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.

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.

Autumn Features

 I set out yesterday afternoon under cloudy skies. I wish I had waited about 30 minutes because the sun did come out when the breeze chased them away. My early photos had no sunshine.

I went to the pond to find some bittersweet. I also clipped some little red "berries" which I think because of the thorns on the stems are actually rose hips. 

Here is how I used the bittersweet and rose hips with some artificial leaves.

As I walked home I noticed these zinnias in a yard. I can't believe I didn't see them earlier this year.

Some leaves are already on the ground.

As I rounded the corner at Sunset and Elder to walk towards my condo, I saw this burning bush near Grace Village Assisted Living.

Then as I came to Camelot I saw my backdoor neighbors starting out on a walk of their own. I asked if I could take a picture of her pumpkin in a birdbath. As I knelt to frame the photo, I saw their little dog Bandit chowing down on the front porch. He didn't let out a yip or bark. Not a very good guard dog.

Finally, as I crossed the grass toward my condo, I snapped this tree. That is my home in the background.

Other changes around my house are the fothergilla. On the west side of my condo I was surprised to see some hydrangea blooms still in decent shape.

We finished another jigsaw puzzle. Probably the last one for another 10 days as next week is very busy.

How are you spending your autumn days?

A Bit of Outdoors

My husband went walking around the neighborhood at 6 a.m. this morning. He said it was pleasant outside. When I went out around 8:30 it was 73 degrees and not very muggy. I went out to trim the spent Asiatic lilies and give the patio plants a drink. Nothing but 80-90 degrees the next 10 days with a slight chance of rain Tuesday. It has been a dry summer so far. 

My gracious neighbor phoned yesterday and left the message with my husband that I should help myself to some of her hydrangeas. They are big and fluffy and have turned whiter the past week. She has two big bushes of Annabelle hydrangeas with about 70 blooms so I didn't feel sad about cutting off 3 blooms. 

While I was outdoors I walked around to the side of my house and found my hydrangea bushes have about 6 blooms, only 2 blossomed out enough to cut. I took one as there won't be many. They are totally different from my neighbor's plants.

Friday I am going to Fort Wayne to return the blouse I ordered online from Macy's. It didn't fit. I may browse that store though I know some clothing stores have their fitting rooms closed. That's the way it was at Kohl's. I will stop at a few other places, ending at Costco where I will buy one of their rotisserie chickens to eat for supper. We have no special plans for Independence Day. There will be an outdoors symphony orchestra concert in Winona Lake, but with so much heat I think we will skip it. We can see some of the higher fireworks from our house.

Besides the Winona Lake pastor who has Covid-19, a lady in our church (who was at the in-person service) has it, and now the local digital news reports that the mayor of Warsaw has it. We have over 500 cases in our county though about half of those are now recovered. It seems unstoppable. 

I received a reminder from Dell that my warranty runs out in a few weeks. Last summer my computer died and had to be replaced. This summer everybody is concerned about a pandemic and people dying. I could do something about the computer, but Covid-19 I can do nothing but try to avoid.

Soggy

Last Friday we received maybe 3 inches of rain between 9:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. It kept falling with wave after wave of thunder and lightning. I was going to grocery shop Friday morning, but I put it off because of the torrential rain. Around 2:30 as I arrived at the grocery store, it had slacked off to a mist.
My husband had added some topsoil to our patio planting area and then some mulch to keep the weeds down. Most of the mulch floated over the concrete patio slab, stopped only by the grass on the west edge. There were several roads closed in our area Friday evening due to flooding; one even washed completely away in a spot.

At 9 a.m. Friday when the weather radio alert sounded about the impending storm, I hurried out to the west side of my house and snipped off this hydrangea. I have less than half a dozen of these flowers in bloom (first season for these bushes), but I wanted a centerpiece for dinner.

We had relatives from Michigan coming, joined by 2 local family members, to eat pizza. My nephew, his 2-year-old daughter E, and the nephew's father (my husband's brother) over-nighted with us. The Grace Village guest rooms were all booked up. The decision to visit was made about 10 days before arrival. The toddler had a portable bed brought from home, my burley nephew made do with the twin bed, and my brother-in-law slept on an air mattress in our den. Since my husband set up his own bedroom a year ago, we no longer have a guest bedroom per se. Hubby slept with me in the queen bed. We all survived. :-)

Saturday was a beautiful day with low humidity and sunshine. We walked part of the Winona trail with our guests. The toddler E was so excited; we saw rabbits, bikers, runners and dogs. One of the dog owners let E pet her canine Lady. E's grandfather held her hand while she walked close to rushing Cherry Creek to throw in a stick. We walked to the Winona Lake park playground. E had a ball climbing on the equipment and coming down the slides. The swings off in their own area were too muddy to use. E would vocalize her joy with shouts as she ran from the slide to the steps onto the playground equipment for another round. This is a really nice setup with rubberized "flooring" and the stations elevated and joined together which meant no puddles to deal with. E was in kid heaven, and we adults enjoyed watching her.

We ate lunch at M's apartment; then the Michiganders headed for home. We will see them in about a month when they come for a family reunion August 4-5. Over 40 expected at that event held in our retirement community's meeting building in the condo neighborhood.

Tonight we have more rain. The Kosciusko County Fair had a nice evening Sunday for the opening parade, but the next few days look soggy. Friday should be cooler and dry. I am hoping to pick blueberries that day before the hot weather returns.

A man from the flooring store came today to take measurements. Looks like we will soon replace the flood-damaged bathroom laminate and then also redo the other bathroom whose laminate has not held up well in the 15 years and then the kitchen. We have to wait for the estimate to go through the administrative channels. We will probably have to pay for the kitchen flooring.

Shaping up to be a busy summer. Saturday I will go to the local farmers' market. Hope to find tomatoes and sweet corn. Not sure how tomatoes have done in all of the rain though. Sogginess may not be compatible with tomatoes.