Just sayin’…

On a little more serious note, Liz of Pocket Farm, has a discussion on her blog about Victory Gardens.  You don’t have to have a garden to put up food.  You can scout out farmer’s markets, sales at the fruit stands, or a neighbor’s surplus from their gardens and trees.  When I lived in a city apartment, I found mulberry and apple trees in abandoned lots and  parks.  The fruits made great pies and applesauce.  It’s easy and rewarding.  Do something simple to get yourself going.

This morning…HHH.  Can you see the humidity??  It feels like July.  Three nights ago it was 33 and I was worried about frost. Today…90’s!  It’s a little too hot to want to stand over the stove with things bubblling in a pot. 
After a flurry of emails with Ann, I’ve actually read the instructions fro what Su calls my Wool Paddler’s Shawl.  I don’t think I’m that far off target.  Since the pattern stitch is based on a 10 st +1 st. with a 4 row each side border, I will just continue with my garter stitich middle to give me an extra 20 sts. or about 4 inches.  that’s what I’m thinking.  It could change, I could start the lace and just do an extra repeat, that would look good, too.  Check out Ann’s Wool Peddler’s Shawl.  She’s further along.

My Secret Pal wrote in his blog, over the weekend, that he
had mailed out one last package. Well,
make my day! I figured that it would
certainly come Monday; things don’t usually take that long. I was psyched. When afternoon rolled around, C and I were down
in the field working on the shed. C was
working, I was advising him. This is
fairly normal for us. I know how to
construct things, he bangs the nails. This project, however, is more his own design… ermmmmm… or lack of
design. It’s a pole shed, whatever. So, I was down in the field, trying to sell
him on the advantage of a trim board to cover the rafter extensions and I was
sort of killing time, waiting to hear the mailman drive up the road. You can’t see the mailbox from anywhere on my
property. The box is down the hill at a
neighboring farm. You can, however, hear
a car drive up from the main road. I was
listening. After a while, making no
headway on my ploy for the fascia board, I decided to just walk down and see
for myself. Sure enough, no mail. So now I’m standing around (pathetic, isn’t
it?) thinking about what I can do to kill a little bit of time until the
delivery. Remember, I’m guessing that a
package will arrive. I’m that desperate
for a little bit of excitement… something a little different, oh heck, A
SURPRISE. I head back up the hill and
hop over (sounds good, but it’s barb wire and I do not hop) the fence
separating the road from an unused field with the idea that if I follow the tree
line up hill it will come out opposite my driveway.  Rocks have been tossed along the
edge of the field (they always are, where else would you put them when you rock
a field) and I love to check out rocks. Besides, I have my camera with me and I might just find a picture AND
I’m killing a little bit of time. I
lucked out! This is one gorgeous apple
tree… lovers entwined.

By the time I finished with the tree and walking the rocks
back to my drive I could hear the mail car. This is what he brought!!! Thanks, Jesse… you got it very right. That bit of ‘bling’ brightened up my day.

Those packages are swarovsky crystal beads.
Then there are the mirror encrusted pens (I am a magpie, give me anything shiny
and I’m happy) and a ball of Trekking sock yarn in beautiful purples and blues.  Did I
forget to mention that I wanted to see what was inside the box so badly that I
found a sharp stone and used it to cut through all the tape? Yep, while sitting on a rock. 
 
I’m thinking I’ll have to rename the Wool Peddler’s
shawl. As Ann pointed out, it’s going to
be a shawlette with this gauge, or be redesigned as I go. What the heck… all that garter stitch makes
it perfect to knit while reading Harry Potter on the deck.

Turns out, it was a very nice day. And, I found the tree!

Last Thursday I had one of my ‘the barometer is falling’
headaches and it was a bad one, lasting all day and into the evening. Friday, the weather changed, right on
schedule. Summer bowed out. Autumn began. I swear, it was just that fast. The past two mornings it’s been 33-34 degrees when I woke.

Sunday morning it was cold enough in the house
to want to get the oven going. What
better use for the oven …. my first elderberry and apple pie. We had it for lunch, sitting outside. My Dad was right, it was wonderful. By late morning it had warmed up and was one
of those early autumn days that make you just want to stretch out in the sun. I picked a whole lot more elderberries. I’m going to keep them stocked in the freezer
in pie lots, approximately four cups to the bag. And I’m going to take Cyndy’s suggestion and
make a liqueur. She makes hers with
brandy. I’ll make mine like I do the
blackberry, with a bottle of Stoly as the base. That ought to help get through the winter.  There
is a race, these days, between me and the Cedar Waxwings for the berries. The wild ones didn’t do well this year so the
birds are after my cultivars.

It isn’t only the temperature, the light has changed
too. It’s darker sooner, of course. But the shadows are longer and it covers the
front deck most of the day. I already can
feel the change. So Friday, on that big
trip to town, I bought myself some brighter light bulbs. What a difference a little thing like that
can make in a long evening. Why didn’t I
do that last year?  Who in their right
mind would not do something as simple as that? Whatever.

Everybody is in on this autumnal change thing all of a
sudden. We’re all following the same
clock. A doe came into the yard Saturday
morning to help herself to the dropped apples. That’s fine with me as long as she leaves the ones on the trees, I like
watching. She was enjoying herself; chomping
on the apple, biting it in half, juice running down her chin. Bu was out in the yard, blocked by the deer from
running to the house. She crept up
slowly, the deer spotted her, and they came nearly nose to nose before the doe snorted. Bu jumped and ran, caution to the wind. It was funny at the time. I’m rambling… and I still haven’t gotten to
the mouse stories.  They are everywhere. While I think mice are cute as can be, in
their live state; I DON’T DO DEAD MICE. Between the cats ( Zak has apparently decided to teach Spider Boy to
hunt and is bringing him “live” mice, that I’ve noticed in the past two days)
and all of these mice jumping across the road in the headlights, getting run
over.. heck, I saw another three flat mice in the driveway today. Amazing, huh?. We only drive out once every blue moon, how
did they manage? By my count, that
makes six dead mice. Some of them moveable, well all of them if I were willing,
and all of them somewhere I can unwittingly step upon.

All of this has made me drag out the Ribby Cardi and get
going again. Hey, Marissa, did you
finish? I did spend an hour floating on
the raft with my knitting. It felt so
good that I actually spent most of the time just gazing around at the shoreline
at all the action. (lol)   I had my ipod with
me, and nope again… I just listened to the bees buzzing and my one last
hummingbird straggler in the hemlock.

  that is not the ribby, it’s the Wool Peddler’s shawl 
         

One quick note.. this morning I woke to temps in the 60’s,
no dew at all and a promise that the next few days will be in the 80’s. I love New England. Oh yes, and the same old, same old… more
tomatoes, broccoli, and squash. I think
pesto, today.

and in case you were wondering..