Out and About: I was Waiting for Indian Summer

I have been hoping we would still get a few days of Indian Summer. Temperatures in the sixties, lots of sunshine and blue skies is what I was waiting to see. A nor'easter is what we got instead bringing us about a half a foot of snow last night through this morning. Looking back at last year's notes, I was reminded that we got a dusting of snow on November twentieth. On December ninth it snowed a couple of inches and then again
on December twelfth. I forgot that in 2016 it snowed two inches before Halloween on October twenty-seventh. I forced myself out of the house this afternoon with my camera to take some photos. The village is always so beautiful after it snows! Take a look.

Capped Coneflower

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Schoolhouse Park

Sycamore Sisters on South Lawn

Laced

The Grass is Always Greener

Sledding Hill

Fly and Be Free

South Lawn

Peck Avenue Woods

Hammock

Shark Attack

Snow Stream

Out and About: Good-bye to my Garden

Every Fall I have a difficult time adjusting to the weather changes, the shorter days, the Monarch butterflies and hummingbirds leaving, and my vegetable garden dying. This past October had so many rainy, dreary, and chilly days that I found myself inside looking out, checking my weather apps for a break in the rain and a spike in the temperatures. I brought my pot of purple sweet peppers in and out of the house to try to save them until they were big enough to eat. I covered herbs and tomatoes with sheets when there was a danger of frost. I  picked green tomatoes and ripened them on the windowsill and also stuffed some in a cardboard box to hopefully ripen and not rot and possibly eat at Thanksgiving. A couple of asters and phlox flowers have lingered in my garden. Around the village puffball mushrooms and many other kinds were prolific in October. Here and there some flowers defied the first frost. I finally pulled up my tomato plants, emptied my flower pots, and ate my underripe peppers. I will wait several months before looking at  garden catalogs so I don't get depressed. Meanwhile, I'll start Project Feeder Watch and keep track of the Monarchs and Hummers on Journey North.

Tomatoes Still Cranking in Early October

Purple Peppers with Lots of Blossoms

October 18th Freeze

Tomatoes Cranky

Late October Rose

Peck Avenue Woods

Assortment on South Lawn

Turtlehead Flower at Orient Park

Windowsill Ripening

Ali Gibney's Dinnerplate Dahlia

Puff O'Lantern (borrowed a stem from a pumpkin)