Indian Summer

 

Oh what a beautiful day it was today! It started off cool and gray but by noon the sun was shining and the temperature glorious - a perfect Indian summer day and how hard it is to believe it's already the end of September! My Dad used to recite the poem "Along the line of smoky hills, the crimson forest stands and all the day the blue jay calls throughout the autmn land . . ." a sure sign to us that autumn was here. And here in Muskoka, the hills are coming alive with their annual colour show.

 

 
Although parts of the garden are well past their prime, other parts are just coming into their true glory - the burning bush is now aflame, rudbeckias are at their peak of golden beauty and my David Austen roses continue to bloom and bloom, and oh what a fragrance they give. And my climbing rose that only blooms in June has produced a multitude of fat rosy rose hips, an antidote for winter colds. I just noticed today that my wegeilia is starting to bloom again. After a crazy summer of too little water and too much heat, the  past couple of weeks of cooler temperatures and a few days of rain have given everything a renewed boost.

A few days ago I harvested the last of the tomatoes, as we've already had frost, and cooked them into delicious roasted tomato sauce for enjoyment during the long cold winter days when one needs a reminder of summer's harvest. And yesterday I picked and cooked my grapes. I then froze the juice which I will make into delicious grape jelly on the next Saturday that I have free. Another taste of summer to be savoured in the depths of winter.

In the next few days we'll be taking down the gazebo and putting away the garden furniture for another season. I hate to put everything away when the days are still warm and sunny but before you know it there will be snow in the air and I'll be cursing that I didn't clean up everything when the weather was nicer. But today I'll just enjoy the blue jays calling to each other and visiting my garden to partake of the berries on the shrubs and trees. Aaah! Indian summer days!

Winter Won't Let Go

"Nature gives to every time and season some beauties of its own."

Charles Dickens

What a week it has been. Winter it seems just will not let go its hold on us. It's almost mid March and just when we think that spring might be on our doorstep, we are blasted with another hit of winter. Yesterday, it was rain, then wet, heavy snow and my children even had another "snow day" at home. With the extra rain and snow, it has meant flooding all around our town. We are all getting a little down with the weather these days and can only hope and pray for some sunshine, mild days and warm, warm weather. It doesn't help when our Kenyan son texts us from Nairobi telling us it is so, so, so, so, hot Mama. But still the fresh dusting of white covered up the muddy brown of spring's melt time.

And so we can only hope for spring by looking at our photos of our gardens in full bloom and perusing and picking our seeds and summer bulbs from the garden catalogues but when we will be able to plant, well your guess is as good as mine. So tonight with a light snow falling and mild temperatures, I'll grab a mug of tea and get back to my seed orders.