Grounded

 The effects of this bug just won't quit. Today my head is under pressure enough that I am dizzy and too out of balance to go for a walk, and that is making me very disgruntled. 

I have been helping a little with putting the garden to bed. I have collected and stored all the the yard art. Today Tom is finishing collecting some of the bigger stuff. Furniture is stored  Yesterday he finished storing all of the tender "danger" plants in the greenhouse.

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And yesterday is when I started this post, but trouble with photos caused me to abandon that effort. 

I took some new photos and checked my photo routing and I think I am back in business. My head still hurts, though.

Some of the "danger" plants that have been moved into the greenhouse. 

Succulent collections 

The red mesh bags hold the tulip bulbs we are recycling to the Whidbey garden. 

Tom's geranium cuttings seem to be very successful so far this year. 

The windows that hang on the deck are now stored in the shed.

The golden hop on the gate has ripening fruit. The fancy leaf geraniums have survived the taking of cuttings and are showing off their leaves, if not many blooms.

The Autumn flag has replaced the summer flag. 

Flowers still bloom.

It is forecast to be 70 degrees today and tomorrow, before we dip back down to 60.

Fall blooming crocus are so pretty. Why do they have to be such floppers?

Maybe they caught my bug. 

Picking the Glass Flowers

October is the month when we winterize the garden. The plants are still pretty much going strong, but we start by collecting yard art and furniture.

Tuesday we rounded up and washed all of the glass flowers. 

While I used to do the collecting from all over the garden, now Tom does it. I wash, rinse, and lay them out in the sun to dry. 

Some of the glass flowers are very clean but most have collected debris and dust and dirt.

We still have roses blooming and are no where near frost yet.

Later in the day Tom carried the glass flowers to the garage where they await on the work bench to be put in the attic. That's next, as soon as I get this posted. 

I'm still not over whatever it is I have. I have an audiology appointment tomorrow and then a hearing aid update. I hope the sinus pressure will be a little better or my results will be skewed.

Fog in the morning, sun in the afternoon, some rain maybe by this weekend. It's still very dry. 

October rolls along. 

Monday Monday.

 

A burst of color on my short walk at the park Sunday.

I'm still experiencing ill effects of this bug I have so I didn't quite walk a mile, but I did get outside in the sunshine for a bit between our birthday breakfast and the Seahawks game on TV.

Tom and Jan have completed another trip around the sun and at 85 are still doing fine.  

Today is laundry and house work day. I'm managing the laundry. Tom is doing the bathrooms and vacuuming. There might be a little time outside once the fog burns off. I might pick a few flowers. We will grill our dinner, at least one more time. We have been having some beautiful afternoons.

The dryer just buzzed. Time to get up and get going again.

It's October!

 It's Pumpkin month. I decorated.

It's all the same stuff I put up every year in October. I really like Autumn - Fall - Halloween - colored leaves, and the crisp but sunny days of October. I can now even be OK with the end of summer. 

The leaves are just barely beginning to turn in our garden but soon the bright maples will be putting on their glow. 

Tom is out cleaning up the patio from a windstorm we had over the weekend. There will be many more cleanings before the falling is done. He will also mow the lawn now that the grass is growing again after the  dry summer.

I'll be out cleaning up the edges as soon as I feel better. That cold or sinus attack or whatever it was got me too, and I am dealing with severe headaches. body aches,  and an unsettled stomach. We hardly ever get sick so it's cramping our style. 

Of course I still have flowers to fill  my vases.

Life is good, even when I'm sick. 

A Weekend On Whidbey Island

 

It's Monday and we are back home from a weekend at the island. Clouds and clearings gave us a show on the lagoon when the tide was in and the wind was calm. 

On Friday it was cloudy and sometimes drippy so we went to Freeland and stopped at Ace Hardware to visit the nursery and enjoy autumn color. 

Then we drove backroads to Langley, where of course we had coffee, as well as walked around a bit. 

When we got back to the cabin in early afternoon, the bay was socked in.

We stayed in and read and in the evening watched some television.

Watching TV at the cabin is a process since the younger generation decided we didn't need cable anymore. For us that means bringing my laptop, hooking it up to the TV and Googling our Xfinity account. It helps if we don't forget the process or if we can remember to get Netflix that way. Sometimes it works. 

Saturday morning was dry and mostly sunny and we went to the farmers market in Bayview. We bought beets and pastries - an almond croissant for me and a big gooey cinnamon roll for Tom. We saved them for Sunday morning. 

Next door to the market we visited Bayview Gardens for more autumn color.

I sat for a bit inside the laburnum arch, remembering Spring as I enjoyed Fall

Back at the cabin we enjoyed the lagoon, went for a walk, read, and did some gardening. 

In the evening we were able to watch the Sounders match against the Minnesota Loons. Seattle won! Yay. Two in a row finally. 

On Sunday morning we were planning to watch the Seahawks football game being played in the other Washington. Nope, sorry. If you are not on your home Wi-Fi you don't get to watch it. Jill called and got us hooked up to her FUBO account eventually but by then I almost didn't care. I finally settled down and enjoyed my almond croissant at least. The Seahawks lost. We headed home through heavy traffic. By then Tom was sick with either a bad cold or a sinus infection. He's miserable but will survive. I hope I don't get whatever it is. 

Since it's Monday I'm doing laundry. I overloaded a load of sheets and towels and so I'm fighting with my washer. These fancy new appliances won't let you tell them what to do. 

I think I need a vacation where everything works. 

But the herons were happy sitting on their perches in the calm lagoon. 

The Autumnal Equinox

I took this photo 14 years ago on  the beach at Rockaway Beach on the Oregon Coast. It was the Autumnal Equinox and the sun was setting on 

Summer between the Twin Rocks.

  

I have been there a few other times on this exact day, and have many photos of those rocks in various seasons, often with sunsets. I always think of those days at this special place on this last day of Summer, first day of Fall.

Fall actually begins here at 5:05 PM, so technically this is the last day of summer. Once again the sun will set on the change of seasons. Hopefully there will be another beautiful sunset for those who can see it. 

I am a summer person, though I do love the beauty of early fall too. I took some photos of the end of summer here in our garden and on the walk I just finished at the park. 

I wore my sun shirt, Zia Sun, that is. 

The leaves are just starting to turn at the park. Our maples here in the garden are still green.

There is color in the garden still.

And plenty of prickly texture in the Danger Garden. Soon these plants will be heading to the greenhouse to overwinter.

Clouds in the morning make way for more sun in the afternoon.

There is chill in the shade. 

Once again, autumn begins, summer ends.

Happy sunsets to you.