the end of the season.

I am yanking out my vegetable garden on this brisk, bleak day.

First I attacked the zucchini, then the cukes. Long, yellowed, snaky vines trail behind me as I traipse back & forth, spade in hand. I got my upper-body workout by wrenching two dozen tomato cages from the ground.

I gleaned final baskets of edible odds & ends: four pumpkins, six butternut squash, two spindly zucchini, a few measly cucumbers, a handful of green beans, and a very large pile of not-so-ripe tomatoes.

(Any one know a good recipe for green tomato relish?)

We are anticipating a weekend frost, which will be the end for my basil. The parsley will take a beating & keep producing even under a few dustings of snow. But to take advantage of my generous parsley crop, I already harvested an armful of it & dried it in the oven. We will enjoy it all winter long in all sorts of dishes!

It was a successful first year, even though the soil was less than encouraging. Lettuces were fantastic, as were all three kinds of tomatoes. We enjoyed beets all summer.

I hope to get a rich load of manure on before the snow flies. Then, a thorough pass with a rototiller will help tuck my garden in for a long winter's nap!

from the files of my day

-today's unseasonably warm temperatures (mid-eighties!) lured me onto the river with my little green kayak. The whipping winds ushered me downriver at such a breathless pace that I knew it would be a workout to get back home! By the time I pulled in to shore I was pret' near tuckered out.

It was Cape Fear out there. But a great workout for certain.

-After hemming & hawing over a paint choice, I invited my local color expert over for her opinion. We picked out the hue "Roasted Squash" for the tall cabinet that will reside in the family room. But then my helpful husband threw in his two cents.

"I like the next color on the strip: "Toasted Apricot," says he.

So we went with that. Just because Hubby so rarely has opinions about such things and also because I'm game. For what it's worth, I have noticed that most of the paint colors I end up with are also things you can eat.

-I am thoroughly enjoying the class I'm taking at my church on Monday nights, Systematic Theology. It involves a heady textbook ( Lectures in Systematic Theology ), scripture memorization, and a whole slew of theological terminology.

I used to know some of this stuff, but at age 48 there's a whole lotta re-learning going down. Let me tell you.

-I scrubbed an old brass bed this week. It took three bottles of this white goop called Brasso. The way Brasso works is this: you squirt some onto a rag & polish like crazy. When the rag turns black (immediately) you toss it & grab a new one. You do this until your arms are ready to fall off. The reward of shiny brass is not immediate, only the black stuff is. It keeps coming off like black is going out of style.

After you are ready to try another method (like say, lemon juice, salt, and flour...which I tried and it made an unbelievable mess. Or TOILET BOWL CLEANER...which I was sorely tempted to try but couldn't bring myself to do it) you come back to dear old Brasso because it says on the label it will do the job.

The bed is now declared finished. Only please do not rub any more Brasso onto it, because you will only make a perfectly good rag black.

a fun week

We played on the floor a whole bunch this week, seeing that we hosted a week-long visit from a young mommy & her two little darlings!

The two aunties from nearby SUNY Potsdam came to play also.

Aren't these Kipp girls entirely lovely???

I have a feeling that 2-year-old EMarie was livin' the dream throughout the week.
(Here, EMarie. Please dive headlong into a basket of baubles & bangles!)

Please bedeck yourself thoroughly. With abandon.

She is the only one around here with rainbow-striped leggings, and I have decided that it's completely no fair.

I'm going online shopping right this very minute. Size 8 adult, stretchy cotton. Ample seat-room.
I don't see why not.

prettiness

In order to get through these next few days of dusty, disorganized dishevelment in the back wing, a little dose of prettiness is in order.

The wooden shadow box cost me one dollar at a yard sale. I gave it to #1 Daughter -but she hasn't touched it yet. So it is mine mine mine to play with for now.