Patience of Gardening

Song - Harvest Moon by Neil Young

Happy Fall

"A garden is a grand teacher.  

 It teaches patience and careful watchfulness; 

it teaches industry and thrift; 

above all it teaches entire trust." 

 – Gertrude Jekyll

Fall Has Arrived

Song - Les Feuilles Mort (Autumn Leaves) by Andrea Bocelli

After several days of 100 degree weather last week,

it looks like Fall might just have arrived here in Northern California!

We have bushels of apples to pick next week.

I have a few flowers left but with the heat in September

there are only a few to enjoy.

Most are ready for the new season like this Hydrangea above changing her petals.

The Dogwood trees have their bright red berries ready.

And the Snowball Viburnum is always the first garden shrub to change color.

We have more Hawks.....

 

And Woodpeckers now.

 The Acorns are dropping all around me and crunching under the car tires.

But the best thing in our garden right now is.....

......little Henry who turned 6 months just two weeks ago and I got him this swing for the yard.

Andy hung it on a sturdy branch on a large Oak tree 

right where he and Ashley were married three years ago.

Funny how life happens.....

"Delicious autumn! 

My very soul is wedded to it, 

and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns."

--George Eliot

'Tis Autumn

Song - 'Tis Autumn by Red Garland

Picked a basket full of Lady Apples the other day and I hope to prepare them for the freezer after having a few fresh ones on top of our salads.

The dogwood tree is enticing me with her beautiful colors.....

And our October Glory Maple is changing overnight into a show stopper.  Every Thanksgiving we take family photos in front of this tree when she is at her peak.

However, everyone is not on the same page - "It's Autumn" so why are my spring bulbs blooming now? Confusing weather we are having?

While I was filling up my bird feeders this morning, I noticed this hawk flying high in the sky looking for some tasty tidbit. As I walked over to our creek, I saw some large water rings and figured there was a large fish beneath the surface.  Then there were more and a creature came up for air.....there were two otters playing!  They slowly made their way downstream before I could grab my camera.  But I'll tell you - it was magical!

"Happy Fact: Otters hold hands while they sleep 
so they don't float away from each other."

Closing Down

Song - October Road by James Taylor

The intense heat that we endured in California this summer has faded and we are now officially into Autumn. The days are comfortable and the nights are crisp.

Everything seems to have received the earth's message that it's time to close down for another year. I listen to the acorns "thud" on the roof of our house or on our little lane.  Cars drive by and you can hear the tires crunch the acorns into dust.

 The leaves on our maple trees are beginning to change color.  

The last of the Dahlia's and roses are blooming.

Unfortunately they were not happy campers this year as they were trying to survive the blazing heat spells, lower water consumption and not having Moi take care of them. 
It was just too dang hot to go out there!  

My friend, the Flicker sings to me every morning and in the late afternoon.

The days are decidedly shorter and our shadows are much longer.

I am harvesting apples in hopes of future cobblers, applesauce or my mama's famous apple pie!

The birds are filling up on nuts and seed for the approaching cold weather.

 As I plant my spring bulbs......the squirrels are planting and hiding their acorns.

 All day long I am replanting my flowers that the squirrels have dug up to make room for acorns.

YES.....I am talking about you Mister!

Meanwhile, there are so many wildfires in Northern California right now.

It's difficult to complain about the smoky air around here when so many have lost everything.

I am reminded of my Great-Aunt Theresa who at the age of 82 lost her home 

and belongs in the 1991 Oakland firestorm - she told me that everyone was so generous 

buying her new mixing bowls and beautiful fluffy towels.  

But it was her old chipped dishes and comfortably worn bedspread that made her feel at home.

"Mostly it is loss which teaches

 us about the worth of things." 

--Arthur Schopenhauer