A lovely end to November

It's the last day of November.  What a month!

We transitioned from the snowy end of a cold October to a spring-like November.  It was a nice interlude before the cold winds of winter sweep in.

         We truly gave THANKS for God's balmy days this past month.

  I wore my skirts and flip flops more days than my clogs and jeans.

This warm reprieve offered us the opportunity to stop and take note of sights we pass almost daily.  

This covered bridge was actually flooded in September
 and had a snowy entrance in October. It's nearly in our
back yard and leads to a lovely park.

Imagine driving by and the barn door suddenly flies open!
I could not help but stop the car and see what was inside.
Look carefully.  What do you see?

Ahhhhh, the smell.  Musty yet so much a part of these peoples' lives.
I wonder how long it took to pick, bind and hang this by hand.
A labor of love.  Part of me wants this lovely leaf to remain in the barn forever.
I know what it does to the lungs when inhaled.

These two barn doors belong to two different openings.
This one opened suddenly so I clicked away.
Note the old tractor with iron  wheels.
It's as if they live in another century. 

This barn door suddenly opened wide.
I took a quick shot.
This machine looked fascinating.
I have no clue what it does but it does look old.

The sun glistens on this tobacco for just a moment
before the clouds roll back in.

What fun I am having.  I am still outside
 as my camera sneaks into this quiet place.
Not a sole is around.  I could only hear the breeze behind me.

I took this last shot before all the barn doors
closed.  It was as if I was given a moment
to explore another era.  And then, before I could linger longer,
all the doors slammed shut and I was back in the 21st century.

 What a delightful end to Fall.

Fall in November

October was very cold and ended with a heavy snow storm. 

 Then November popped up with balmy days and lots of sunshine. 

 Go figure.  

What a delightful Fall ... finally.  

  The crops were not even harvested fully before the snow came. 

 So, I linger a little longer each day as I watch the slow changes.   

Then I thought of a grand idea to expand our garden!

Oh My!

This is all happening as I begin making apple chips for the winter.

Can you see the combine harvesting corn?
Soon these fields will be bare.

 As the cool and warm air collide, the haze lingers over the farmland until almost noon.  Then the sun burns it off and the light glistens across the fields. Obviously I did not wait for the sun light to 'glisten' over the fields.

These are the last days for the cows to linger in the meadow
as they chew on sweet grass.

I love to watch each row being scooped up as the
husks are blown back onto the field.
A 'haymaker' machine will then pick up anything left on the field
and turn it into huge balls that are stored for use during the winter
 to feed the cows.  Nothing is wasted.

My sister sent me this shot when visiting
a monastery in Greece. 

                                                                              






The Garden

We saw some tiny spaces that the monks filled with God's creative beauty when we visited monasteries in Italy.

 I decided to design my new herb garden to look like this but ... alas ... mine is not quite so fine.  Perhaps in Spring, when I plant, it might bloom into something as delightful.

The dark mulch will suffice as pathways until we find
slabs of slate to make a more substantial walking path.




 

As you see, we dug out lots of grass.  I got tired of seeing it burned out in the middle of summer so why not plant flowers and herbs that thrive in the hot sun! We moved the Gaillardia and Coreopsis (lower right corner) to the long light-brown patches to the right.   I scattered Day Lilies in between.

Bags of hummus await blending with the rocky shale.  We dug 12 inches down ... with a pick ax ... in order to amend  the soil so that herbs and flowers can grow properly.
I am taking this shot from our wall above the garden.  The fence casts its shadow on this sunny day.

 We are getting there.  Hours of backbreaking work already looks well worth the effort.  Now to transplant all those plants from the shade of the Leyland Cypress to a sunnier spot.

All done amending soil.  A few pieces of slate dot the path.
We are now ready to transplant what we can.

We moved the bench over into the shade of the Leyland Cypress.
Our 'new' garden is already full of transplants!
It will be interesting to see what happens in the Spring.

 St. Francis remains in his same space for now.  The little wild rose next to him seems to climb up his side with sweet little buds.  Who knows where he will end up.  He is now tucked away from the elements for the winter.

A better shot of the herb garden, ready for Spring.
It will get good sun.
Day Lilies and Rose bushes against the wall
 will be a nice backdrop.

In the Spring we will fill these four little triangles with herbs and some colorful annuals in hopes of looking like the little Greek garden pictured above.

                                                             APPLES!
 In the mean time I dehydrate apples daily.  It takes about 30 minutes to prep each batch.  Then I let my little dehydrator do its thing for about eight hours.  Voila ... Apple Chips!  

Cortland apples are HUGE and the pure white insides
make for really nice 'chips' ... as they call them in this neck of the woods.
I have had this little dehydrator for about 30 years and it still works well.
6 Cortland or about 8 Gayla apples fit into each batch.

I keep fresh apple chips handy at all times in this
delightful wooden 'crock' my sister gave me.
It's amazing how we nibble on these until they are gone.
I get about 20-28 chips per apple, depending on the size of the Apple.

It is getting a bit crisp outside so the gardening is done.
                                        I will now be busy until January making Apple Chips!

11 - 11 - 11 Veterans Day!

Another historical day . . .   11-11-11   . . .   If you think about it, there are only 12 years at the beginning of each century that we can see the 'same' numbers for month/day/year.

It's a great day to remember our Veterans.
We cannot give them enough thanks for all they have done to keep us safe and protect our democracy.  We support our heros who have come home injured as we contribute to "Wounded Warriors" but I wish I could do more.

 I guess my love for flags makes a statement that we care about our country and those who protect it.  There are a few of us who put the flag out each day.      Most are older veterans in our community who are proud of their service in the Armed Forces . . .   here and abroad.

I try to get this out early each morning when it is not raining.

Pieces of wood nailed together and painted.  Add a few stars and it becomes a flag.

Here are a few flags  placed around our yard.

 

I love this flag as people can see it from a great distance in spite of foliage.

Red, White and Blue Petunias deserve to fly the flag.             

As you can see ... I am very proud of our flag.
There is one on the bench that is about to be added.
Any painting that has a flag catches my eye.

 Again, thanks to all veterans.  Because of you our nation is blessed with countless freedoms.  

Snow in October?!

Another surprise!
We moved here to get away from crazy weather but it seemed to follow us.  Let's see . . . flooding from a tropical storm . . . AFTER the earthquake that damaged two of our 'sister' churches.  We are still cleaning up and repairing that damage when the snow came . . . Saturday, October 29!

Early morning - Wet snow begins to stick.

Can you imagine, I had to serve at a funeral that morning.  I managed a quick shot of the front lawn as the snow began to stick.




It was a very wet snow that froze.  Fortunately, my husband and I put on our snow clothes . . .  with rain gear on top . . .  and 'fluffed' our rose bushes, holly trees and our beautiful Leyland Cypress tree that towers over our tiny yard.  Notice how the Cypress branches are weighed down with snow?  That 'snow' turned to huge clumps of ice before I could get out there and help a little.

October 28 snow! Our Leyland Cypress looked sad

Fortunately, I had just finished re-digging the back yard to add more garden space.  ["Garden Dig" pictures next time]   We cleaned, tied, fixed and prepared everything.  We even brought in the garden hoses. . . but I forgot St. Francis!  He is now nestled neatly in our shed.  He is made of resin and can easily break in the cold.  I am glad he did not tip against our stone bench.
  I knew it was going to get cold enough for a light dusting of snow but never imagined this much before Christmas, much less before Halloween.

Variegated Red Twig Dogwood

 This lovely bush has white tipped leaves in the summer but once the leaves are gone, the red 'twigs' really shine in the snow.  Some of the twigs got buried so I had to, ever-so-gently, lift these thin branches from their icy grip.

Fall?  Snow smothers everything!

 Heavy, icy globs of this white stuff were smothering my lovely rose bushes.  Even our Forsythia was laid low.  With broom stick in hand, crawling on my knees, I found the very tips of each branch and carefully lifted each one.  Almost immediately they sprung back and continued to show off their blooms as this heavy whiteness lingered for a couple of days.

Rose Bushes perked up a bit after being rescued

 Ahhhhh, so much better!  The roses stretched back to their normal, queenly stature and now . . .  after the snow has melted . . . linger a little longer in this cool air.  It's as if nothing happened.  They are determined to continue showing off.  How wonderful!

Gaillardia covered with Russian Sage and SNOW!

 Even my Gaillardia 'Goblin' was determined to last at least through Halloween!
What a fun name for this persistent bloomer.  It starts early and never stops.

More garden space invited some changes

 Once I 'fluffed' the branches of our precious little Cypress tree, it seemed to stand taller than before.  At least it seemed a little freer to blow in the breeze.  See that object that looks like a basket?  Our new garden space afforded a place for a tiny rose bush that was hidden behind a huge bush.  I thought I would 'plan ahead' and circled it with wire mesh and overlay it with burlap to keep it's tender roots from freezing too soon.  Glad I lingered in the garden a little longer before our snowy surprise.

View from our house: wetland area with farmland beyond

 A hazy shot of snow on dirt and whatever pops up in between.  Our little wetlands that got bulldozed this summer.  Long story.  At least they did not touch the cattails that are now standing tall on ragged stalks.  They look so lovely on a sunny day.  With so many leaves gone from the row of trees in the background, we can now see the old farmhouse in the upper left corner.

Notice the green post in the picture below?  I removed my birdhouse and placed an old pot on top to protect the hole that holds the birdhouse.  All that was done the day before the storm, the only time we had to get things done.  Glad we took the time.

Roses continue to show off their blooms

Today is November 1, and very little snow is left.  I hope we can enjoy a little bit more Fall before more of this white stuff falls.  I love snow but . . . there is a time and place for everything.

Next time I will show you how we expanded our planting space . . .  and almost filled it up with transplants.  But, we saved a lovely patch for Spring planting.