It’s just short of two months since I last posted and it feels much, much longer than that. So many things keep happening. For a while, we seemed suspended between summer and fall, with cooler temperatures and green trees. Then, in one weekend, there was a transformation. Like a little color bomb.

This maple seemed to go red overnight.
Since then, we’ve had some extraordinarily beautiful days where the leaves seem to give off their own light. One windy day recently, the leaves blowing down looked like falling tea lights.

If this were a lamp, I’d buy it!
And of course the light itself is changing, its slant and tint, and intensity. It’s gone a bit pale.
Still, with the leaves as they’ve been, that color is intensified by the paler light.
I’ve been working in the garden as well as enjoying fall’s last flashy dance. In fact this weekend, I put my plot to bed. With the help of a fellow gardener, I also cleared the large Plot Against Hunger plot. It remains to be weeded a bit more and then heavily composted.

I may have the start of an asparagus patch.
The small plot that we had also dedicated to AFAC is going back to the garden for people who want to garden but can’t manage a larger plot. I cleared that out as well last weekend. Like the large plot, it needs a bit more weeding and then the compost. I can get that done in the next couple weekends if we have a nice day!

It’s nice to see the calendulas thriving. They do like the cool weather.
The year wound up well, with peppers and eggplants and a last rush of green beans. I had planted some arugula and beets and those came on as well.

I’m thinking arugula, beets, walnuts, and chèvre.
The last bouquet was poignant. It’s hard to get used to going flowerless after such amazing decoration for months!
I have an abundance of green tomatoes, which I’ve put in a paper bag with two bananas in hopes they ripen. I haven’t the heart for pickled green tomatoes this year, but a few may get fried with batter. We’ll see what they do in the bag.

Yup, that’s a pile of tomatoes…
In the meantime, I’ve brought out my candles to enjoy in the early evenings. We’re expecting snow, sleet and rain, otherwise known as wintry mix, on Thursday. It’s a bit early for that, but I’m ready as I’ll be!
A wonderful cornucopia, Lisa! You have much produce to be thankful for this Thanksgiving!
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Yes! I just checked my tomatoes and they’re still quite green, but I have hopes.
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Good to see you back. You have captured the season well; and your produce looks as good as ever
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Thanks, Derrick! I’ll be ’round to the Knight gardens soon.
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Wintry mix is the worst. Give me snow any old time. Sure looks pretty where you live. Like Maine last month. 😉
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LOL. That’s what people who think we should have color in October are thinking about–New England. I hope you’re cozy and ready for the onslaught of winter.
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We are! Winter is coming, and we are ready.
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It’s looking very pretty round your place Lisa. One of the things on my wish list (still!) is to try making some fried green tomatoes. First I must find a recipe, then I must find some green tomatoes…….
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I wish I could send you mine. You can make a thin batter to dip them in or dip them in egg and roll them in a spiced bread crumb mixture. In either case, fry. They have a sweetness you would not expect. I must email you as I have visualized a triptych and want to describe it.
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Thank you for the prep ideas. Now to get me some green tomatoes……… I shall look forward to hearing about your visualisation! xo
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Although our autumn seemed to come on as quickly as it did elsewhere in American, the autumn color was a dud! The sweetgums are defoliating almost as fast as they color. We will see what the crape myrtles do. (I am none too keen on crape myrtles.) We lack many of the most colorful trees, so we really appreciate the few that color well.
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Our crepe myrtles have been magical. I think the sweet gums are still mostly green. But after this morning with the wintry mix that will probably change.
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How odd that your crape myrtles already colored while the sweetgums have not; and our sweetgums are defoliating while the crape myrtles have not even colored. (Some cultivars are already defoliating though.) Anyway, it shows how there are a few variables that stimulate color and defoliation, and that the various specie respond to each differently. daylength – temperature – humidity – etc.
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It’s been a weird season and the way things have colored is part of it. Yesterday there was snow on green leaves. I just looked out at the sweet gums and they’re turning yellow, which is a bit disappointing given what they CAN do.
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I like your salad thinking. Good to hear from you and from the garden.A prolonged lack of veggies during my travels makes me very envious.
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Oh, sometimes that happens. I hope you get a good bunch of veggies soon.
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You are so philosophical about little daily annoyances. Such a healthy attitude!😊
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I could be insane by now if I wasn’t!
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😊
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Your photos are so pretty! But, then your word pictures, describing fall, are wonderful, too. It’s a time of year that brings out the best in all of us, maybe? And, now, we hunker down and rest . . .
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Thanks, Kerry! Yes, the rest thing sounds good. I hope things are well with you. We have freezing rain this morning!
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You have been busy, Lisa! Come to think of it, gardening always keeps us busy, right up to the end of the season. Thanks for sharing those gorgeous pictures. And I like your phrase: “fall’s last flashy dance”. It made me smile.
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So glad you liked my turn of phrase and the pic’s. There is certainly a lot of astonishing beauty in fall.
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Lisa, I love your photos, especially the produce in the sink. You’ve had a great season this year and though it’s ending earlier then you had hoped, it’s ending with yet one more lovely bouquet and the glorious makings of a salad (no salmonella worries, either)! Happy Thanksgiving.
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I was just thinking about you Alys! Happy Thanksgiving to you too! Beets are part of the menu today!
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That’s great to hear! I hope you had a wonderful feast and an enjoyable day. We had one of the most relaxing on record. The boys are now adults; our guests are now adults, Mike made a wonderful, vegetarian feast and I enjoyed puttering, setting the table, cleaning (yes I like cleaning), and the like. Our friends brought there dog and he slept in my arms for a bit. Cheers.
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Sounds fabulous. Nothing like a guest dog!
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🙂
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Beautiful photographs – even the vegetables!
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Those green tomatoes finally ripened enough to eat. Some have gone into a chicken dish this evening.
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I always like the green tomatoes for chutney or frying, apart from the first few I eat fresh from the vine I think they are the best.
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Gorgeus, what color!
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It seems so long ago now, with the snow!
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