I had high hopes of finishing a quilt Friday night, finishing a quilt Saturday, and finishing another quilt on Sunday after church.
With a forecast of 21 degrees on Monday, plans and priorities changed. It was time to prepare the garden for winter.
It seems so unfair that so many flower and veggies blossoms are going to get cheated by this frost, but I actually got an extra three weeks out of my garden this year. I'm trying very hard not to complain.
Gone, too, will be all the little garden helpers. I don't know if they take cover or just get caught by surprise before freezing into finality, but I've enjoyed spying on them since May.
I brought in all the potted peppers. The plants in the raised bed garden will be gone by today.
The prolific white spiderwort, called Osprey, was trying to put up blossoms one more time...
All seven dahlias finally were beginning to make blossoms, even the three I thought I lost during Ride the Rockies.
My lavender began putting up a second round of heavenly blooms.
My eight-year-old neighbor helped me pick almost all of the marigolds for one last jar of natural dye, this one to solar cook from the living room window when the temperatures are high enough to open the blinds.
My little neighbor is crazy about pink, and we must have had 200 cosmos blooming, with another 200 or so about to bloom. I cut a bouquet for her to take home, hoping some of the later-term blooms will open in the vase. She was ecstatic!
She found a hidden stand of tiny forget-me-nots, and I plucked those to add a touch of contrast to her bouquet. I should have taken a picture, because the blue looked pretty darned cool with the pink and white!
The really sad part is we'll probably go into what is fondly known as Indian Summer now, with temperatures mild until about Thanksgiving. The leaves and flowers will be gone, but we should be able to enjoy some good rides and maybe even a hike or two.
I had some spectacular color right in my own garden this year, especially the purple carrots.
Best part of the weekend, of course, was getting in one more ride before all the leaves were frozen into oblivion.
I'm glad I got in as much color as I did. This is what our world looks like today.
The plants sure do take a good hit this time of year. Ick to the snow, but you could send some of the cold our way. Way too friggin muggy.
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