31 October

October has moved through the last ten days with intermittent showers, a few hours of pale sunshine, wind that has brought down drifts of leaves.

Mornings have been slow and misty.

The last offering of green beans was picked this week; the broccoli has needed to be harvested and used while at its best.

We are still making salads with the crisp and spicy Napa cabbage, but now buying cucumbers and peppers, salvaging the last small tomatoes picked green and left to ripen [or rot!] on the west porch and on a tray in the kitchen.

It has been just wet enough to postpone the rest of the garden clean-up. 

I did manage to plant out 5 foxgloves and a clary sage that were languishing in the untidy greenhouse.

The Double Red Knock-out Roses continue to produce a few half-opened blooms to bring in and display in tiny bottles and vases on the kitchen windowsill.

We were spared frost last night--when I looked at the outside temp this morning just before 8 the reading was 36 F.

Late yesterday afternoon [Friday] the sky cleared, the sun shone through the trees, some nearly denuded of leaves, others still clinging on.

By the time the nearly full moon rose behind the barn, the air had turned chill.

Realizing that no one had gotten the mail, I walked up the lane in the moonlight to collect it.

I'm always enchanted by the way the moon seems to 'follow' me when walking or driving. 

Looking toward the west end of the property late in the day.

 On Monday I drove to the South Fork community, making a brief tour of the discount food store, then turning across the road to the produce market. The sales area outside the store building was bright with fall color in spite of the overcast sky.

 Mums and giant pumpkins.

I suspect few of us buy or raise pumpkins to process for pies or puddings--too easy to avoid the mess and open a tidy can.

Indian corn for autumn decorations.

A hand lettered sign above the smaller pumpkins announced that all were '25% off.'

Small decorative pumpkins heaped in the entry of the market. 

A variety of bagged apples spilled their cidery scent in the dim space.

Rustic wooden birdhouses for sale.

Note the ladder leading to the 'second story' of the one on the left.

Blue sky on Friday afternoon; the meadow still deeply green from frequent autumn rains.

Towers of color against blue.

Nearly bare branches on some trees along the ravine, others still clad in green.

 

Streaks of apricot in the eastern sky before sunrise. 

 

 

 Rose colored clouds heralding the appearance of the sun.

 

Rose, coral, smoky lavender, lemon--the sun is about to pop around the corner of the barn. 

The morning was brisk and bright. I went out, wearing a light jacket, to cut a few roses, to enjoy the few blossoms still lingering in the perennial strips.

The Michaelmas daisies have passed their prime, though from a distance they are still a lovely splash of purple. A nasturtium or two raises a pale yellow head above the tangle of vines. 

The petals are stained and fading on the Duchess of Edinburgh clematis and Candida nearby has only these curly seed heads to mark where blossoms have been.

Frost is expected on Sunday and Monday nights. The gardens will go to rest--- memory of the season now closing and anticipation of another to come.