A Story - "Fly on the Wall" - Ring-billed Seagull

 Fly on the Wall

It was the beginning of the new season of the neighbourhood social hour. Darker days and damp chilly weather were pushing people inside. About a dozen guests were either perched on stiff dining room chairs or sinking into oversized couches or slithering on a shiny leather lazy-boy.

The hostess offered an assortment of drinks for any taste: beer, wine, non-alcoholic beer, soft drinks, tea. Nibbles were picked up with tongs and nestled into azure-blue glass mini bowls. A couple of floor lamps cast a dim light over the living room. No one was in the spotlight.

A couple of extroverts carried the conversation as newcomers to the group tried to see where they might fit in . Like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle first attempts to connect didn't always work. Alcohol helped to blur the awkwardness for some of the people.

A nondescript senior woman sipped her tea and studied the others, noticing slight tensions here and there, little bursts of friendliness, maneuverings to get some attention. She joined in when necessary but mostly she blended into the background.

It was interesting to be the fly on the wall. More fodder for her stories.

A ring-billed seagull in Lake Ontario catching some waves on a bright autumn day.

A Story - "When the Festivals Covered Tears" and a Lovely Fall View

A Story

When the Festivals Covered Tears

After Dad passed away, Mom's loneliness drove her to festivals: musical, cultural, gardening, fireworks.  Any kind would do.  She'd return with souvenirs, food containers, posters.  Her apartment began to fill with festival bling.

As her apartment grew messier and more crowded, she stopped having visitors.  When I suggested decluttering, she got angry.  Her collecting escalated to hoarding. Her living space became dirty and unsafe.

When Mom died, I ruthlessly purged her possessions.  I scrubbed every room spotless and tastefully arranged the pieces of furniture I had kept.  I put up a few colourful festival posters as a tribute to her festival visiting days.

When visitors came over, they exclaimed," Her apartment is beautiful. The festival posters reflect her vibrant life."

I kept my comments to myself.  They didn't need to know Mom had lived in squalor.

 

A beautiful view on a warm October day. The fall has been very dry but it is hard to complain when the sky is so blue, and the trees are turning colour. Soon I'll be planting some daffodils in a blank slate of a garden. I'll be happy to see their cheerful yellow blooms next spring.

A Story - "Wasted Life" - Purple Aster, Red Leaves

 A Story

Wasted Life

September 19, 1970, was the day that Linda decided to waste her life.  It was the day she told her mother she was pregnant, the father not interested.

"You can't keep it.  You'd be wasting your life."

Linda moved in with her friend's family who helped her stay afloat.  Eventually she became a teacher.

September 19, 2015, Linda cradled her delightful newborn grandson in her arms.

"Grandma, play with me."

"Grandma, look at my picture."

The two older grandchildren vied for her attention.  She loved spending time with them.  They were precious.  It was wonderful to be a young grandmother.

The last wildflower to die to a hard frost is the purple aster.  It is the fall bookend to the purple crocuses in the spring. The asters are one of the last food sources for the wild bees before winter comes.

I don't know what kind of tree this is but the dark red leaves are super nice contrasted against the rough cedar bark.

A Story -"The Invisible Woman" and interesting Fungi, and pretty Mare and Foal

 A story:

The Invisible Woman

At the restaurant, elderly Patricia spied two Italian-suited middle-aged men sitting a couple of tables away from her.  They kept leaning towards each other, speaking in low voices.  Patrica turned up her hearing aid until she could hear what they were saying.

"We need to get rid of the Attorney General.  He won't work with us."

"Georgio can do the job."

Shocked, Patricia turned on audio record on her phone.  As they were leaving, she discreetly took photos.

She e-mailed her information to the police.

The puzzled looks on the men's faces when they were arrested, made her smile.

This fungi looks like layered rock.  Very attractive design.

With doom and gloom in the news,  I think it's nice to see a peaceful picture of this lovely mare and her foal.  This is a picture I took a few years ago. The horse belonged to my neighbour.

Another month to the shortest day and then we turn the corner.  Take care.

A story - "Special Talents" - and Cabbage Salad and Freezing Celery

 A story:

Special Talents

It was a casual invitation but Lisa felt like making a special effort.  She put on her outfit:  grey dress pants, lavender cashmere sweater, pearl earrings.

"Not too shabby," she complimented herself.  Her children were impressed.

Six other moms came with their children for the gab fest with finger foods.  Lisa smugly surveyed the other moms: yoga pants, baggy tops, hair roots showing.

Suddenly a friend's son tugged on Lisa's arm.  "Come."  Intrigued, she followed him.

Soon she had worked her magic.  The boy grinned enthusiastically at her and exclaimed, "I knew you could unblock the toilet."

We had an inch of snow on the ground this morning. I thought a colourful salad would be nice to brighten up the day.  Here's more or less what I put in it.

               1 cup chopped red cabbage

               3/4 cup chopped celery

               1 chopped apple -  I used a MacIntosh

               1/4 cup pecan halves

                2 very small carrots - 1 yellow, 1 orange

                Mayonnaise to desired taste - about 2 tbsp.

                You could also add some yellow and red peppers, some onion, sunflower seeds.

                I should have garnished it with some parsley but I forgot.

Even though we had snow, we did not get frost.  Sometimes when the temperature is right around 0C, that happens.  Anyway, I pulled  the last of the celery out of the garden.  That really is the end of the garden.  I kept some fresh in the fridge but blanched (about 3 min) and froze the rest.  When I have chunks of vegetables like this celery or diced peppers, I put them in a large freezer bag and spread them out flat.  Then I carefully place the bag flat in the freezer so the vegetables freeze in a single layer.  When I want to use some, I can easily break off what I need.  You can, of course, freeze vegetables on a cookie sheet and then put them in a bag.  

The snow is pretty well gone. It was just a warning :)

Story - "Homemade Socks" and quiet fall colours

A story:

Homemade Socks

The knitting needles followed their well-worn path, row after row.  Donna knew the pattern by heart.  Ribbing at the top, cables down the leg and over the top of the foot.  She used the same grey yarn for every pair.  She spent countless hours knitting the socks and donated them to various homeless shelters.

One cold winter night at a shelter, a worker gave a troubled man a pair of Donna's socks.

As soon as he saw the pattern, tears filled his eyes.  His mother always knit him socks in that particular pattern in that special shade of grey. 

The fall foliage of the maple trees is flashy and bright and always welcome, but some other plants are beautiful in more subtle ways.  The dogwood in this photo has lovely peachy leaves that bounce gently in the breeze.

The evening primrose goes a deep red.  It reminds me of a Scottish tartan with the green, yellow, and brown.

The Solomon's seal changes to a buttery yellow.  It keeps its arching form to give a nice structural focal point in the landscape.

Wood asters have delicate mauve flowers on their stiff stems.  Every flower has slightly different colouring in the center and the petals come out at irregular angles giving the plant a quaint quirkiness.

A few of the pansies are still flowering after limping through the heat of the summer. They are always brightly coloured but their soft rounded petals give them a quiet feeling.

Story - "The Protector". and Fall Sedum

A Story:

The Protector

Ranger was a rescue dog.  Too energetic, noisy, and aggressive for his first owners, he had found his forever home with a lively family.  Off-leash walks were Ranger's delight.

Sadly, one autumn the father became ill.  The ambiguous diagnosis didn't look promising.  Friends and family encouraged, "He just needs to rest."

The mother knew better.

One fresh fall day, the family prepared for a walk.  Ranger pranced, twirled excitedly.

"I think I'll stay home," the mother said quietly.  She needed to find some strength.  Ranger paused, gazing at her.  Soon he was sitting close beside her, the walk forgotten. 

 

Sedum is a great plant for late season blooms.  It is tough as nails and will handle any kind of weather.

It does best in full sun as a shadier location can make it leggy and prone to flopping.  It is super easy to propagate.  Simply break off a stem, even when it is blooming, and stick it in the ground.  It will quickly root.  I like it because it makes a well-behaved clump and  even though it is very easy to grow, it is not at all invasive.  The bumblebees like it, too,  so that's another plus. The flower heads can be easily dried or used fresh in flower arrangements.

Story: "New Land" and Last day of September Landscapes

 "New Land"

The hot-air balloon floated higher and higher transporting James to a fantastic new land.

A pristine stream gurgled playfully as it flowed between lush green fields.  The air smelled intoxicatingly of lilac roses.  Fruit trees boasted rosy apples, purple plums, sunset peaches.  Birds sang beautiful symphonies.  

James called his family, friends.  "It's wonderful.  Come."

They answered:

"The rats had babies.  Can't come."

"Need bucket for leaky roof.  Can't come."

"Picking rocks out of the garden.  Can't come."

"Afraid of heights.  Will stay in basement.  Can't come."

James sent pictures and delicious food, but they, sadly, preferred "Home Sweet Home".

This is the last day of September.  I took my camera with me on my walk and snapped a few photos.  It's always a lovely time of the year.

Christmas Cactus

I bought this Christmas cactus last year in December.  It was in bud but, as often happens when a plant goes from greenhouse to store to home,  it dropped all its buds. I thought it was just a solid colour but it's actually quite fancy.  It reminds me of an amaryllis. 

 I kept it on the south facing windowsill last spring and summer, then in October I put it in an east facing window in the basement for a month.  I didn't water it so that gave it a bit of stress and rest.  Once the buds started forming after a month,  I brought it up to the south windows again and watered it regularly. It still has some very small buds which will come along so it will bloom for several weeks.  

Christmas cactus are easy to propagate - just take off a couple of leaf segments and plant them in soil- and I may start a couple more after it finishes blooming.

End of Season Celery

We finally had frost and I harvested the celery in advance of it.  As usual, I have more than I probably need.  Celery always gets away from me.  I really only need two plants but that seems like so little in the spring that I end up with 6 plants.  They love the cool fall weather and just keep getting bigger and bigger until frost.

This little shoot could be cut off with some of the roots with a sharp knife  and potted up in some soil. It will keep growing over the winter and be good and ready for the garden next spring. 

A bigger side shoot that could be potted up.  It would likely go to seed in June or July of next year but it would still give some nice celery in the spring. I won't be potting either of the shoots up as I will just wait until February and plant some fresh seed.  Celery is easy to germinate.

You can freeze celery (best if you blanch it for 3 mins) but I wanted to try to keep it fresh for as long as possible.  The next week is above freezing so I have put it outside in a basin of clean water.  I washed as much of the soil off as I could before putting it in the basin.  I am hoping having light outside will keep it  from deteriorating. I will change the water every few days.

In the meantime, I am slowly using it up in cooking.  Last week I made celery-potato soup with two large stalks of celery, two medium sized potatoes, one carrot, a small onion (pre-sauteed), a few bits of Swiss chard and yellow pepper, seasoned with salt, pepper and marjoram.  I think thyme, or rosemary, or parsley would add some nice flavour, too. After cooking all the vegetables together, I pureed it with a hand blender but it could be eaten chunky. You could add some milk or cream at the end as long as you don't let it boil.  Also a sprinkle of parmesan or mozzarella cheese might be nice.

Just about any soup or stew can use a bit of celery.

I am going to try making celery-apple juice with ginger. Not because it is super healthy and cures everything - just because it will use up the celery!

I also like to make Waldorf salad.  My version is celery, apple, raisins, and walnuts in a mayonnaise sauce.  Some people like to add grapes or cranberries or sunflower seeds.  Anything goes with salads.

A quick and easy meal is to cook some hamburger meat with onions, celery, peppers, carrots, tomatoes and any other vegetables you feel like throwing in. Serve with rice or pasta.

I've always put celery in tuna or salmon sandwiches.  It adds a nice crunch and lightens up the fish which can taste a bit heavy.

On another topic, I found that my Just Sweet peppers will ripen on the counter.  The pepper at the top is what the yellow one on the bottom looked like about ten days ago.  I'm pleased that they do ripen as the flavour improves with ripening.  They are not as sweet as the ones that ripened outside in the hot sun but they are still tasty.

Hope you are all enjoying last season vegetables.
 

Flashy Fall Colours

Last weekend was the peak of the fall colour which coincided nicely with our Canadian Thanksgiving. We   haven't had much in  the way of windy days so the leaves stayed on the trees for longer than normal.  Then they suddenly rained down like a snowstorm and today most of the trees are bare.

I like the eye-popping lime green mixed in with the reds and oranges.

The colourful backdrop allows you to see the structure of the dead branch.

The sky is a lovely blue, but not as spectacularly blue as it was last year in the middle of the lockdown.

Every leaf is different.

This puffball mushroom is about 15" across . When we were young in Quebec, we used to find smaller puffballs about the size of golfballs.  Unlike most mushrooms, a puffball is the same all the way through - no gills.  We would slice them and fry them in butter and they were delicious. My parents were careful about picking mushrooms as a friend of theirs had a very bad experience eating the wrong mushroom, but there was no mistaking the puffballs. As they age, the puffballs turn brown and develop a hole in the top.  The skin gets sort of papery and the inside is filled with spores.  If you push on it at this stage, the spores come out in clouds, hence the name puffball.

This is a beautiful specimen of maple on a neighbour's front lawn.  I think as a young tree they snipped out the leader because it has many uniform sized branches all around. It's gorgeous at any time of the year. It's about 40 years old.

A fun little decoration to make people smile .
 

As The Leaves Fall

The flowers are few and far between at this time of year but the spots of colour are well appreciated.

This hardy geranium has been blooming since June. The main flush of flowers was earlier in the season but it has continued to make new leaves and a few flowers into autumn.  I really like the vibrant magenta with the dark centre.

A few zinnias.

The Japanese anemone are fun plants with their lime green centres. They are pretty tough and can be invasive in mild climates but in zone 4 they just add a nice bit of brightness when September rolls around.
 

Late October Colours

I've been delaying doing a post as I am still uncomfortable working with the photos and getting them up on the blog with my new computer.  I have found a system for now but there may be a less round about way.  I'll keep watching Youtube videos for help. 

The leaves have all fallen off the trees and the days are dull. November, my least favourite month, is just around the corner.  With outings curtailed because of Covid, I knew I would need some projects to keep me going.

I signed up for a grammar course which is proving to be fun and helpful. You may see fewer grammar mistakes going forward.
 

I went through my left-over yarn and found three varieties that I thought would go well for an afghan. It will be off-white, old rose pink and cranberry. Maybe I'll post a photo when it's finished.

I also have been adding to the zazzle store I mentioned in the last post. Their interface is super easy to use and it's been fun to make latte mugs, and magnets, and coasters and spiral notebooks and wall pictures as well as a few other items. It gets to be a bit addictive because it is so easy to make a store. I see that every week they have some kind of sale. I'll keep putting up my store address in case anyone wants to look at it. It's not likely you would remember the name if it only appeared in one post. 

www.zazzle.ca/store/purpleasterdesigns .

I hope you are all finding ways to enjoy your time at home.

The pandemic won't last forever. Keep looking up.

Japanese Anemone

 Looking a lot like summer but  today is simply an unusual warm sunny day in the midst of the regular cool fall weather.

 I finally have a good spot for the white Japanese anemone (Honorine Jobert). The soil is quite loamy, the situation pretty sunny and the roots are shaded by some nearby pulmonaria. It has lots of flowers for one plant and  fresh blooms this late in the season are always special.

 I wondered about buying this green echinacea (Green Jewel).  Why would I want a green flower? But I am finding I quite like it. The plant is sturdy and the flowers last a very long time. I'll see how it comes through the winter.

 The last few annuals. Nasturtiums are really vibrant in the fall although they bloom less with the cool weather.

 The very last sweet peas.  This year I saved seed pods so I'll see how they germinate next spring.

 Suprisingly this impatiens hasn't been nipped yet by our patchy frosts.

The rudbeckia are such stalwart flowers. Just behind them is a wood aster and to the side is a variegated phlox.

This coral bells gets interesting markings in the cool weather but in the summer it is a pretty boring green.  The flowers are sort of beige so not exciting on that front either. However, it is acting as a ground cover and it is tough so I'll keep it.

 Lamium adds brightness to the mostly brown leaves .

And spring is on its way...