Plants and a Blue Moon

 I last watered my Amaryllis in August and this is what they look like now. Another week or so and I'll be able to cut off the last leaves and tuck the dry plants away until the middle of December.

I bought a package of 10 Hyacinths at Walmart. They've begun marking down their bulbs now.

 I potted them up in plastic pots and put them with the Tulips I planted a month ago. Tomorrow I'll find something to lay over the pots to keep the annoying squirrels from digging into the soil.

 There's a blue moon tonight. I saw it last night as it shone into the bedroom through the skylight. Normally blue moons come only about every 2 or 3 years. In 2018 we had 2 blue moons and they were only 2 months apart. the next time we get 2 blue moons in one year will be 2037.

Tonight's moon is known as the Full Hunter's Moon.  (the picture below is from the internet)

 

Are you ready to leave October behind ?  I've begun to think Christmas and I've been looking at various blogs that have such interesting recipes not to mention all the gorgeous pictures on Pinterest. I'm quite sure if I tried to replicate any one of the crafts that they deem 'easy' I'd be looking at a disaster. It's fun to look and admire anyway.

Have a good weekend,  G.M.

 

 

Morning by the Lake and some Baking

The lake looked almost ominous when we set out but soon it brightened up somewhat. It didn't last. After we got home it began to rain. 

 We're having extended family over this evening and some baking was required.  With the help of my DH I made mini quiches (the filling consists of onion, farmer sausage, crisp bacon and of course cheese)

And just because the ready made tart shells are so handy we made butter tarts. I had extra filling so the last tart shells got pecans instead of raisins.

Now I plan on having a little sit down before I finish tidying the house. 

I hope you have a great weekend!!

 

Thanks for popping by,

GRANNY M.

 

Thrift Store Browsing

This lovely big Christmas tree is the first thing I saw as I walked into the thrift store. I know many of you are going to groan about it being way too early for anything to do with Christmas but not me. I love the whole season and although I think they could wait until November I'm okay with this too.

I had a wonderful time walking through the displays and admiring everything.

 I couldn't resist this little teapot.  I took the picture (below) to show just how small it is compared to a regular sized teapot.

 Kim asked if our Hummingbirds stayed all winter. We have both the Rufous and Anna's in this area. As far as I know only the Anna's stays around. In spite of the feeders we had out last winter we had an extremely cold week and I think our hummers died because we didn't see them again.

Ellabie, you found you had 17 bags of chocolate chips when you went through your pantry. I found I had 2 large unopened bags of dates. Good thing we check our supplies from time to time.

 Thanks for visiting, GM

Last Blooms of the Season

 This first photo is one taken on a walk about a week ago. Once I decided to post pics of the last flowers blooming in my garden I wanted to remove this picture but Blogger doesn't seem to want me to.

The row of Coreopsis along the driveway has bloomed all summer and is still looking fairly good. I don't think I watered it at all in spite of the long weeks of  drought. Definitely one of my best blooming perennials.

I cut back this Spiderwort and it has decided to give me a few last flowers.  I had a purple one near this one but I may have cut that one back too drastically because now I don't see it at all.

Hummingbirds keep checking out the Fuchsias to see if there are any new flowers but they are disappointed.

The Rudbeckias look a little tattered but still hang on to their bright blooms.

 And this Hydrangea is the last one to have any colour. The others have faded to a sort of beige.

What are your favourite perennials? The ones that bloom for a long time and are quite undemanding?

I hope you had a pleasant weekend.  Mine was a busy one with youngest son having his birthday on Saturday and eldest daughter's today, Sunday.  Son requested cheesecake as his birthday "cake" and my daughter wanted Black Forest Cake.  On Friday I baked and with all the celebrating I forgot to take any pictures. One more busy weekend coming up and then a month to take it easy before Christmas preparations begin.

Thanks for coming by,  

GRANNY MARIGOLD

Mystery Plant and a Peek into my Pantry

 

 A number of years ago I bought this Geranium and I've forgotten what it is called. I bought it for the pretty leaves; the tiny flowers are insignificant. In the first photo you can barely see the red flower just above the bird feeder outside. (It sounds like the flower is outside but I think you know what I mean).

If anyone can identify it I'd be grateful.

 Friday is shopping day for us. One of the stores that sends out flyers had baking supplies on sale. I think my pantry is full and I'm all ready for Christmas baking!!

 It's a very wet day out and now that we're back home I think I'll turn up the heat a bit and have a cozy afternoon.

Thanks for coming by,  G.M.

Windy Day

 

When I went walking this morning the wind was already blowing fairly hard. Now, at 3 o"clock, it's a lot windier.  We just noticed that a very large branch of an old Lilac bush in the back has broken off. 

My plan for today involved baking but that plan has changed. Already some 40,000 locals are without power and I'm not going to take the chance that our power goes out when I'm in the middle of baking.

Thank you for all the Thanksgiving wishes. We had a lovely family meal and the only small glitch was when I was going to drain and mash the potatoes only to find I had neglected to turn on the stove.  Luckily DH had cut the potato pieces quite small and they cooked quite quickly. 

Nothing else to write about today so I'll just have to sit and read until it's time to start supper.

Thanks for visiting,  G.M.

 

Happy Thanksgiving

 

 Happy Thanksgiving to all my Canadian friends.  I've been busy all morning baking pies ( 3 pumpkin and one pear/apple)  Cranberry sauce made. Turkey is thawing in the fridge. I think I have things under control. 

GRANNY MARIGOLD

Mostly about Fungus

 

 I saw this clump of mushrooms by the lake. It seems like they grew overnight because I sure didn't see them there yesterday.

Then there was this piece of tree trunk. It looks small but it was almost as tall as I am and covered with what I thought at first was paint.  When I scratched the white part it came off in wet bits that makes me think that also was some sort of fungus.

On the subject of mushrooms and fungus I finally tried making homemade mushroom soup. It turned out very tasty and I'll be making it again in the future. I even managed to make the recipe small enough for just the two of us. After cooking for a family for many years I find cooking for two a challenge.
 

One last tidbit. Not about fungus. While puttering outside I managed to break off this pretty Pansy. I brought it in and put it a saucer with a bit of water.   

Thank you for all the lovely comments on my last post. And thank you for visiting today.  

Granny M

A New Teacup, Fog, and a Birthday

 I haven't added a teacup to my collection for a long time. I have to be more choosy now because I'm running out of space.

This pretty cup and saucer were made in occupied Japan.  When I saw it in the thrift store I knew it would come home with me.

 

 It was very foggy when we set out on our walk this morning. It looks like the Coots are back to spend the winter on the lake. It's hard to see them but there were so many!

On the way back the fog had lifted enough so I could get a picture of a neighbour's Autumn Crocus.

Yesterday was this sweet girl's birthday. I was so overjoyed to become a granny... 32 years have gone by so quickly.  She and her BF came for supper. 

Her gift to herself was this adorable kitten which her cousin is holding.

 Enough sitting around. I have yard work to do while the weather holds.

Whatever your day holds I hope it's all good.

Granny Marigold

What's happening today

 The front yard needed a lot of work done and DH,  middle and youngest sons worked hard getting it done. DH removed the picket fence, sanded and revarnished it. Youngest son took a pick-axe to dig out the Hydrangeas that broke my heart every June when we'd get a downpour and they would be flattened to the ground. After trying everything I could think of to keep them upright I decided they had to go.

It's all done, raked and ready for Roses which will hopefully be planted there next Spring.  The fence will go back up next week.

Here's what I was doing...

This year I'm planting my tulip bulbs in pots. Below is my little potting area behind my potting shed.

Whatever your day held I hope it made you happy.

Thanks for coming by,  GM

Morning Walk and Soup

 

 12 degrees this morning. There's a haze and the sun can barely be seen through it but all in all not a bad day. Very comfortable for walking. The lake and trees around it are starting to look like Fall.

There were 4 older gentlemen that had set up their mikes and speakers. They were playing and singing lovely old favourite hymns. It was wonderful to sit a while and listen. The man on the left was playing the spoons which I found so interesting.  As you can see they were a jolly bunch.

DH went to his volunteer 'job' as he does twice a week. He came home and told me that Gleaners had been given 5000 lbs of tomatoes and 8000 pounds of parsnips. The tomatoes came from Mexico but the parsnips were grown locally. The latter were very large so that's probably why they were not able to sell them in the grocery store. As I've mentioned before all the produce that is donated is chopped, dried and made into soup mix which is sent overseas to needy countries. 

Supper for us today will be soup and fresh bread which must by now risen and ready to pop into the oven.

Take care,  GM