Waiting for Autumn

 

There is a saying, "There are two seasons in the year: waiting for fall and fall." 

This weekend we had autumn-like weather. It will warm up and go back to summer this week, but that hint of fall makes me anxious for the season to arrive. Not too far away now, just 2 weeks on the calendar but of course the weather may decide otherwise.

I will probably put out some autumn decor in another week whether the temperatures feel like autumn or not. Autumn is my favorite season. 

Things are getting busy again. Choir, ladies' Bible study, Winona Literary Club. I will have less free time starting tomorrow.

Are your days busier now, too?

Changes All Around

 

The cold nights this past week have brought on the fall colors. I don't ever remember my neighbor's hydrangea bush having such bright leaves in the 4 or 5 years since it was planted. 

He is not home right now. He went to Kentucky to propose marriage to his lady friend. They have been burning up the phone lines the past 5-6 months (well figuratively because I think that they use their cell phones). He told us he would be gone 2 weeks, but we have heard that they went ahead and tied the knot. He and his new bride will return around Thanksgiving. I met her this summer when she visited and stayed in a guest apartment. This is marriage two for her (she is a widow) and marriage 3 for him (his previous 2 wives are deceased). He knew her and her husband in the past. She has no children; some of his children live near Winona Lake so they decided to move her to Indiana.

In just one week the fothergilla leaves have put on their red shawls. I think by the end of next week the central leaf will turn yellow. It makes for a pretty contrast.

My backyard maple whose leaves normally turn a dull yellow and brownish red is the brightest since we moved here 11 years ago.

That is my house in the background. This tree is usually vibrant in the fall. It's working on presenting a finished picture. It has been windy today and yesterday. Because the leaves are still firmly attached there have been few falling, but next week will probably start the downward floating.

I love autumn. We are in the middle of all its glory now.

This morning my spine doctor and I agreed to schedule surgery. No date picked yet. I have to get clearance from my primary care doctor, have an EKG and some labs done, and get authorization from my insurance company. Probably by the end of next week I will know more. He at one time mentioned doing some fusion with rods and screws, but on this visit he said a simple laminectomy would suffice. That makes for a shorter less complicated operation though it will probably still include 2-3 levels. He will remove bone spurs and do cleanup besides removing the back layer of lamina to decompress the nerves. 

 Because I had quite a bit less pain in my legs after the steroid injections, he seemed encouraged there would be a good outcome. He said the back pain itself may or may not get better. Of course, the surgery will do nothing for the spinal arthritis and there will be more degeneration down the road. But for now I am going to focus on the potential for standing longer and walking farther. I have missed out on so many activities this past year. 

Before our first hard freeze this past week, I clipped the last rose on my front bush. It has a little stem coming out the side with a tightly closed bud. The main flower started dropping petals Wednesday; the bud has opened; it truly is the last rose of the season.

October Surprises

 When my husband returned from the Robin Hood workshop, he brought a stained-glass autumn leaf suncatcher made by one of the shop guys. The gift was totally unexpected.

We are having really nice autumn weather: days are sunny 65-70 degrees, nights are in the 40's. This should last through Wednesday re the forecasts. It does make it difficult to know what kind of blanket to have on the bed. I have my electric blanket on my bed, but I didn't turn it on last night at all. In fact, I had it folded down by my feet until about 6 this morning. Too heavy. The sun warms up the house nicely, and we don't need the furnace. Apparently, I don't need an electric blanket right now either.

I still read Ann Voskamp's blog regularly. She has guest posters, especially if they have a new book to publicize. A few days ago, she had Clutter Fix by Shannon Acheson. I decided to search Hoopla, but I didn't really expect to see it there as the book was published mid-September. Surprise! Not only the e-book but an audio edition was available.

 This is written by a Christian lady with a Biblical perspective. In the introduction she says that "sparking joy" does not work for everybody. (Guess we know she is not a fan of Marie Kondo). I am quite sure she won't be asking me to say goodbye to my stuff and wish it a happy new life so its feelings are not hurt. 

Do I really need to read another book on decluttering? Actually, my condo looks good, but when/if we move into an apartment in 4-5 years, all of my things won't fit. They will be clutter. Even some of my furniture will have to be replaced by smaller pieces, e.g., the dining table and chairs. I am fortunate that we have "swap shop" two times a year and the give-and-take table at Grace Village. It makes it easier to discard items. Also, the Robin Hood garage sale in June where GV paid the ad. I did take some unsold items to Goodwill. Working with the future in view motivates current action.

Mrs. Acheson has some lists and exercises to identify why an individual hangs onto clutter and what kind of organizing works for a particular kind of person. I have just started the book so will have to share more later; I just wanted to share the surprise that such a new book was available free to me on Hoopla. The book also gives an address to a blog that has the lists to print out since I cannot photocopy from my Galaxy Tablet. I am looking forward to seeing what the author has to share.

Single White Bloom

 When I first had moss roses in my patio plot there was a variety of colors including white. After the standing water one wet spring, none of the sprouts appeared. A few years ago I purchased a plant and tried again.

In the past several years I have had no white moss roses. Last week a single white bloom appeared. Maybe it will have time to go to seed, and I will see a few more. Lots of the blooms seem more ruffly this year rather than cup-like.

The Knockout rose bush is getting flowers again after a dormant period. Fortunately, several of these seem to have longer stems and not in clumps of 3 or 4. I should be able to fill my budvase again.

We went to our friends' yard/garage sale Friday morning. This was supposedly a first sale in decades. There was junk, but not many attractive items. I bought a DVD movie, a jigsaw puzzle, and a travel version of Qwirkle. In the past I have packed the Qwirkle bag of tiles, but it took up a lot of space in my suitcase. This should pack easily, but of course the trade-off is the tiles are quite small.

I am ready for autumn. A few trees have some slight color, but mostly the trees and plants just seem faded and tired. The grass is still lush and green though.

 I ordered a set of 4 plates with forest creatures in fall settings for my plate rack. These are canape plates rather than dessert plates so smaller. The sales price on Macy's website was enticing. Now my news feed has photos of bowls and plates and cups from the bigger set. The canape plates are projected to arrive Wednesday. I will probably wait until the 17th to put them out along with my autumn pillow covers. Close enough to the autumnal equinox.

Starting to see football games on the TV. Notre Dame didn't win against Ohio, but they did better than I expected. 

We have had pleasant days; cool enough in the mornings to go walking, but of course I can't walk more than a few blocks. I did sit on my front porch reading a Hoopla ebook yesterday. It is book 2 in a 3-book series: Orphan Train series by Jody Hedlund. I had book 1 in softcover (purchased months ago at a book sale) and was pleased to see I can finish the series without a trip to the library.

Ladybugs

 We are having a nice warmup this weekend. As we exited the front door late this afternoon to take a walk, we had to dodge ladybugs. Dozens of them on the porch cement, the gliders, the outside walls, and a few on the front door. When we returned there were fewer of them and fortunately none on the door so we kept them from coming inside.

Our fall foliage has peaked. There are still some pretty trees, but lots of fallen leaves. The town of Winona Lake has a collection truck that "sucks up" the leaves that have been raked to the road edge. We saw several residences where the leaves were waiting. I don't know what the city does with them. At least we seldom see smoke from leaf burning these days. That does tend to aggravate my asthma.

We should have several nice days early in the week, then about a 20 degree plunge by next weekend.

The Grace Village choir is slated to sing in chapel Wednesday morning. Our director has COVID. Supposedly the pianist is to direct us. Since when we face the congregation we can't even see the pianist, I don't know how this is going to work out. We will find out at practice Tuesday.

My husband and I got our Moderna boosters last Friday. Because of high transmission in our county, the CDC recommends wearing a mask in public gatherings. I mostly do online grocery shopping with pickup. Friday I went into the store to pick out some produce and buy a get-well card. All of the Kroger employees are required to wear masks; about half a dozen customers wore them including me. I wear a KN95 at church, too, but it is rare for me to see anybody else with a mask. I am thinking of doing internet streaming of the worship service at home once Thanksgiving rolls around. We already have an increase in COVID cases; after people travel and mingle with relatives it is likely going to be worse.

I am enjoying my cozy home. The last few days we have been working on a jigsaw puzzle my husband made from a poster he bought at the Old North Church gift shop in Boston. There are about a dozen figurals (see the little duck). It was fun to reminisce about our visit to Boston decades ago, part of a sabbatical.

What's Left

 While taking my walk yesterday to photograph the fall foliage, I noticed passing the side of my house that there were still a few hydrangea blooms unaffected by the frost. I snipped them and brought them inside this afternoon.

I pulled up my moss roses last week on a warmer day seeing that pretty cold days were on tap this week. It is nice to have these last blooms from my yard to enjoy in my home.

Grace Village announced that Christmas cards had been donated for the residents to use. Today I browsed through those set out on a table in the lobby. I have discontinued sending batches of cards, but I have a handful of people to whom I like to send greetings.

Since I have so few cards needed, it was nice to have these free ones to use. Jehovah Jireh. God provides.

Color At Last

 I read a statement once that said: "There are two seasons; fall and waiting for fall." A few cold nights and autumn has arrived in all of its glory. I think this week will be peak color for the foliage.

Unfortunately, I was busy this morning when the sun was shining. I didn't want to go out mid-day as usually photos taken at that time are flat. But I waited too long this afternoon. I was wearing my bone stimulator "collar" which is to be worn for a minimum of 60 minutes at a time. I guess I should have gone outside wearing it. I could see the sun getting dimmer. Now it is completely covered by a thin layer of clouds. It is really chilly. I had my jacket fully zipped up around my neck; when I got home my nose was very cold.

That is my house in the background. I can see this tree out my bedroom window.

This morning we made our annual pilgrimage to our public library for "free magazines". Once a year they put out the previous year's issues for patrons to take permanently. My husband wants to be there on day one at opening time so he can get the 6 annual issues of Fine Woodworking. I ended up with a dozen magazines: a few Good Housekeeping, one Country Woman, the rest Garden Gate or Country Living. I quickly skimmed through what was available in the library looking for issues I might want for recipes or mainly for pictures for my folders. I could have taken the whole lot of a title as there is no limit, but I really only wanted ones where I saw potential. 

I am super busy tomorrow and Wednesday, but Thursday and the rest of the week I will have lots of time to happily peruse my loot.

Barely Turned

 My walk this morning confirmed what I have been seeing through my windows. The trees in my neighborhood have very little autumn color yet. 

I always liked the design and setting for this house below. I was inside once over 35 years ago but just in the living room. Interesting mailbox in front.

The  exception to little color is the red-foliaged tree. However, it is already losing its leaves. Exposed in the bare branches is a hornets' next. Just down the street from it is an apple tree; I had never noticed before that we have an apple tree in our neighborhood.

Our nights have turned colder this week. Hopefully the leaves will change color before an autumn wind brings them tumbling down.

I love these kinds of days, sunny and around 70 degrees in the day, colder and crisp at night and early morning. I wore my "Sherpa" jacket from Costco this morning on the walk. It felt cozy and just right.

Second Half of Autumn

 In northern Indiana where I live the first 6 weeks or so of autumn are glorious. Warm sunny days with cool nights and beautiful colorful foliage. 

But the last 6 weeks of fall are bleak and barren with cold days and some overnight frost. Before we officially leave autumn in December, we will probably have some snow. When I say I love autumn, I am definitely thinking of the first half.

Brrr! I am not a lover of cold temperatures. Usually Thanksgiving makes the second half of autumn special. This year we will not go to a buffet in a restaurant. My husband's sister will join us in our condo; there will be just the 3 of us. We will have the traditional turkey (I already bought a frozen breast) and pumpkin pie. We will probably work on a jigsaw puzzle or play games.

A card I received today from the Fort Wayne Hallmark store.

I brought the purple celosia in from the front porch several weeks ago. It is doing OK inside. It will eventually be replaced by a poinsettia. My cheddar pinks look amazingly fine after last night's heavy frost.

Covid is overtaking our state and county. An 85-year-old woman at my church who had Covid in early July has it again. That is not a comforting thought; that any immunity she had lasted about 4 months at most.

 I have dropped out of Grace Village choir for now. 20 people singing without masks was too much risk for me. Grace Village has put out an announcement that any health care and assisted-living residents that leave to spend time with family or friends for the holidays must quarantine for 14 days when they return. If they have no single room for returning residents to quarantine in, they may not be allowed back inside. Currently we have 5 health care workers who tested positive for COVID. We are supposed to get some National Guard workers to help with testing and other non-medical jobs. All of the staff, including independent living area, are being tested twice a week now.

I know a few people who plan to have big family gatherings for Thanksgiving. I hope they don't get sick. Since I don't have kids or grandkids, it is a little bit easier for me to stay away from groups.

The news that there is an effective vaccine in the pipeline keeps me plugging away, taking it day by day. There is still a long road, but there is hope for a brighter future.

A Beautiful Day for a Walk

 We have been bestowed with the gift of several days of Indian summer. I cut down most of my Veronica this morning, but there were two little patches of newer flowers I decided to let stay. 

I thought I had put my grill to bed for the winter, but this evening I am going to cook some marinated pork chops. I forgot how early it gets dark now that we have gone back an hour. Just got out the Forman grill and did them inside.

My husband flips on the TV from time to time to listen to the talking heads. I decided to walk around my neighborhood. It is peaceful and full of autumn beauty.

Despite the uncertainty of the results of the election, God is in control. 

Bandit is enjoying the porch sunshine. His mistress has given him lots of pretty things to view.

At the landscaper shed/garage there were plants gathered up in tubs for the winter I guess. I don't know where the pinkish "berries" were previously. 

A lot of trees are almost bare, but the ornamental pear trees are in full glory. They and burning bushes are the last spots of bright color each year in our neighborhood.

Maybe tomorrow afternoon I will sit on my front porch and drink in all of the beauty while I start a new book. Happy autumn days to you.