief existence gave me much pleasure simply to consider their beauty with no expectations and no judgement.  They lasted only a brief time; I am so glad to have noticed them.

I share this photo to give myself pause in light of an experience this morning while walking my 14 yr. old dog on a public trail.  I am almost her age in dog years showing my age with a mop of white hair and we poke along out the path, then turn around and amble back home again.  A busy street is parallel.  My habit is to let her peacefully go about her business one way and pick it all up on the return trip.  Sound innocent enough?

Today I noticed a min-van do a U-turn a way up the busy street but paid no attention as it came back toward me.  Pretty soon it pulled over close to me, the driver yelling at me to pick up my dog's poop.  The fellow had obviously observed my dog in a private moment, decided he was obligated to turn around, double back, turn around again and judge me in very angry terms.  He didn't want to talk about it... just yell at me.  I whipped out my plastic dog waste baggie and waved it at him but he was off in a cloud of dust without listening to my response.

Why?  Why go to so much trouble to righteously punish without hearing another's explanation? What happened here?  Why did he feel entitled to judge?

Vintage Children's Dishes

The talents of a sea gull are much like mine.  I am attracted to colorful and shiny objects... oh, and food!  At the many estate sales in the area I often pick up items for no reason and with no plan although basically I profess to collect vintage linens.  Sometimes I don't even know what I'm buying, then come home and do the research... a good way to learn.  Here's one of my latest favorite finds: a few assorted pieces of Akro Agate dishes.  Made during WWII, the history of the company which originally began making marbles is found in this article:  http://www.akroagate.com/index2.htm

I hope you enjoy reading about these dishes.

Amazing Garden Success

Here are a few pics of the little garden and how it has grown in two months.  Lots of challenges along the way with a doe nibbling green beans and hollyhocks and bunnies nibbling everything else.  Bunny's favorite seems to be the bachelor buttons.  I later heard from a neighbor that the doe has two fawns hidden in the wooded lot to the north.  I cannot begrudge mama deer good nourishment.

Otherwise crabgrass is the next most challenging nuisance.  All in all I'm very pleased.

A Sunny Garden Spot

Who can believe that even more months and calendar pages have disappeared?  My last post was in October 2016!  But jumping right into the past few weeks for an update, I decided to battle the voles and moles in the front yard because it has sunshine for some sun-loving plants.  The back yard is mostly shade and well-established with shady perennials.

To dress up the plain front of the house we now have a simple decorative picket fence with a gate.
It's about a foot away from a ground level deck and gives the feeling of a porch.  Neighbors have stopped by to admire and approve.  I'm glad.  I removed some sod, turned earth, added compost and manure and have begun to plant.  My next door neighbor shared daisies, iris, lilies and rudbeckia.  I transplanted hollyhock, hosta and astilbe.  I planted marigolds beside pole green beans hoping to keep bunny away.  Bachelor button seeds sprouted almost before I could turn around.

Here we are within the city limits and before the earth could settle there were fresh deer tracks across the garden space!  I've never seen a deer here.  There are houses everywhere and traffic and people and bikes.  Yet the deer is checking out my garden!  Stay tuned.