Tuesday, September 27, 2022

 The view - mornings are always, always lovely here - even when the skies are gray and snow is on the ground. (I'll keep telling myself that when winter's here.) Clicking on photos will enlarge them.

I don't actually get sunsets, however the western sky does sometimes ,light up a bit in the evenings, which are coming earlier and earlier now. Yes, that's almost a winter sky. Although it has been rather cool and rainy we'll still have some very nice days ahead.

I don't plant tomatoes but I have an heirloom variety that self seeds and produces more than I can possibly use. (I do save a few seeds in a dried tomato over the winter just in case they fail to come up naturally in the early summer, so far they don't fail to naturally seed themselves. I try to limit the seedlings to just two plants.

Comfort food: - a BLT (Bacon, Lettuce, & Tomato with mayo on toast). I wonder if younger people - that would be almost everyone now - have ever really tasted a real old fashioned tomato. Doubt it.

It is the beginning of autumn and, right on cue, the Colchicums are up and flowering. I love them unconditionally. Amaryllis like, the leaves come earlier in the summer, produce and store energy, and then disappear until later when the flowers mysteriously (?) appear.

The concord grapes are also ripe this time of the year. In the old days we would make and store grape juice and grape jelly. Now I squeeze a few of the grapes into my mouth, toss the skin, use my teeth to separate the seeds, spit them out and enjoy the flavor of old fashioned Black-purple grapes. There are hundreds of bunches of grapes which migrating birds feast on.

The perennial species sunflower does not need to be planted every year like the annual ones do and the deer and dogs leave them alone. They reliably flower every autumn. What's not to like about that.

Russian Sage

Russian Sage with Kit

Geraniums with Kit and Watson

I always keep my eyes peeled when traveling, and I travel a lot here. There are frequently unusual things to see - like this amazingly old weeping birch bark tree. I believe that all weeping birches are grafted and that they never live very long unlike the non-related similar weeping willow trees which can live for a very long time and get huge. Nevertheless, this amazing specimen: - 

A nearby neighbor had this rather unusual barn quilt. 

This year was good for the fall flowering sedums. The buck that normally feasted on my Hostas and sedums was hit and killed on the road this summer. I wonder what kills more deer - hunters or vehicles. I think I know the answer. Regardless, my garden did better than it has for years. I do, however, wish the rabbits would stay on their side of the fence. I know this is really their territory. But. (The other day ABBA proudly dropped a dead, but beautiful, black-furred mole at my feet. She's definitely a hunter.)

Dahlias got off to a very slow start this year but finally are flowering. 

Queen Elizabeth and I share (shared) a lower jaw with snaggle teeth. I was always told that the Brits had bad teeth. Maybe their teeth are better now. Kids today wouldn't know about us older people with pre-fluorided teeth. (I wonder if bottled water, more expensive than gasoline I've heard, has fluoride in it? Interesting. It's that old story. The cobbler's children and shoes. My grandfather was an orthodontist. Sigh