From Don’s camera this morning – one red leaf remaining on the burning bush.

And another sigh. Lots of sighs lately.

This seasonal transition is a hard one for me, as you know. I’m also one week away from a big birthday and that is weighing on me, as well. Time seems to go by so quickly these days. Thank goodness for a husband who understands and makes me laugh. And for puzzles that keep my mind occupied in a meditative way. And for books, always.

It’s now very cold here and will be even colder tomorrow. The porch plants made it through the night, but I doubt they will make it through tonight.

I think I need to reread some of Mary Oliver’s wintery poems. Her eye for detail and her observations always keep me grounded.

Sorry! This isn’t a very good photo because the light was funky. There are words under different headings like ‘propagation’ and ‘soil.’ But you can’t make them out. I’d retake it, but I was about to deliver lots of finished puzzles to my friend Heidi, so I took it apart rather hurriedly. Heidi works for a non-profit north of us that is a food pantry, thrift store, and community cafe. They feed, clothe, and respond to the needs of our county and they’ve been around for 50 years. I donate the puzzles so that those in need can buy them at a highly discounted price. Heck, they might even be free in some cases.

I read a nice big chunk of The Shadow Murders yesterday and I plan to do the same today. I love Adler-Olsen’s writing. And just a little over two weeks from now, Louise Penny’s newest will be released. Can’t wait!

Spoiler Alert  opens on December 2nd. Jim, Ben, and Michael Ausiello (the author of the book – Jim plays him in the movie) are attending a screening in San Francisco tonight. They’ll have a discussion with the audience afterwards. And there’s another screening coming up in NYC. Don and I want to go to a movie theater to see it – something we rarely do these days. I think Don is even more excited about it than me.

Stay safe.

Happy Monday.

Post storm morning. It’s rather balmy out there, but the wind has picked up as the front exits. This will be the last warmish day for us for a long time. Next week, the daytime highs will be in the 40s and the nighttime lows will be in the 20s.

My assignment this weekend?  Accept the fact that my porch plants will be no more. (I already brought in the Boston fern a few weeks ago.) It always makes me so sad to see plants that are thriving and re-blooming and know that their death sentence is around the corner. These are the times I wish I had a greenhouse.

See? Just writing about it is making me tense. And sad.

Don is excited because our snowblower is being picked up today by a guy who repairs them. We were going to sell this one and buy something lighter and easier to handle. But Don did a lot of research. They are very expensive nowadays and he read a lot of reviews about the less heavy snowblowers; they don’t do well in deep snow. And we get a lot of deep snow. Added to this is our driveway, which slopes downhill to the road where tons of snow accumulates, aided by the snow plows. It wouldn’t work well for us. So, I recommended he use our community page on Facebook and ask for a reliable repair place. This morning, a guy who got a lot of recommendations is going to come and take the snowblower in for repair. Carburetor definitely needs cleaning, oil needs to be changed, etc.

Exciting times here at the cottage. Especially for Don.

That’s really all that’s new. I have chores to do today, a little work on the puzzle, a little reading, and a little apple pie.

Stay safe.

Happy Saturday.

Three little pansies.

Every year, I try to game the onset of wintry weather and see how long I can keep my porch plants alive. At some point, I have to throw in the towel, of course. Two days ago the nighttime temp went down to 29 degrees. I didn’t want to bring all the plants inside, so I placed them in a group on the porch floor and attached an old sheet from the back of the glider to the two Adirondack chairs. It worked! I moved this planter onto the porch, as well.

But, a quick glance at the weather forecast tells me that next week we’re headed for below freezing temps every night, so I expect I’ll give up at some point.

Last year I couldn’t play this little game because I was away working in NYC.

I missed it.

We’ve needed to reorganize the shed since Don brought home several bins from the storage facility. We finally did it yesterday. (Side note: we’re sore and tired today.) But boy, did it feel good to figure out where to put everything so I can have access to my garden/potting space and we can have easy access to the bins with Christmas ornaments, garden tools, mower, and snowblower. It’s very spacious in there. We stacked the bins vertically. It also gave us the opportunity to sweep the floor and bat down some cobwebs. The guy who owned this house before us built the shed as a place to store his motorcycle. It’s quite large.

While we had the doors open and were working just outside the shed, another murmuration of starlings took place. This time, they were flying over our heads, swirling, soaring – and we were right in the middle of it. I cannot tell you how magical that was! We stood on the ramp to the shed, birds flying all around us, filled with awe.

And as I write this, another murmuration just occurred! This time, they were flying all around the front porch and our neighbor’s property across the street.

Word on the street is that Don is making an apple pie today.

The winner of the calendar is Chris K! Chris, send me an email with your address and I’ll get that out to you.

Stay safe.

Happy Thursday.