Spring Finally

After the most brutally long, cold winter I can remember, it is spring at last. Weeks long stretches of sub-zero weather, little snow, frigid wind chills ... it all left me depressed. I never once wanted to post here about the landscape, the snowfalls, the bare branches. I only wanted to see it end. This year, even Easter was cold. We got snow that morning, and hunted our eggs indoors. This week, we've finally had a run of warm days and sunshine and these crocus blooms are the result. I almost don't believe it.

Dew-Catching Leaves

It's been a warm and wonderful fall so far. It started with a sunny, dry and unseasonably warm September and October is following along behind in similar fashion. The evenings and early mornings have turned crisp, but this week we're due for some temperatures in the 70s. I'll take it. This weekend O and I walked to the playground by taking a path through a graveyard. There are some huge old maples there, and no one rakes, so you get to see the splendor of uninterrupted leaf fall.

The sun was just right to sparkle the dew on the leaves brilliantly and when O saw me pull out my phone he came running to see what I was looking at. Diamonds, we agreed.

We noticed that only the backs of the leaves can catch the dew. Another lesson from mother nature. The face we hide from the world is often the most interesting.

First Frost

We had our first hard frost yesterday. Yikes. Mid-September is early for the cold we've been having and I'm hoping this isn't some harbinger of a doom-like winter.

I'm not sure what happened to August. Some garden stuff happened, I just didn't do much weeding, or harvesting, or picture-taking. We had great basil, but the cukes were disappointing. I still haven't figured out how to kill the beetles without damaging my plants. We had good beets and carrots, and a respectable amount of tomatoes. Too many cherries, as always, but a good number of beefsteaks, early girls and better boys. Oh, and nice romas, too, this year.

I hate to sum up the garden because that turns the corner to fall. And around that corner is winter.

Swiss Chard

It's been a rough year in the vegetable garden. Between some failed germination, an infestation of cucumber beetles and a badass woodchuck, the veggies have suffered. Apparently, though, the chuck doesn't like swiss chard and it must be resistant to pests. It's the one patch of true success out there. I guess I'll take it.