Outside

The daffodils outside of the church here in town are always some of the first flowers to bloom, and they are beautiful and promise that the cold will end, when it feels like it will last forever.

One of my neighbors had some free pans on the curb.  I grabbed a steamer with holes on the bottom, and drilled in some more in the side (all by myself!) to make another compost pan for my garden.

I think a squirrel, or possibly a raccoon, may have gotten to Grace's peanut butter bird feeders, because they cleaned it and left the peel!

During the school year, I get to have lunch with Billy once almost every week.  Spring waters flooded the walking path he uses though.  = (

So, we ended up crouching along the muddy/rocky area like everyone else who really wants to get in their walk!

This was the only picture I took at Emily's DeWitt tennis tournament, but I liked the composition of it and wanted to share it here.

We have had lots wind storms come through and knock down branches.  This one was particularly annoying, because it happened during my insulation filled trashcan span. boo.

Over the span of three weeks, I put out new mulch in the beds!  It makes it look so much better, and it's such little effort.  When I started the project, I wouldn't go into the gross shed, because I knew that if I did, I wouldn't be able to leave it, and would start cleaning it all by myself.  So, I used a snow shovel to spread it, instead of a rake.

My very, very old, Basil plant died.  = (

One morning we had the most beautiful sunrise, 360 degrees!  It was unbelievably gorgeous!  By the time AEW and I made it out the door for the bus at 6:30, it had already faded substantially, but at 6:05ish, it was awesome!

Our neighbors really beautiful flowers.

I do miss the early morning views in the summer, but definitely don't miss the 5:15 alarm.

later days

Autumn, Nature, and Garden

 When I was collecting a bountiful heartvest, I also pulled some of the overwhelming weeds.

They fought back by scratching up my arms and making me itchy!

But poor Grace got it even worse.  She had a run in with what I think was a nettle plant, and had some pretty impressive swelling!  Poor girl.  Avia took us to the ice cream shop not long after, and between the cool treat and substantial layer of hydrocortisone, she was feeling better on our walk back.

I had an exciting morning when I saw what I thought was a common yellow throat out my kitchen window, but when I went outside with my bird book, I found that there were two of them, improving an existing nest!  Or possibly just using it as a launching point for their southward journey, because they were not here long.

I was able to get a poor picture of one of the couple, and based on the tail shape and coloring, I now think I actually think I saw a pair of Great Crested Flycatchers.  I'm by no means an ornithologist, but I am enjoying seeing an assortment of birds these days!

This leaf reminded me of the show The Mentalist. Poor tree.

We had a particularly windy and wet storm blow through last week, which knocked out power for all four girls (at two separate campuses!)  Here, the storm passed through in under ten minutes, but must have picked up some speed as it moved toward their schools.

The leaves on a welcome mat looked disappointed to be there.

The leaf colors this time of year are so vibrant, the colors really look "unnatural!"

The toad managed to blend into the wet fallen leaves seamlessly.  Billy only spotted it because it hopped away!

A pair of ducks braving the rain and cold out on the river.

Maybe because it was dark, wet, and grey when Billy and I went out for a walk, but the colors were striking!

I spotted a wooly bear on our driveway, and loved how the rain drops stayed droplets at the end of its spines.  I did use a leaf to relocate it into the grass, so that it wouldn't be run over by our vehicles.

Back when the morning were warm enough to walk the kids down to the bus stop, the skies were clear and the stars bright.  I was able to pick out Orion's Belt!  This was really exciting for me, because I feel like my previous star gazing success has always been the Big Dipper & North Star!

One more tomato heartvest, from my lovely, neglected garden.

It's been a fairly warm autumn up to this point, though temperatures are trending down, and we are looking at a cold and possibly rainy Halloween, according to the extended forecast.  I guess we'll find out Friday!

later days

Outside and in the Garden

Now that the twins only walk down to the bus stop on pretty days, instead of all the way to school, I feel like I spend way less time outside.   So, I'll just have to be extra appreciative of the time that I do get to be outside!

Our neighbors have these beautiful two-tone flowers right by the sidewalk.  They look like they are yellow flowers that have had purple paint dropped into their centers!

Sometimes I can now take pictures of the twilight, since Alice is driving!

One of our lovely heartvests from our very weedy garden!

Froze some celery and carrots for my mom to use, because we had way more than we were going to eat!

The tomato plants thrived, despite neglect from the gardener (yours truly.)

Alice really liked this cloud, so I took a picture for her, since her phone was at home on the charger.  It was a picture perfect cloud!

Both Alice and William said "Mutti take a picture!" at the same time!  How could I refuse?

I'm so not ready for winter, but I guess it's coming whether I'm ready or not!  I'll be keeping my fingers crossed for a pleasant Halloween!

later days

Garden and Nature

I have not been feeling my garden this year.  I planted, and pulled a few weeds, but it wasn't bringing me nearly the joy it did last year, so my plants are being choked out by weeds.  I even paid Emily and Grace to weed the garden that you can see from the road while we were gone, because it just looked so awful, and Grace and I had already cleared it once this summer!  We do have a pumpkin vine, but no pumpkins, or even female flowers, so probably no pumpkins this year. = (

That said, the girls did go out and collect tomatoes from one of the struggling plants, and they were so tasty! Our first heartvest of tomatoes this year.

A beautiful 'grocery store parking lot sunset' picture.

Our dead apple trees finally fell down, so we hired our lawn guy to take them out as well as the storm damaged tree. It was still alive, but he said it was going to damage the fence further if it fell any more.  So, it's gone now too, and our backyard looks so empty!  I think we might need to buy some baby trees and see if we can get some new ones growing!

The carrot plants went to seed last year, and seem to be growing really well!  I didn't cull them at all though, so they are small little things.

One of our landscaped plants, that we inherited with the house, makes these beautiful blooms every year, and every year I forget and find them beautiful!

I didn't include all of my nature pictures here this time, so there are still some mixed into our travel posts.

It's been a warm summer, which has been lovely for me, but I don't think that all of our plants have enjoyed it quite as much as I have!  Heading into a new season soon, which is sad, but I am looking forward to all the new colors!

later days

Outside in the Garden and the World!

The twins finished school before Memorial Day, but Alice didn't get out until mid-June.  Seriously, it felt like she was in school for.ev.er.  So, even at 645am, the sun was fully up, and we got to see bunnies and deer and birds!

Before the yard sale, Grace helped me clear out the ground garden bed.

My Sweet William bloomed beautifully!

The onions look so tall!

Something ate the top of my bean pod plant again!

On the way to Willam's first week of summer camp, which overlapped with Alice's regular school schedule, we saw a little bumble bee!

One of the trees on our walk has giant flowers that look like used tissues from afar.  William forgot his glasses one morning, so I crafted him a note while he ran back to get them. = )

I saw this cool plant at Grace and Juliet's summer camp!

This cool mushroom was growing in our yard when we returned from camping. = )

Things are so green and beautiful right now, and we got up to 90F again today, so I'm feeling all the happy feelings right now!  Doing my best to soak in the summer before our ninth winter arrives in an attempt to best us.

later days