Showing posts with label roses. Show all posts
Showing posts with label roses. Show all posts

Monday, October 5, 2026

fall thrall

It's finally OCTOBER, my favorite month!

Halloween decorations are up (more scattered throughout the house).



Leaves are starting to turn...acorns too!




Fall-themed puzzles are in full force.


I probably have at least 30 flannel shirts and I'm wearing one almost every single day!

(Pepita approves.)

Gorgeous sunrises and sunsets.




My roses only look really great in October, for some reason.



Baking intensifies!  This week, German chocolate cupcakes for a birthday party.



I bake bread every week for my daily toast, and have for years.  The past six months my loaves have gotten worse and worse.  I tried replacing the yeast and still got this:


I replaced the whole wheat flour next, and it made a HUGE difference.  Now that's toast-worthy!


The cats are still sleeping the days away...

We had some temporary plastic tubs on the dining room table and the boys loved them so much, we had to make them permanent!  They prefer them even to their heated cat beds.  


Pepita too.


Warm days, cool evenings with our nightly horror movie, a cat in the lap and a dog snoring on the back edge of the couch...it's the best time of the year!

from our SC house...can't wait until the leaves turn here!  Another couple of weeks.





Monday, October 2, 2023

fog-et about wearing flannels yet...

 It's October!!

Despite a really uncomfortable heat spell that's taking the spirit out of the season...

91 yesterday, supposed to be hotter today and even hotter tomorrow!

...we're still hiking every morning.



Because it cools down at night but is just so hot during the day, we're getting amazing fog.






All the spiderwebs are dew-dazzled.




Goldfinches are out, stripping the seeds as quickly as possible.



Still a few rabbits...


...last-minute mating...

milkweed bugs

The Molyneux roses put out their final flush.


We're still getting tomatoes...


...and plenty of flowers.


The garden contains enough "fall colors" to seem as if it's changing with the leaves.


It's October...but it won't really be October until the heat relents.  Until then, we're going to fake it with plenty of pumpkin...

pumpkin scones, which I make every October 1st

...and early-morning pre-heat outdoor time.

leaves are changing...it's going to be cool soon!

Have a great week!





Tuesday, September 5, 2023

old roses and kitten reposes

 It's already September!  Even though there are plenty of signs, it's hard to believe.  

MORE turkeys.  They really ramp up their foraging in the fall.


Late-season roses already have a tinge of brown.


American lotus are blooming.  I'm not sentimental about romantic flowers...actually, I think it's kind of a generic cop-out as gift from a partner...but I do have a sentimental attachment to the American lotus.  They always are blooming on our late-summer anniversary.


More leaves changing too!


Todd has been helping me to tear down the early-blooming beds to get them ready for winter.



Not too much still blooming in the garden by the house, but we're leaving a lot of the dried plant stalks.  They're providing plenty of seeds for the birds!


The back garden is still "growing" crazy. 





The morning dew is so heavy that it weighs down the sunflower heads...another sign of fall.


Belatedly, Todd and I realized that there are actually ripe tomatoes in our caged-in tomato triangle, and we've been braving the jungle to rescue a few.


Note to self:  if you put chicken wire around tomato cages, you CANNOT reach through to pick tomatoes.  Next year will be better!

Ditto on the corn.  Oh well...despite the crows, I think we're going to get some good ears...plenty for decorating and then using next year for seed!


Grasshoppers are always most active in late summer.



Hot, dry temperatures, like the ones we've had for the past couple of weeks, means optimum conditions for grasshopper egg-laying.  I'm seeing more praying mantis oothecas too, even though I haven't seen many mantises.


Of course, this time of year cicadas are singing their hearts out!


I love the change of seasons and since fall is my favorite, I'm really eager for what comes next!  I'm ready to be done with the heat and humidity of summer.

Frances, however, doesn't agree.

Have a great week!