Sunday Stroll - Changing Skies

With heavy clouds above my me and lush green grass beneath my feet, I walked through my garden this afternoon. Tiny hard pellets of snow had fallen just a minutes earlier. You can see them on the porch in the photo below, and falling in streaks of white near the pond in the photo after that.

This cosmos, the tallest in the patch, towers above my head. There are still many unopened blossoms. I hope that those blooms, and the little white hollyhock in the next photo, have time to unfurl before cold weather stops the long slow parade of blooms that I have been enjoying since early spring.

For now, the trend in the garden is toward yellow, silver, pale apricot, and more and more bare patches of earth. Here are some glimpses of the garden trail, starting at the south trail-head and leaving at the north-west end in the newer section of the garden where the cosmos are blooming.

There are a lot of brown leaves and dying vines in the vegetable, and very few actual vegetables remaining. There are still a few cantalopes and acorn squash amid the orange and green pumpkins. I hope those dead-looking vines still nourish our pumpkins until they are fully ripe... maybe just in time for Halloween.

As is so often the case in October, the skies have changed every few moments today. The frenzy of snowflakes was followed by mellow sparkling sunshine for a while. Later, a chorus of clouds and frosty air ran through the hills singing softly of shorter days and longer nights. At their urging, I made a warm, filling dinner of corn chowder and dill biscuits. The sun is shining again, just in time to set beautifully into the little lake down the hill. Wherever you are, whatever the weather, I wish you warmth and happiness.

all photos by Aisling, 10/11/2009