FINALLY COLD – WELL, CHILLY

You probably aren’t surprised that I can’t find the daffodils Mike and I trenched in at the town house in January. The plan was to dig them up this fall and transplant them to the farm, but I’ve only found a few. It's odd because we planted them in four straight trenches. Well, no harm done. They’ll just bloom again in the spring, and this time maybe I’ll be wise enough to mark where they are. Meanwhile, we naturalized the few bulbs I found in the orchard behind the farmhouse.

I called it quits on the raised beds. I tore out the worthless zucchini plant, and what do you know? Out came a medium-large zucchini, evidently hiding under the leaves. How do they do that anyway? I’m sure it will make two loaves of zucchini bread. And before we drove back to town yesterday (Oct. 21), I picked the green tomatoes and another cup of strawberries. I still see green berries and blooms, but surely they will cease to ripen soon.

Mike went for a bike ride after lunch on Wednesday, so I decided to walk down Stove Creek. I invited Bess along, but once we were at the pond, she decided to turn back. (Nellie she is not!) I continued my hike alone but didn’t walk far because it’s slow-going now that the ground has been worked. Later, I was upstairs sewing when I heard the kitchen door close and knew that Mike had returned. Immediately following, I heard “pawfalls” marching purposefully up the stairs and straight down the hall to the vintage sewing room where I was working. How did Bess know where to find me? “Mike is back,” she said, prancing around, “and it’s time for the afternoon walk. I won’t take ‘no’ for an answer.” Well, she missed her chance. She had to wait.

We’ve had such a warm October here. That is, the afternoons were in the 70s, or even 80 – until Thursday, when we watched as the skies became cloudy. By Friday afternoon, it was raining in earnest. It was 60 in the town house Friday morning and 51 outside. We set up our space heaters, and Mike cut kindling and started a fire in the stove. This morning I’m dressed in my fleecy winter uniform. KW