I’ve been a busy bee lately, or at least, it seems that way. We have many trees in our yard – I love them!! – but they are dropping their gorgeous leaves this time of year, as trees do. Someone runs over them with the lawnmower to mulch them. It’s an OK solution but the dogs drag the leaf bits into the house every time they go out and in. Also, I can’t help but think that too much leaf mulch on the ground is detrimental to our grass which is always challenged by shade and poor drainage. In fact, there is no grass at all in the areas where the leaf mulch accumulates.
My solution is to rake leaves into a giant garbage can and
dump them in the woods behind out house. At least the deer approve because I they
like laying in the leaf piles. As much as I hate that the deer eat my flowers,
bushes, and garden, they are beautiful and interesting creatures. Someone and I
have come home and counted as many as 14 in our yard. Now that winter is
approaching, their coats have turned dark and their tails seem fluffier. Our
neighbor feeds them, so they linger.
My leaf duty is most days, several hours. As a young girl, I
hated raking leaves. My great grandparents had gigantic maple trees in their front
yard. How many? I can’t remember
exactly, but at least eight or nine of them. We raked leaves in the fall every
time we visited them (which was several afternoons a week and most weekends that
time of the year). My grandmother would pick us up after school with a change of
clothes and bologna sandwiches for my brothers and me. She knew we were always
starving when school let out and didn’t want us to act hungry around our great
grandparents. The drive was 30 minutes, and then we raked leaves and dumped
them in a compost pile near the garden. Each of us had a rake and a basket and
we raked and dumped (and picked up sticks) until it got too dark. Early in the
season, I got blisters on my hands, but by the end, calluses.
As an adult, I wear gloves and rake into a large garbage can
on wheels. Work is much easier. Also, I rather enjoy any yard work. Gracie and
Mick keep me company, the birds sing, and the deer stand around watching.
At night, I’ve been hard at work on a Christmas stocking for
Elizabeth. It’s a Bucilla
kit that includes the felt, sequins, beads, embroidery floss, and a very
long instruction sheet. Honestly, Bucilla stockings are kind of tacky looking,
but I love them! I’ve been working on Elizabeth’s off and on for a good 14
months, but with a goal set to finish by Thanksgiving, I think it will be done
on time. I sew on it in bed at night while listening to me favorite podcast
with Bubbles on one side and Gracie on the other (Bubbles and Gracie usually
sleep in my room at night).
Emily entered a lottery and was selected to have the option
to buy tickets to every home game for the men’s basketball team, University of
Kentucky. For anyone who knows about Kentucky, you would know that Kentuckians
love their horses, their fine bourbon, and their basketball. Most of us are BBN
(Big Blue Nation) which is term used for the University of Kentucky fan base. I
enjoy (and prefer) watching basketball on TV, but there is no comparison to the
excitement of being in Rupp Arena when UK is playing. For big games (think Louisville,
Tennessee, Florida), the arena sells out (20,500 seats!) Anyway, Someone and I bought 4 tickets so that
we can go and invite various family or friends to go too. It’s been great fun
but that two-hour drive to Lexington gets a bit tiresome.
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| Our seats: about the middle of the upper arena |
All my house plants are moved inside, safe from frost which could happen any night now. The flowers in my garden are finished, but there are still some lovelies on the back deck – potted annuals. I cleaned leaves off the deck this evening and snapped a few photos. I’m not that fond of marigolds, the way they look or the way they smell, but for some reason, they smelled extra strong this evening and I liked it.
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| Gomphrena and Verbena |
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| Who doesn't love pansies? |
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| marigolds with alyssum (nearing end of life) |
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