What a Gorgeous Fall Day

We had temps in the mid-70's today, so we took a walk on one of our local trails to see if there was any autumn leaf color. 

 We saw very little color, but the September scenery was gorgeous!

This path is just a short distance from one of the main roads in our town.  The bridge in the distance is the road. You would never know that this beauty existed just a few feet away as you traveled through our town.

 Did you see the reflection of the trees & the clouds in the water?

A lone swan...

More swans.......

swans through the pine tree...

 Tree about to fall into the river...

Our town has miles of  walking/bike trails.  We walked only about a half mile into this trail.  I plan to go again in a week or two when the fall color explodes....I  doubt it can be any more lovely than it was today.

We Had FROST Last Night!

September 13 and FROST!  Unbelievable, even for northern lower Michigan.

I stayed inside all day.  I spent about 4 hours making chicken pot pies for the freezer.  Here they are before I topped them with homemade pie crust...this cold weather seems to have given me some energy for cooking. :)

These three individual serving pies just went in the oven for tonight's dinner (J thinks one is not enough, so I put two in the oven for him)

I also worked on changing my dining room for autumn. I finished sewing six witch dining room chair backs that I pieced last year.  I went down to the basement and I found some wonderful items that I purchased after Halloween last year.  Love that spider web table runner ... I don't even remember buying it!

I will finish the rest of the table later in the week.  What I used to do in half day, now takes me a full week! :)  I am planning to have a dinner party or two this year in early October.

Cattails in the Coleus

I had planned to do a lot of fall decorating inside this past weekend.  As it turned out, the weather was great for working in the garden, so I did just a small bit of outside fall decorating.

A couple of weeks ago, we stopped by the side of the road and J cut down some cattails for me so I could use them for autumn decorating.

Sunday I stuck a few of them in this coleus planter on the side of the garage. I also added a small scarecrow.

Then I plunked a pumpkin in this old floor lamp container on the deck. I added three more cattails:

That's a far I got on the autumn deck décor.  It was such a beautiful weekend, that I spent all my time moving plants and cutting down those that were finished for the year.

I just watched our local weather forecast for the next few days..........OMG.....down in the 30's for night time lows!  I am so glad I enjoyed my weekend outside in the last few days of summer rather than doing autumn décor inside!

In it's Former Life it Was....

A drinking fountain!

Corina guessed it correctly in the post below. :)

 

 

Can You Guess What this Tall Focal Point Container Began Life As?

Look way down the center path to the end.  Do you see the tall planter in the center of the Sedum Autumn Joy?

From another side:

From behind:

 Close up from the side:

 Frontal close up...

Any idea what this container began its life as in 1978?

Fall Colors & Good Eats

Loved this salad I made last night with fresh tomatoes, cukes and mozerella cheese.

I have a lot of gold/orange in the garden this week. Lots of black-eyed Susans. They go nicely with J's marigolds.

Golden orange cosmos and orange dahlias on the deck:

And soon there will be a big orange flower on top of the blue container. Yes, the Tropicanna Gold has started to throw up some bid buds.

Hope you are all enjoying your own fall garden colors!

Still Waiting for the Tropicannas® in the Big Blue Pot to Bloom

They may not bloom because they love heat and there has not been any heat this year.  Even if they don't bloom, I am happy with this container.  The foliage is huge & fabulous, so this guy has already performed beyond my expectations this year.  If you look in the center picture in my blog header, you can see this container in June before everything began to grow.  All that lushness just sits inside every winter waiting to explode--I know I keep saying this--but it's amazing!

Unfortunately the deer found the kale and at a big hunk of it.

Hunting season starts Nov. 15.  Hoping we still have some hunters left in the neighborhood...if you have a garden, you probably feel the same.

I have had these pink starburst dahlias for probably 20 years.  They were the first dahlia I purchased and I still love them.

 The cold weather kept them at a shorter height which worked out nicely this year.

I have them in a few other gardens and in containers on the deck:

I don't remember my liatris (tall purple spikey things in the background) blooming so late before. 

It's almost September and they are still in flower.  I will have to look back on the blog and see when they usually bloom.  It's been an odd year!

My Shrub Borders are at Their Best Right Now

 

I took these pics less than an hour ago.  This is the front of my home  looking from the perennial gardens to the new picket fence garden.

This is at the garage entrance looking toward the same picket fence road garden.

 And this is the picket fence garden.  It is planted with a Ninebark and 2 Golden Cypress Mophead shrubs.  Since the shrubs are still small, I filled the garden in with red and pink dahlias and J's favorite flower, marigolds.

I am happy to report that all of the Limelight Hydrangeas that I planted last fall are doing great.

I put three of them in the old apple tree border.
Same area looking in the opposite direction toward the picket fence road garden.

Did you notice all of the sedums just beginning to turn pink in my driveway borders?  I have dozens of them.  This is next to the sidewalk to the front door looking toward the old apple tree border:

 

 

A few feet to the right looking in the exact spot where the apple tree stood.  We are loving living without that tree there. This is the first time in over a quarter century that we have not had to pick up apples every day in late summer.

In a week the sedum will all be a lovely medium pink  color.  In two weeks they will turn their rust color and then sadly summer is over.  It goes faster every year, don't you think?

 

Amazing What Happens in Just Three Months

May 24, 2014

August 20, 2014

On a Clear Day You Can See Canada

 

I took a couple of days off last week and J and I traveled to Paradise, Michigan to stay at Whitefish Point.

 

Panorama of Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum Campus -- Photo by Chris Winters

http://www.shipwreckmuseum.com/whitefishpoint

Whitefish Point is located in Michigan's upper peninsula -- at the extreme southeastern end of Lake Superior.  It is a critical turning point for all vessel traffic entering and leaving Lake Superior.

The Whitefish Point Light Station was established by Congress in 1849.  It is the oldest operating lighthouse on Lake Superior.

They have a museum dedicated to the ships who met their demise in these waters:

 

In 1975 29 men went down with the Edmund Fitzgerald  in the waters of Whitefish Point. Many of you may remember that  Gordon Lightfoot made this wreck famous when he released his song - The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, in 1976.

The museum has many artifacts from the Edmund Fitzgerald, including the 200 lb. bronze bell   recovered by the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society on July 4, 1995:

 

Here is J arriving at  the original U.S. Coast Guard barracks building, constructed in 1923 for the Whitefish Point Lifeboat Rescue Station.  It has been meticulously restored by the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society with assistance from Michigan Council for Arts & Cultural Affairs and the Michigan Department of Transportation.

 

 

There are only 5 rooms available each night. This was our room: Room 1: Station Engineer’s, queen bed second floor

The present light tower was constructed in 1861 during Abraham Lincoln's administration. This is the view of the lighthouse from our room right after the sunrise on Friday morning:

 

In addition to the  five rooms that can be rented each night, there is a living room shared by all:

 Where I spent an hour or so reading my current culinary mystery novel before retiring to my room for the evening.

J really enjoyed the community kitchen

 

which was stocked to the brim with breakfast/snack items:

We had a very enjoyable late afternoon cup of coffee together.

 

We also walked along the Lake Superior shoreline and picked rocks to bring home.  Many people were doing the same--I guess everyone wants some souvenir rocks. :)  I put some of mine on the deck as a reminder of our wonderful evening in the UP (upper peninsula):

We thoroughly enjoyed our stay at Whitefish Point.

  Unfortunately I was so busy collecting rocks that I did not take a picture of Lake Superior.  Lake Superior is the largest of the Great Lakes.  On a clear day you can see Canada from the shores of Whitefish Point.