color

 

This isn't exactly the view I wake up to, because I wake up hours before daylight.

But it is the view from my bed, where I usually bundle back up and have breakfast after coming in from morning chores. Most days I have to bribe Della with treats to get my spot back; she appears out of nowhere and occupies the central location before I'm even out of the room.

Here's a closer look at the trees behind my workshop:

And here's how they look on a rainy day:

I love the richness and depth of colors on a gloomy day.

The rain is returning, so I must get out there and make sure everyone is set for the night.  Here's a little more color to peruse while I'm gone:

And...we're back to rain.

~~~~~

view from a chaise

Mox keeping a sharp eye on ground-level activity.

While I tilt back.

(Note: in case of interest, roofline at bottom provides scale.)

I hope you are having a lovely Tuesday.

Almost said "weekend."

Right on top of things, me.

~~~~~

autumn

In the recent days of lovely weather, I've spent most of each day outdoors. Not just doing chores; also reading and eating and making notes about tasks that need doing before snowfall and ideas for next year's gardens. Moxie and I have often shared the chaise for a bit of knitting. Instead of knitting or reading or planning I could certainly have gone back into the house to continue my Autumn 2022 project of making the entire house more functional. It's a very slow process, working only an hour at a time, or two hours on a good day. I'm starting to see progress, and definitely don't want to lose momentum! But the clear air and blue sky and beautiful views have been too precious to waste. Especially as the daylight hours grow noticeably shorter.

Last night the temperate went down to at least 26F - that's where it was when I checked at about 2 AM. It had already dipped below freezing more than once recently, but this morning it was still below freezing during morning chores. Still...the sun came up and the sky was clear, and after chores I dragged a chaise into a sunny spot to enjoy breakfast.

When the sun was obscured by a conifer or the trunk of a hardwood, I felt cold and shifted the chaise to a sunny spot. The shade followed. It would only last a few minutes, but the difference between sunlit warmth and shade was an immediate chill. After some thought I did the sensible thing and went back into the house to put on wool socks and fetch my knitting.

By the time the chaise had been moved four times, I felt cold even in the sun. And when yesterday's knitting revealed a mysterious error in the very first section of stitches, an error that would require going back into the house for another set of needles, I surrendered, apologized to Moxie who had just gotten settled again, and went inside. Checked the forecast and lit the first fire in the woodstove.

It won't surprise me if the weather turns warm again, but tonight we'll have a fire.

~~~~~

wordless wednesday

 

~~~~~

such color

 

A couple of weeks ago I thought this might be the last zinnia of 2022. So I carried it, held over my head through a paddock full of interested goats, up to the house. Popped it into a little vase along with a handful of Galinsoga parviflora. Photographed it. Sketched it. Enjoyed a late-summer posy for many days before it gradually lowered it's head and faded. 

When I harvested the tomatoes last week, there was one more zinnia!

With color every bit as brilliant, but petals showing the challenges of blooming when nights are sometimes dipping below freezing.

There's beauty in the struggle.

~~~~~

back to the beech

Beech in the morning.

Beech in the afternoon, with an oak rising through.

Beech with the crown of the oak above.

So many leaves have come down in recent days. I'm looking at a changed palette and a different view every day. We've reached the point where, if the sun isn't shining, it looks and feels very much like November out there. But when the sun is shining, I'm convinced there's still plenty of time to transplant raspberries, build more raised beds, and plant tulip and iris bulbs.

~~~~~

to the pond

Rain is predicted today, so yesterday I made "take Piper to the pond" a priority.

We haven't gone for many of our favorite Autumn rambles at the pond because the Highlander has been in the shop several times recently, and usually for more than one day each time.

It's one of those repair situations where fixing Critical Issue A (to the tune of over $900, which made me blink) unfortunately leads to Critical Issues B though D. The tally is now over three thousand dollars, and yesterday when I got the call from the office manager at the garage saying "your Highlander is fixed," I felt a bit like Charlie Brown and the football.

Anyway, after morning chores and getting the truck back, I brushed Piper thoroughly so that any burrs she might pick up in the woods would be a bit easier to remove, and off we went.

Can you see all those little specks on Pip's coat? She went through a stand of goldenrod and picked up a few seeds to disperse along the trail.

Sniffing is one of Piper's very favorite things to do.

She did a lot of it yesterday;

The colors were phenomenal.

So much green and gold.

Piper ambled to and fro while I took photographs

and picked up bits of things to possibly sketch someday. 

It was while I was photographing this pitcherplant... 

...that Piper went into the bog.

I don't know if she intended to go in, or if she was thinking of having a drink and was taken by surprise by the sudden depth of what is usually just wet ground.

But in a flash she was in muddy water halfway up her ribs, and her effort to turn around and get out only made her feet sink deeper into the muck.

Thinking she might panic, I quickly squelched over and grabbed her collar to give her something solid to pull against.

Result: one very stinky, mucky hound and one equally mucky shoe and trouser leg. I didn't take a picture, but Piper looked very much as she did in this blogpost - with a higher waterline.

Piper was expecting to carry on rambling and sniffing as if she wasn't soaking wet and dripping muck, but since it was chilly and windy, our ramble was curtailed.

Even worse from Piper's point of view, the moment we got home she immediately had a very thorough bath.

After which, everything I was wearing went into the washer with extra detergent.

We are so clean now.

All ready for today's rain.

~~~~~

sunday review of saturday snaps

The light was lovely yesterday.

I took a break between chores and we went to the woods.

Result: a perfectly happy Piper, doing what she loves most.

Piper was off-lead the whole time.

We spent more than an hour rambling.

Look at this face:

Maybe you've heard the old saying: 

"You can always tell the cobbler's kids - they've got no shoes."

Well, here's a photographer's Self-Portrait With Hound.

Seriously.

I've been a photographer since 1989.

Have had more images published than I can recall.

Have had work exhibited in museums.

I made an effort. This was the best result.

Cannot stop laughing.

~~~

It's raining here today, which means postponing the planting of the new blueberry bush - the first one I've ever bought - and the transplanting of all the strawberries into the new raised bed I almost finished filling yesterday. I thought the soil and muck layers should have a chance to settle before adding the strawberry plants, and this rain is certainly going to help with that settling process. I hope the bed will still look almost full when I go out to check later! It's two feet deep, 32 inches wide, and 6 feet long, and required a lot of shoveling and pitchforking and dragging of muck-filled bins. Transplanting the strawberries - the ones I grew this year - will be a piece of cake by comparison, even if I end up doing it in the rain.

 Is your weekend going well?

I hope so, and I hope you feel like this:

~~~~~

wordless wednesday

~~~~~

fairies taking flight

When I was a child, we called milkweed seeds, floating through the air, "fairies."

If you gently caught one, you could make a wish

before setting it free to float away again.

As far as I know, there is no age limit on this.

Go forth and make wishes.

~~~~~

enter november

~~~~~

sunday snapshots

It's still totally dark outside at 6:25AM, and I'm hearing wind-driven rain hitting the house. But here are a few pictures from yesterday, which was a perfect Autumn day.

 

~~~~~