autumn — Page 14

Mother Nature is Playing With Me

October 22, 2015 at 8:58 am by Claudia

10-22 leaves

In the middle of my hours spent with the leaves, a rake, and a tarp, I thought I saw something.

10-22 tiny yellow flower

A yellow flower. On closer examination, a yellow day lily. What??

10-22 tiny yellow flower 2

The particular plant hasn’t bloomed in about 2 – 3 months.

Mother Nature is playing with me. An early frost, dead plants, and then this.

10-22 tiny yellow flower 3

It looks like there might be at least another blossom waiting to open.

What a treat! Especially in the middle of raking an endless amount of maple, black walnut, and giant catalpa leaves. I must have filled the tarp up 9 or 10 times. Then Don came home later in the day and filled a few more tarps. The leaves were deposited on the edge of the woods, where they will decompose and nourish the soil.

Tired, of course. But we got a lot done.

10-22 clematis

This is what the clematis looks like late in the season. Beautiful, don’t you think? Like little feathers swirling in a circle.

Later in the day, the UPS truck pulled up with a box for me. I have a separate twitter feed for Just Let Me Finish This Page and I follow a lot of writers and publishers. One day a few weeks ago, I really can’t remember when, Random House tweeted that they were having a contest in conjunction with the publishing of Ruth Reichl’s newest book, My Kitchen Year: 136 Recipes That Saved My Life.

Reichl was the Restaurant Critic for the New York Times for a number of years before moving on to the Editorship of Gourmet magazine. When Gourmet suddenly folded, she found herself trying to deal with an enormous sense of loss. She coped by going into her kitchen and doing what she loves – cooking. The book chronicles that year and offers up all sorts of recipes, as well.

Well, I quickly entered the contest, then promptly forgot about it until I received an email the other day telling me I was one of the winners.

10-22 ruthreichl win

Goodness! I received a copy of the book – can’t wait to read it – and six tins of a special edition Ruth Reichl Apple Crisp tea by The Republic of Tea, and three mini cocottes (damn that autocorrect – it spelled it as coquette – it’s cocotte as in casserole) from Le Creuset.

Wow! I rarely win contests, so this was a wonderful surprise. I’ll be having some Apple Crisp tea this afternoon. A big thank you to Random House!

Happy Thursday.

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Around Here: Colorful Tree Edition

October 15, 2015 at 9:04 am by Claudia

10-15 sugarmaple

The sugar maple; gangly after losing two huge limbs in the past 4 years, but still beautiful. It’s always the first tree to shed all its leaves.

10-15 treesinthesky

Intersecting maples in the back yard.

10-15 poisonivy

Even the poison ivy looks good.

10-15 sumac

The deep red of the sumac.

10-15 othermaple

Right outside the kitchen, another glorious maple.

10-15 birdbath

Leaves congregating in the birdbath.

• Dad update: We found out that the two rehab facilities that were to be options for Dad were, in fact, not options. Apparently, they are for more extreme cases. That’s why Dad wasn’t discharged the other day. After many phone calls back and forth between my sister and myself, Meredith called Dad’s regular doctor, who called Dad’s doctor at the hospital. The fact that Dad hadn’t been discharged and transferred was news to him, so he went to the Review Committee at the hospital yesterday morning, explained Dad’s case to them and they reviewed it. The end result is that they are keeping Dad in the hospital for three more days as In-Patient. While he’s there, he’ll get physical therapy. At the end of the three days, they’ll review his progress and he’ll either be discharged to go home (doubtful) or be transferred, most likely, to the rehab facility we wanted him in the first place.

Mer was working yesterday, so I called my dad and explained everything to him. He had been very stressed by all of the indecision the day before but once he heard the news, he relaxed. As I was finishing the phone call with him, the doctor came in the room and confirmed everything.

So, for now, Dad is hanging in there and is in a much more positive frame of mind, bless his heart.

The key here is coding. He had been coded as Under Observation, even though he had been admitted as a patient. That’s what screwed everything up. Now that he’s been admitted as In-Patient, he will be able to be transferred to the right facility for his age and condition.

Beware of coding, my friends. When I get her permission, I’m going to quote faithful reader Chris, who worked in the insurance industry for years and knows all about this. I certainly didn’t. And it’s essential information, especially if you end up in the emergency room.

I had an issue with coding (my emergency blocked bile duct procedure) and had to fight to get the code changed. You have to be vigilant, even in the face of the stress of the emergency room. Or, better yet, someone has to be vigilant for you.

• Scout is clean and fluffy. That’s all I need to say about that.

• Don and Dan are going to be on a local radio show Saturday morning. They’ll be talking about the new CD and playing some of their music. I believe they’ll be on from 11-1 EST. The station streams live, so I’m going to get the link for you and I’ll post it tomorrow. I’ll be listening for sure!

• There’s a link in the sidebar for Don’s new CD. He’s just sent more stock to CD Baby.

Happy Thursday.

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The Defiant Ones

October 10, 2015 at 9:43 am by Claudia

Throughout the garden there are signs of the inevitable decline that comes at this time of year. Flowers have stopped blooming; in many cases, there are dried up stems where once there were beautiful, green plants. I’ve been looking at all of it through the camera’s lens for the past couple of days.

There are, hidden among the fallen leaves and debris, a few defiant ones – flowers that still bloom despite the disarray around them.

All of the purple coneflowers look like this:

10-10 dried up coneflowers

But, almost hidden away in the side garden, I saw this:

10-10 coneflower

The last man standing. So beautiful.

10-10 brown-eyed susans

A few defiant brown-eyed susans.

10-10 rose

The last of the roses.

10-10 butterfly bush

A bloom hidden deep within the butterfly bush.

10-10 catmint

There are some catmint flowers here and there.

10-10 spirea

The spirea is giving us one last burst of flowers.

10-10 phlox

And the phlox isn’t giving up without a fight.

My goodness, there is such a beauty in this decline, these flashes of color amid the fading greens and browns of the Autumn garden. It’s easy to focus on what was, instead of what is. And what is, is completely gorgeous in its own right.

Oh, I saw a Monarch Butterfly the other day! I didn’t have my camera and it was flying quickly around the property. It was gorgeous. Sadly, I don’t see them much anymore, so when I do, I stop and watch it until it fades out of sight.

Today is another beautiful, sunny fall day. I’m lapping all of this up. Tomorrow, I head into the city again to watch a run-through of the show.

I stopped by the library the other day.

10-10 library haul

I’m pretty sure the Sue Grafton books I’ve missed reading are S through V. Fortunately, my little local library had them on the shelf. I’ve heard a lot of good things about Ace Atkins but have yet to read any of his books. This one was on display, so I grabbed it. I had been in the queue for All the Light We Cannot See and it finally came in.

Just as it did when I was a little girl going to the bookmobile every week, a stack of library books makes me very, very happy.

Happy Saturday.

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Mother Nature is Playing With Me

Around Here: Colorful Tree Edition

The Defiant Ones

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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