Another Day Dawns Dreary

I did not expect to wake up to another rainy day but did, fortunately, it being Saturday, I was able to roll over and lay in the bed a while longer.  Gazing out the bedroom window into the golden haze of a group of small hickories, I watched the fluttering chickadees and titmice who are there every morning, zipping in and out from the feeders on the front side of the house.  I've been greeted for the past couple of weeks by these late blooming Jackmanii clematis just outside the kitchen window.  A treat as I prepare the morning coffee.

This coral barked maple glows this time of year, even on a rainy day, the red of the dogwood above setting it off even more.  The leaves are green all summer and then this gold slowly comes over the tree. Once the leaves fall, the bark will redden and offer a different form of radiance through the winter months.

First Frost Expected

Late red peppers reminiscent of an early xmas tree

With the low tonight forecast to be 32 and tomorrow 28, we should finally get our first killing frost.  That's about 2 weeks later than normal, par for the year.  With cold in mind I've been performing the first frost rituals today; picking peppers, eggplants and cucumbers, cutting a couple more vases of flowers for the house, covering some plants with remay to see if we can stretch the harvest out a few more weeks.

I love the glaucous blue-green of the brassicas.  Here a row of cabbage, plants so tidy and round, leaves splayed out from their crowns, if there are cabbages in there they are embryonic, but I know from experience they will grow slowly all winter long and be ready for an early spring harvest.  The broccoli is running late, but I'm hopeful we will get a few heads by Thanksgiving.

I took a late day walk, it was so lovely and the sky dramatic with pink tinged clouds piled up, blue heavens behind. I extended my stroll when I came out of the woods to walk along the road and take in a longer glance at the cerulean lid of the earth.  This time of year I say I have "sky lust", I just want to be out there under it as much as possible and the evening is one of the best times for light, sun rays and long shadows.

Off now to a warming dinner of fine Indian food with good friends, hahhh.

Wordless Wednesday

Cukes in November!

November 2nd and we are picking cucumbers?! How great is that.  I went out on a limb and tossed a few seeds in the ground mid-august, a few weeks past the normal time recommended for planting cukes, but we had such a crummy crop in the summer I thought I would give it a whirl, and look, we've been picking these long lovelies for a few weeks now, Tasty Jade are the smooth ones and Suyo Long are the knobby ones.  There is a possibility we'll have a killing frost come Friday night but I won't hold my breath after the crazy warm weather we've seen all summer and fall.

Got to take another long walk in the woods today and it was just fabulous, crisp clear air, the blue sky behind green and red tree tops, lots of leaves floating down the creek and the water so clear I could see the rocks on the bottom.  What a very lucky girl I am indeed.

This afternoon I tackled organizing the hanging tools in the garden shed, David has been working for a couple of weeks off and on to organize the other side of the shed, cleaning out trash, clearing off counters, reorganizing cupboards and shelves, he even sorted and organized the hundred bags and buckets of screws, nuts, bolts, nails, a lifes collection, it looks so amazing in there I should post a photo to the blog.  Maybe tomorrow I will!

Nothing like some fine autumn weather to bring out the desire to do chores, after suffering through the long hot summer it's so refreshing to want to be out side again and even better to have to put on more clothes to stay warm.  We've had our first fires in the woodstove too this week, it's snuggle time.

Autumn rekindles a desire to write

Where you may ask have I been?  Forgive me readers, it has been 6 weeks since my last blog post.  I'm not a Catholic but feel like I'm here to make a confession.  I've been asking myself the same thing, where have I been?  The simple answer is, after nearly a month on vacation, I've been playing catch-up on work, chores and life in general.

The more complicated answer is that it was one of the hardest summers I've seen in terms of drought, heat and general discontent with the world.  All the things that give me fodder for writing and inspiration to get up and keep going day to day were in jeopardy.  The creek was dry from June to September, if David had not been standing behind the hose a couple of hours a day most everything in the yard would have surely died and even with his yeomans effort most plants were looking mighty pitiful by mid-August.

I think I lost my spark and certainly have been searching for my muse the past 6 months.  With this post I'm hoping to turn over a new leaf, I think it will be a dogwood, red with yellow veins and edges, they are bursting into flame about now. 

I've still got a long list of fall chores before me but with the cool crisp weather and leaves finally offering some colorful cheer, I am feeling more able to get moving with some joy in my heart.  The world is still a mess and who knows what the elections tomorrow will bring, but I've got to buck up and get on with it.

The hearts a'bustin (Eonymous americanus) seem an apt analogy to how I've been feeling, they've been putting on a major show the past month, absolutely loaded with purple and orange seed pods.

 

Now- on to the days to do's, laundry, soup to cook, peppers to process, oh the peppers, will they ever end?  Deer fence to mend, windows to wash, long walk in the woods to take....

In the mouth of the gator

Cell phone photos leave a bit to be desired, but that's me in the mouth of a giant gator that is the entrance to one of the beach chachki shops here at Topsail.  We have been having a splendid time. I've been taking long morning swims before the sea picks up, lots of walks on the beach, daily afternoon naps, fabulous seafood nightly for dinner.  Last night we had grilled Mahi Mahi tacos, tonight; fish soup with shrimp, scallops and more mahi is on the menu, tomorrow-crab. This is living brother.

Days are spent watching dolphins rolling through the swells, flocks of pelicans cruising overhead, schools of silver fish small and large sparkling through the waves all around us as we swim.  Fortunately, the biting flies dissappeared.  A couple of days ago the Topsail turtle hospital released about 6 sea turtles right out in front of our house.

They were ready to go

Gently released into the waves, set free to swim again in the wide green sea

At The Beach

After an amazing 8 day trip to Alaska, (more on that in a later post perhaps), we spent 3 days watering our parched garden and doing laundry, re-packed our stuff, this time into the car and headed to the beach!  

Last night we celebrated the birthday of my sister-in-law C Kay with this bodacious chocolate cake and amazing lilies grown by another one of my awesome S-I-L's - Betsy.

For dinner we baked this monster piece of grouper with home grown peppers and onions, taters and haricot verts from our garden.  The only downside at the moment is biting black flies forcing us off the beach, but currently folks are reading, playing guitar, making biscuits, chilling.  I think we'll survive the flies.

I'm thinking of heading down for a marathon swim before the seas pick-up.