Curtis Willis and Maizie


Sunday, October 2, 2011

Fall Fever!

Some folks get spring fever...I get fall fever.  Want to be outside in the warm sun (no humidity - yay), communing with the flowers & butterflies, reading, knitting, napping...anything but working!  Spring is nice but oh! the sunlight is so very different in the fall.  Visited the neighborhood hardware store yesterday & discovered their plant 'hospital' for plants that dearly need a home.  For greatly reduced prices I purchased 3 coreopsis plants that just need a little deadheading (love these for the way they re-seed), a hanging sweet potato vine (beautiful purple leaves), a lipstick plant (I think that's what it is) and this unidentified one:
Also 3 pots of nice plump zinnias, waiting with the others to be planted this morning:
I've been surrounded by Monarchs and other butterflies.  One last Monarch caterpillar is making his chrysalis in the eaves of the house.  I hope the butterfly hatches in time to migrate.  Glad I let the milkweeds have the run of the front garden; we had at least 2 dozen Monarch hatchings.  Would have had more but for the dang wasps who prey on the young caterpillars.  What a privilege it was to see the butterflies hatch. Who knew that milkweed grows higher than 6 feet?

The porterweed is popular now too; both purple and red are in bloom.
Colors in the photos look washed out due to very bright morning sun and use of the iPad for picture taking.

Knitting - finished one sock last week, using Dream in Color's Smooshy and a free pattern named 'Lake Effect Socks'.  Very easy, pattern well written, a 3-row repeat (with every other row knit).  Just cast on for a scarf but am also itching to stitch.  I have 3 samplers that are half-finished; they range from small to gigantic.  More on those to follow.

Spent a few delightful hours stitching with friends at the local library where we found a treasure trove of gently used books for sale at bargain prices.


Top to bottom they are:
The Private Life of the Cat Who....by Lilian Jackson Brown
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows
The Nanny Diaries by Emma McLauglin & Nicola Kraus
Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs
Marley & Me by John Grogan
Dancing with Cuba by Alma Guillermoprieto
The South Beach Diet by Arther Agatston, MD
Are Men Necessary? by Maureen Dowd
A Salty Piece of Land by Jimmy Buffet
Nancy Reagan by Kitty Kelley
and 3 copies of Birds & Blooms magazine! Score!

Hope you all are enjoying your fall days as well. 

3 comments:

  1. Glad to hear that someone has the skill to revive those "under the weather" plants. I seem to have a brown thumb. Great score on the books and the sock is gorgeous! I'm itching to start a new knitting project but I have a big one that needs to be finished. Wonder how long I can hold out...

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  2. Fantastic deal on the books! You have to read the Guernsey LAPPPS book asap. It is one of my favorite reads! Glad you're enjoying the cooler weather.

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  3. I'm glad you're enjoying fall. I have been sitting out some, too. I saw 4 monarchs today.

    We're having warmer than normal temps this week, in the upper 80s, and even 90 today. By the time it's cool enough to go out, there isn't much daylight left.

    I love that sock!

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