Standing at the Trailhead of Winter

I am anxiously awaiting the wallpaper I ordered for my dining room. I decided to do one wall to see if I like it, but I've always been pretty good at envisioning what something will look like, and I believe the wallpaper I ordered will look lovely. If not? I'll peel it off and keep searching for the wallpaper that will ultimately work. The last couple of days I've been going through the house and collecting anything that has run its course for me. A blue wooden rooster with part of its beak missing. A sailboat I bought years ago while on vacation in Michigan. Books I've read and won't read again. Pictures I've had on the walls for years that no longer move me. My hope is someone else will enjoy these little things as much as I have through the years. I've not gotten much gardening done so far this summer. A few pots of petunias and a small area of nasturtium is about it. I finally blocked off the garden closest to the garage to keep Sunny out. He's a dig...

The smell of marigolds isn't completely pleasant. It's not completely offensive either. It's somewhere in between. It's a smell all its own. Hours after my hands have moved their long stems, cupped the blooms in wonder, I have to pause what I'm doing -- making the bed, vacuuming the house, hanging up clothes that had been unceremoniously dropped on the bedroom floor -- when the faint whiff of marigold drifts up to remind me of my time with them. Marigolds are just lovely. Whenever I see a marigold or smell a marigold, I'm taken back to my childhood. To a movie that for some reason became a part of who I am. I was only eight when the movie came out, but I remember having a very strong reaction to it, and every summer when I plant marigolds, I think of that movie: The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man in the Moon Marigolds. I try to watch it at least once a year, and since the marigolds I planted this summer are blooming, I thought the time is perfect to watch the movie...

 

Fall is definitely in the air. The mornings are cool, enough so that I need a jacket for our walk. The sunflowers are ready to be cut out after the gold finches picked them over until all the seeds are completely gone. And the robins are moving through. I've not seen them all summer, but this morning, quite a few were in the driveway and yard. Yesterday, as I drove home after visiting with a friend for the afternoon, the killdeer seemed to be grouping in preparation for migration. I don't think I've ever seen so many killdeer my entire life. I love living where we have four very distinct seasons. Fall is my favorite of the four. It just seems like we're being told to slow down, relax, enjoy. I really try to listen and do all three as often as possible. I worked a bit in the yard over the weekend, mostly removing the tall sunflower stalks and other ungainly weeds growing alongside the house. I'd left everything alone this summer just to see what was already here, and...

The weekend weather, sunny and 70's, spoiled me. I need more of those days. Today, however, is not to be one of those days. No. Today is 40's and misting. Today is an inside day. Thankfully I did get the lawn mowed yesterday. I love seeing how pretty it looks right after being mowed. That being said, I'm already thinking about turning as much of the lawn as possible into garden. While I enjoy mowing, I enjoy flowers and trees more. My goal is to turn my lawn into a beautiful, whimsical garden. This can't happen in one summer, I know. It'll be the rest-of-my-life kind of hobby. This summer, I'm mostly going to see what's already here. All the way around the house there are daylilies. I like daylilies, but I might relocate a lot of them to another area of the yard. Maybe on the other side of the garage where they'll get a lot of sun in the afternoons and evenings. I also have a few irises that are nearing their bloom time. And I've found some m...