Sunday 1 October 2017

October First

Today couldn't have been more lovely. What a wonderful way to start a new month in my favourite season. I left the house around 10 this morning to get groceries for the week and checked the temperature before I left. I had on jeans, long sleeves and a light jacket. By the time I got out of the store and loaded my groceries, I had to put the air conditioning on for the drive home.

My favourite grocery store (where both of my kids had / have part time jobs) had a great deal on fall mums. I bought some more. I set some up on the porch.


I need to pick up a few more pumpkins. I did not grow any this year. The Mennonites down the road always have many for sale at a good price.

My hydrangeas (have no idea what kind!) are still putting on a nice show of colour.


I spent a lot of time outside today doing various outdoor clean up projects. Here are some of my pots / urns that are going to be emptied soon. They are looking a little rough. I just put them all in one spot for now and will tackle these sometime this week.


I'd say the creeping jenny did well this summer!

I put in a couple of hours cutting back and ripping out perennials from a couple of beds in the back yard. There's still a bit more to do here and probably three or four more beds larger than this to complete before the snow flies.


I'll leave the sedum and black eyed Susan for some colour.

When my back screamed that it had had enough, I helped the husband to finish up the last of the pool house chores which consisted of emptying big concrete flower pots, emptying and moving the little fridge that stays at the pool house in the summer, rolling up the rug, stacking furniture, general tidy up... It was a bittersweet task because of the rainy, quite cool summer we had. We really did not enjoy our pool and outdoor space as much as we would have liked. Oh well, some years are like that.


All tucked in for another fall / winter.

As I was walking back to the house after taking pictures, I thought I would take a shot of the shed with its remaining flowers that still look pretty good. I love the long shadows at this time of day (it was about 5:45 in the afternoon).



Finally, as this is the time of year for caterpillars, I was told by a colleague that the white caterpillars are to be avoided. After handling them, you can develop sores and blisters on your skin. I think this might be the kind she was speaking of. It was crawling on a back door window. I didn't feel like having blisters, so I moved him unceremoniously with the broom.  Anyone know anything about these critters?


I'm now having a nice glass of Beringer cabernet sauv. waiting for son to come home so I can fire up the barbecue for some homemade burgers. Have a nice evening, everyone.

30 comments:

  1. My favorite season too, though I haven't done much outdoor decorating yet. We're going on a trip in October so I'm waiting till we get back. My husband, my authority on all things nature/bugs, says they're the caterpillar for the tussock moth and that yes you may well get a reaction to touching them

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    1. Thank you for the identification. I'm going to look that up! -Jenn

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  2. Jenn, Even while our flower and plants die off we can safe some here and there for color. Love your sweet shed. As a child I would have pick up caterpillars...but not now, I do not touch any of those creepy crawly things. LOL We always hear about how bad the winter will be when it comes to caterpillars colors. I do not any sure things about that though. Blessings to you and your family, xoxo, Susie

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    1. Yes, I remember letting caterpillars crawl on me as a child.

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  3. It's sad to have the year winding down so quickly. Enjoy these last sunny warm days.

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    1. October just began. I'm sure we'll still have some nice fall days to come.

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  4. I'll tell you, I worked in grocery stores for many years, and I'm glad to be done with them. The worst parts were stupid managers who acted like the queen of england was going to walk in five minutes and everything had to be annoyingly perfect.

    The other is the expiring foods. Rarely do I ever pick some up as a shopper, but you wouldn't believe how much you find as a worker.

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    1. Oh, this is a very nice grocery store, very much a part of the community. All of their managers have been great people.

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  5. I feel winter coming on a tad too fast, though I am open to being wrong, wrong, wrong.

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    1. Being as you (I think) are a bit south of me, I sincerely hope you are wrong, wrong, wrong.

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  6. This looks totally fabulous. I want to crawl into each and every photo.

    We've been putting things away as we close up the cottage this weekend. So nice to have a beautiful weekend to do that instead of a rainy and gloomy one.

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    1. Thanks Jeanie. I'm guessing a lot of people closed up their cottages this weekend.

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  7. The porch is gorgeous and the pool house simply adorable. Fall is the very best but I fear I only get a wisp of a taste of it here in Southern California. That's ok. I'll take it.

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    1. Thanks. I guess you stay mostly summer-like? We definitely get four seasons, although spring is sometimes rather short.

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  8. I love the photo of your shed, very pretty. We have processional caterpillars here in Spring that are lethal for dogs. Nasty things.

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    1. That sounds awful! Are the dogs even tempted to mess with them?

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  9. Your garden is so beautiful, the hanging pots, the shed. Such a pity you have to pull it all to pieces. I remember from your blog last year that you emptied all your pots and stored them. Such a lot of work. But I also remember the heavy snow you have for so long.
    Bravo to you for your enthusiasm each spring and the glorious results in your garden!!

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    1. The more I can do in the fall, the happier I am in the spring when the snow melts and I have to clean up the gardens that I just couldn't get to.

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  10. What a busy day however you must feel very proud of yourself! Yes it's a tricky tome of year because we know the best of the sunshine has past. I keep hoping for an Indian summer but I think I will be out of luck. It's so blustery and Autumn like.

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    1. I think we just had ours with record setting high temps.

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  11. Oh how lovely Jenn....you have gorgeous property....I could feel the cooler temps all the way to Texas! Your front porch is just perfect for fall! Have a lovely week.

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  12. Your outdoor areas look beautiful! It's too bad about the pool. Maybe next year it'll be nicer. But at least we've been getting some beautiful weather lately. Perhaps the fall season will make up for spring and summer!

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  13. HI Wendy...
    Have a great week ahead...weather gonna be nice!
    We are off to the cottage for a few days...I am sure there are lots of garden beds waiting for me to clean up!
    Cheers!
    Linda :o)

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  14. Lovely post that shared the feeling of fall in your area. Fall is my favorite season but this year I think I'd revel in it a bit more if we didn't continue to have so darn much rain. And with the cooler temps, nothing ever seems to dry out. We've been issued flash flood warnings for tonight with 100% chance of heavy rain. We'd better batten down the hatches today. Oh well, no chance of forest fires this fall. :o/

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  15. Thank you for the caterpillar warning! I have seen a great deal of them this fall. I love this time of year, too, but it does tend to put me in rather a frenzy of getting things done before winter sets in! Even in the fall, your gardens are lovely.

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  16. I haven't started any of my garden clean up yet....no time, unfortunately! I have seen those white caterpillars around, thanks for the warning!

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  17. I love your container! Mine never look that good by the end of the year. I am also slowly cleaning the flower beds.

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  18. A nice walk about the property. Your gardens are still looking quite lush & colourful. And your little fuzzy creature, isn't he a tent caterpillar? Our community F/B page has been posting warnings about these.

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  19. Your grounds and poolhouse are lovely!

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  20. Your yard is beautiful and I love the mums on the porch. I believe that is a Lacecap Hydrangea, I have one that has white flowers.

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