Over the weekend I spent hours cleaning out the veggie and flower gardens. I always marvel at what survives a hard frost. Of course the tomatoes, peppers and most other veggies bit the dust a week ago when we got our first dip into the 20s. My marigolds died too, and they were scattered throughout all my gardens and beds.
What survived? 
How about these wild-type strawberries I grew from seed this year. The blooms AND the berries are still fine! With any luck, the berries will finish ripening in the sunshine we expect to continue to have for the next 2-3 days. The berries are small, with the biggest ones being about the size of the tip of my pinkie finger. But oh, what flavor! They are the perfect treat when weeding or watering or doing other gardening chores. I'm not sure if they will send out runners and multiply like I've seen domestic strawberries do, but I hope so. I'd love the flower bed to be full of them.
The Sweet William (foreground) is still a vibrant green. The Eunonymous is still growing - see it reaching straight up there just below the window?
And the Hollyhocks look a bit tattered but are still hanging in there. This year I started both the Hollyhocks and Sweet William from seed, and they don't bloom until their 2nd season, so I'm looking forward to next year's flowers.
And the herbs - most anyway - are still looking fabulous. In this pot I have Flatleaf Parsley and Curry and a bit of Marjoram that can't really be seen. The Rosemary in the veggie garden is still perfect, but the Cilantro and Dill are looking a bit weathered. The chives and a few green onions are the only other things I'm still able to harvest.
I love this time of year, even though most everything in my gardens is either dying or going dormant. Fortunately, it doesn't all happen at once!
Lizzie's new litter of babies arrived early the morning of October 21st - 3 days earlier than I had predicted. But my daughter was prepared and had been awake for a few hours with the nervous mama. 3 males and 1 female - 2 black and 2 cream/tan - and all appear to be very healthy. This is Lizzie's 2nd litter - her first pups were purebred toy poodles - but this time a Pomeranian papa was selected. And we couldn't be more pleased with the outcome!
It's so nice to have babies in the house again! Of course we spend every minute looking forward...forward to their birth, now forward to their eyes open, next to them walking, then playing, then to them going on their way to new forever homes.
And they will be ready just in time for Christmas! They will be 8 weeks old on Dec. 16th. One is already spoken for, and we plan to keep the female. And I'm not convinced we will even need to advertise the other 2 - seems these little beauties already have lots of interest!
Puppies are a lot of work - or will be in a couple more weeks when mama starts needing our help to keep things cleaned up. But it's nice to have them around for a little while - for cuddling and enjoying their many antics - and the little bit of profit from selling them will give our college-age daughter (owner of the mother) some Christmas money.
This has been a gorgeous weekend - I really hate to see it come to an end. Partly because it has been so wonderful and partly because I need the time back to finish some things. Things I DID get done: 1. Bought new pants for work for the winter (overdue - last time I bought new winter pants was 5 years ago!) 2. Got the Zebra grass trimmed back and supported so it doesn't lay all over the flower beds 3. Got some yellow and orange marigolds potted up for the front porch flower bed. 4. Scrubbed and deep-cleaned the master bath 5. Picked up 400 lbs. of the ton of wood pellets we bought + asked 20 questions about our new pellet stove that was installed this week 6. Washed and line-dried bedsheets (mmm-love that smell!) 7. Did 9 loads of laundry (uggg!) 8. Moved all the out-of-season and other clothes from hanging in the spare closet, as well as storage boxes and everything else on the end where Larry & Josh installed a pipe to vent from underneath the house through the closet, the ceiling and then out an air vent on the roof. Then put everything back when it was done. 9. Installed the $1 white mini-blind I bought at a yard sale. 10. Started cleaning up the garden beds for winter. 11. Planted the ornamental peach tree my sister gave me 6 weeks ago. Things I wanted to, but didn't get done: 1. Create a bed for planting garlic and onions 2. Create a bed for planting tulip bulbs 3. Reorganize my seed stash and gather new seeds for next year. 4. Finish painting the buffet (will this one EVER get done?!) 5. 20 other things I'm too tired to type There is more good than bad, and I got to see my son and grandson today, and that's always good! Grandson found a toad that he played with for a bit - my daughter got a good shot of that.
Last weekend our family gathered for a pho
to shoot - for the first time in over 9 years. It was wonderful to get all of them together in one place, even for a short time. We took the pictures ourselves with both digital and 35mm cameras. I'm a bit rusty, so while the results aren't professional, we're still pleased with the outcome. If I could just get us all together again this weekend I could not doubt improve on the photos - but it will probably take another 9 years to get us all gathered in one spot again!
