Seasonal shockings

"The foliage has been losing its freshness through the month of August, and here and there a yellow leaf
shows itself like the first gray hair amidst the locks of a beauty who has seen one season too many."-   Oliver Wendell Holmes

Once school starts I automatically go into “fall” mode.  I start harvesting everything there is to harvest.  I look forward to the cooler temperatures and foggy mornings. 

Well Wednesday and Thursday, the weather took little notice of the leaves changing to yellow or red and collecting along the sides of the roads, the squirrels and chipmunks running around collecting the hickory nuts, 

the multitude of spider webs covered in dew 

 or the dwindling harvest as it rained down some totally unfall-like weather.  I love 60-75 but 90’s I feel like Frosty going into the hot house full of poinsettia’s.

Having already taken out the AC I was ill prepared for the heat and humidity which belonged back in July and August…not my September!  I gave up all thoughts of canning under such inhospitable  circumstances and sat miserably in the corner whining for more ice!  The only good part of the day was the evening thunder storms which brought some relief.

But today dawned cool and refreshing and all was well in my world.  I quickly got to work on the green beans, processing several pints and then came the tomatoes.  After getting them on the stove cooking I sat down for a break.

Along came a commercial which had me completely gobsmacked.  Now I realize I am rushing the autumn season by a couple of weeks by associating it with the start of school.  And I realize I like autumn  for the cooler temperatures but this commercial was for Christmas!!!!!...a whole lot colder than I want it for a little while longer.  Kmart is telling everyone not to wait until the last minute and use their lay away.  I am all for buying gifts early and if I see something for someone I may buy it in February and put it away, and as a knitter/crocheter I realize that one must start work on some gifts while the sweat is dripping from your brow….but advertising for it even before Halloween …preposterous!  (for some reason I feel that should be said with a British accent and by a man with a monocle!) We are not even to the 100 day count down and the fall tv shows haven’t even started! 

And now still shaking my head, I am going back to my tomatoes.  Sanity still reigns there.  But before I leave I have to show you my bag.  A local fiber fest had a contest.  This year it was a bag, knit, crocheted, felted or woven.  I thought about entering and while going through a folder with patterns I had printed out long ago and never got to (please tell me I am not the only one that has one of those) I found the pattern for the Cluck clutch.  I have a chicken themed kitchen and had thought of making this just to stuff and stick on a shelf but figured I would kill two birds with one stone.  So I got out a hook and crocheted the thing up and sent if off to the festival with Cyndy.  I never saw it at the festival and I don’t know how many entered but I won a ribbon….it is only a participation ribbon for best presentation because I stuffed her with tissue paper to look like a regular chicken.  

 It wasn’t a serious project so I didn’t even expect to win what I did, but it is my first time so I am happy.

And while my purchases at the festival were small I had a great time.   

two bumps of jacob roving  

moon and stars clay buttons

Counting the grey hairs

Nobody grows old merely by living a number of years.  We grow old by deserting our ideals.  Years may wrinkle the skin but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul. ~ Samuel Ullman

On Tuesday there were two monumental happenings in my life.  I woke up and suddenly I was getting old… I packed up #2 son for his last first day of school and #1 daughter turned 30!

So far as #2 son, I thought I would be jubilant; in a few short months there will be no more lunches to pack, no more books to cover, no more parent teacher conferences, no more homework help.  But as most “adults” when I get what I think I want I am not happy with it.  It is the end, all my babies will have graduated.  There is happiness and pride in their successful graduation but there is sadness too because now their problems will get bigger than I am able to help them with.  I can read their books to help them with a report, I can organize their research, I can pack a lunch that their friends try to steal, I can correct their “me and Jim” to “Jim and I” but after this they are all on their own.

And how, when I only graduated “a couple of years ago” did I end up with a 30 year old kid?  1982 was only a couple of years ago, right? I know her father looks old and I know she went to Iraq, married and has two kids of her own but…30?!  Already?!  How the hell did that happen?!

And to top it off the garden got a little out of hand while I was playing with the grandbabies.  Trying to tame the savage beast and put it all in jars had me feeling cranky, exhausted and achy.  Both physically and emotionally OLD!

But as this week draws to a close I see jar after jar of garden produce .  I know while #2 daughter and #1 son are at their jobs, #1 daughter will call me at 8:08 when her husband leaves for work and we will discuss how awesome my grandchildren are and then #2 son will come home from school and after grabbing a quick bite he will leave for work. 

I may be getting old but I am not done yet.  My children are all close and happy well worth the tears and grey hairs. I guess my aches and pains are battle scars and I guess there are some good points in getting older and children moving on.

I am not saying I won’t waiver or shed a tear wishing both them and I were younger again but I guess I have to look at it like this…

I will never be an old (wo)man.  To me, old age is always 15 years older than I am. ~ Francis Bacon

 

Yikes in 15 years #1 grandson will be close to his graduation!  I am going back to bed!

Summer decline

Summer declines and roses have grown rare,
But cottage crofts are gay with hollyhocks,
And in old garden walks you breathe an air
Fragrant of pinks and August-smelling stocks.

–John Todhunter (1839–1916)

It is hard to believe that a month has passed by since I posted and that summer is coming to an end.  School starts in three days!

I was stirring salsa on the stove the other day when I heard gnawing sounds.  At first I thought it was the dog in the living room chewing a bone but realized the noise was coming through the kitchens screen door.  I walked outside and the ground was littered with chewed bits of hickory nuts.  The squirrels are hanging out in the canopy and little bits of nut husk are floating down making it look like it is snowing.  

 And they aren’t the only woodland animals beefing up for the winter; the deer are standing on their hind legs reaching for the apples.  I don’t mind sharing and hope they do the same unlike the elderberries.

Like the animals I am busy preparing for winter…my tomato vines lost their leaves but the tomatoes are fine and continue to grow and ripen.  I did 26 quarts of tomato sauce yesterday and will probably be doing more tomorrow.   

Busy driving kids around I missed my green beans starting to produce and found them when they were too big to do anything with but have since canned several pints with lots more still on there.  The red raspberries are just starting to produce and it looks to be better than last year’s harvest!!!!  The blackberries are done but I have some blackberry cordial and brandy “brewing” to warm frozen bodies when the snow flies.

I seem to be preparing for winter in more ways than one…I knit myself a pair of socks and #2 daughter’s pair will be done tonight.  I have also been knitting hats for my grandsons.  Not having the models available I have knit several sizes!  Oh well someone will end up with them.  #1 daughter wanted monster hats for them to wear until Halloween.  I am surprised she isn’t picking out Thanksgiving hats for me to make them already.  She is quite the task maker! 

Once the garden/canning is done more spinning and knitting will get accomplished.  Playing right into that are the fiber festivals coming soon….Endless Mountain and Rhinebeck.  After Spring, Fall has to be the most perfect time of the year.

Small hours

Our lives are made in these small hours

These little wonders, these twists and turns of fate

Time falls away but these small hours

These small hours still remain ~ Rob Thomas

And before you know it these small hours add up and a month has gone by!  Yikes! So what remains of a month of small hours….

…Visits with my grandson’s, with more to come on the weekend of the 26^th.

...A visit from our forest neighbor

…A new engine in my car thankfully, fully covered by the warranty.

…days of unusually high temperatures.  I was forced to install the air conditioners.  Last year I didn’t because I feel shut in all winter and I love to have the shades up and windows open so I can see &  hear nature, but I couldn’t stand the humidity.  I thought I was living in DC again, oh horrors.  Today is a glorious 75 degrees at noon time with low humidity, what much needed relief

…the brightly dyed roving was spun but then wasn’t matching up when plied so I plied it with some white singles.  Made a pair of fingerless mitts, might make a hat to match.

…small knitting projects and may I add useful.  I have been knitting scubbies with cotton and tulle along with some new dish clothes.

…the garden has thrived in the heat, (and with a little added water from the hose).  The green beans are reaching for the sky 

and starting to produce. (Thank You Cyndy for telling me to check the lower sections) 

…tiny heads of broccoli starting better late than never

…gladiolas blooming and I nearly missed them

 …fireworks at our town’s field day

  …perfect physical for the man while I was diagnosed with Lyme disease.  Since meds keep me from going out in the sun I am so thankful that 90% of the garden was mulched so the weeds won’t over take the vege’s.

…friend that goes to auctions picked up some produce.  I canned and dehydrated blueberries, canned mango peach lemonade concentrate, strawberry lemonade concentrate, organic raspberry jam and strawberry syrup.  I also froze 8 quarts of cauliflower and 7 of green pepper slices. My berries should be ready soon for blackberry lemonade concentrate, pie filling and maybe some cordial.

…#2 son and daughter have summer jobs which means I am minus a vehicle most of the time.  #2 son bought a vehicle now we just need to get it on the road

 

…total of three baby chicks hatched this year and we  bought four turkey pullets

…barn field mowed, raked and stored away for chicken bedding.

…a little swimming and fishing.  The heavy rains prior to the heat wave caused flooding .  Once the waters receded the temperatures were too high for any good fishing.

 ...beautiful sunsets

 

 ...and hopefully a months worth of small hours before I get back here.

  

Finally slowing down

"Slow down and enjoy life. It's not only the scenery you miss by going too fast-you also miss the sense of where you are going and why." --Eddie Cantor

The past couple of days I have finally been able to sit and boy am I enjoying it.   My car broke down and is in the shop which is why I am stuck home.   But Jimmy crack corn and I don’t care because the sun is shining the temperature is perfect with a slight breeze to keep insects at bay.  I am sitting in the shade of an apple tree with my kindle (wifi reaches to the apple tree) and a sweet tea.  The smell of the wild rose and peonies 

wafting through the air, the birds singing ….so relaxing it sounds like a lullabye!  So much has happen since I last updated and I truly needed some down days to regroup.

 I have a new daughter in law would probably be at the top of the list of happenings.  The wedding was awesome and she was beautiful.  It rained the day before, the morning of and the day after but cleared up so they were able to have the outside wedding they wanted.  

 I cried because #1 son was trying so hard not to.  They had a photo booth which took a series of four pictures printed on one sheet.  You got to keep a copy and one was put in a scrap book along with a personal message for the bride and groom.  There was usually a line of people waiting to enter but then after a couple of hours they brought out props and I can’t wait to see the pictures that ensued!  The newly wedded couple is leaving today for a Caribbean cruise.

#2 daughter had a fantastic week.  She passed her driver’s test on Thursday and graduated Friday.  Next year #2 son graduates and then I will be done packing lunches and getting sick calls from school nurses.

The garden is finally planted and tomatoes are blossoming.

 My niece and her kids came up for the wedding and spent a week.  I thought I could con them into some help but it rained almost every day they were here!  This year has been a trial, lots of rain, late frosts, chipmunks digging up seed and I have a deer with a fawn nearby.  She is hanging around my garden eating my apple trees, plum, forsythia, Jerusalem artichokes, raspberries and anything else that takes her fancy.  Someone left the garden gate open and she did a little damage walking around on my new transplants but thankfully I had extras to replace them.  The apple trees are loaded, the red and black raspberries and blackberries look like it is going to be a good year but the grapes bit the dust in the late frost.

Most of the garden has been papered and mulched with straw which is going to leave me with some extra time to sit under the apple tree!  We moved some black berry bushes outside the garden to increase air circulation and we put in stock panels for the tomatoes, cucumbers and beans.  Usually we mulch our tomatoes and let them lay on the ground.  Last year I lost a lot of tomatoes to animals (now know it was ground hog) so I am trying the staking method and hoping for increased harvest at the same time.  My mom and I tried staking once and even though it was a bad tomato year for everyone we weren’t willing to take the chance again.  Keep your fingers crossed it works since we need a lot of tomatoes…think a year’s worth of salsa, V8, spaghetti sauce, picante sauce, pizza sauce, tomato soup, stewed/whole tomatoes along with eating tomato sandwiches and bruschetta .  Garden diagram for my own reference and missing most of the herbs and peppers.

I have not been knitting much.  I made the bolero for my friend’s daughter and one for my niece.   I had a dye day which was fun but in my exuberance (rushing) I felted it a little.  I was able to still spin the roving but not into lace weight which was a bummer because it was a green gradient dyed roving.  I was able to spin it into a worsted weight and make a small shawl with it but would have liked it to be thinner.

I also dyed this rather loud roving

 and some white Finn yarn 

and I even threw in some silk hankies.  

 I have been spinning a lot more than knitting. 

 

 The white Finn pictured above I spun and plied on the electric spinner….very productive but noisier so I spin on the Traveler and then have a ply day on the electric since I can get bigger skeins on those bobbins.

I went to an alpaca shearing (my cousin) and I am going to get some white alpaca to spin and dye.  I had some of her black alpaca but I want to see how white takes the dye.

On the farm, the milkhouse got a paint job, planted two apple trees and a tulip.  Clean up of barberry continues as it quickly grows back if you turn your back for a second!  And we have a baby chick. 

Hopefully we get a couple of more.  We have to go pick up the turkey poults otherwise we won't have anything for dinner on Thanksgiving and we have much to be thankful for this year.

But now I must head back out to the apple tree and watch #2 son mow the grass!!!