Another rite of the season.......

With grunts and groans.....my son and I brought the plants in for the season.

It's another rite of passage for fall.

The big palms, sturdy and wiry, went to the garage. They're able to take a few months of low light and cool temperatures.

The soft fleshy houseplants each found refuge in a bathroom.

The spiny cactus was moved to its usual spot in the laundry room.

And the bird of paradise plant... which is tall and wide and for some reason ...weighs so much we can only slide it across the deck versus picking it up.....it landed this year in our family room.

Usually via a handcart, it rests at the back of the garage under a light and far enough from the cold to survive. This year, handcart broken, my son and I could groan it into the house and then we gave up.

It looked wild and big against our blinds....Wildcat ran away from the mega leaves swaying gently from the wind of the ceiling fan and watched it for hours from the safety of her hiding spot under the couch.

The first frost arrived last night.....which split our house in half....the annuals on one side withered with the cold....the annuals on the other side of the house looked weak but alive...probably a difference of a degree or two....enough to equal survive or die.

Now that everything is safely tucked into the house .....the waiting begins over the next few days.

What else came into the house hidden in those huge pots?

One year I found a bright green frog in our toilet bowl.....he was met with a lusty scream..... as I was still early-morning-sleepy and almost peed on him. I presume he hitchhiked in the lush foliage of the lily plant in our bathtub.

Last night I heard a cricket.....but I'm sure my cats will track it down and have a small wild protein treat.

A few spiders might emerge....maybe a gnat..or two (they never seem to travel alone)...hopefully nothing my hunter cats can't handle.

It's strange to see all the vibrant green in the house and to side step huge palm fronds in the garage....but the inner green means that the outer green is almost spent outside.

Fortunately the warm part of the house shielded my geraniums....hooray.....beautiful pink and red flowers blooms for Thanksgiving...and maybe for a few more days afterwards.

The bringing in of the plants....and the turning up of the heater ....means it's late fall and the beginning of winter. I ignore what the weatherman says.....and listen to my plants.

Such a comforting ritual.....the greening of our house with the first frost.....even if it starts with groans and the inevitable questions from the men folks as to why I am growing such large plants in such big pots.....lol....

How else would we know the season changed?

Finished and Ready for Fall

There isn't a tendon or joint that is not barking at me tonight. I've just finished a ten day courtship with my front and back yards.....and I 'm going to declare us both winners.

I like to garden....and I enjoy tinkering in my yards.

My back yard is mostly forest with numerous azalea bushes, Hostas and a few other ornamental snuggled down in the tamed landscape. I have a small pond....where a colony of frogs live....plus a rain-stream...a stream that comes to life when it rains.

Since my house is on a hill....I look down into my backyard and I love that it is mostly wild and attracts wild things. Songbirds, rabbits, owls, hawks, woodpeckers, raccoons, squirrels, turtles...you name it and it probably lives or passes through my property.

As the West Side of my city adds more parking lots and buildings....my little yard is a wildflower and wild thing oasis. Every other year though--- I have to go down there and tame it .....pull out poison ivy, cut down branches to increase sunlight and air, clip numerous tree sprouts, and cart out dead branches and moldy whatever to keep things in a pleasant balance.

When my parents died, of course, I was up in Chicago....and settling their estate ....so it's been about 3 years since I had a chance to tidy up.It wasn't horrible....nature does keep some things in check all by herself....but there was a tremendous amount of overgrown vines and a tremendous need for some pruning.

So armed with ax, shovel, pruning saw, clippers and a triangular metal stake ...which I call the jabber....I tackled my lot. Some days I only put an hour of work in.....other days 6 hours.....my son Tom helped me after school....he morphed into a human tractor...hauling all the debris up and out to the front of the house. His hefty size was a helpful too.

When I couldn't find an ax....I looked at him.... at 6'3" and said, "Remember when you played football? Think of that rotten dogwood tree as your opponent." He put his shoulder down....and gave a good hard thump....and the darn thing fell right over. Yes yes...we had to get an axe to chop the roots free...but it was still sort of cool.

The front yard is manicured and has traditional garden plants with just a few wild things stuck in...some native buckeyes....a few wildflowers. It's sort of the yang to the yin of the back yard.

I congratulated myself on moving from back to front ...cause by the time I did hit the front yard....my muscles were having serious conversations with me...and my hands sported callouses. When I finally yelled over to my son, "We are done done done!" I did a little celebratory gig....and walked back and forth....eying my achievements....making sure nothing needed just a little more clipping.

Tomorrow....the landscape guy comes over. There's a huge unruly thick holly that needs some expert trimming and at least of truck load of mulch to spread....which I will gladly pay for someone else to move. I know my limits....10 days of hard work is perfect and I am happy to baby and pay the type of attention to my plants that only an individual can do....but bulk mulching is not romantic and requires more muscles than I have left right now....so I'll help the economy and pay people to do that.

Finished and ready for fall....the leaves are turning...the garden is ready....and now it's time for both the land and I to rest.

Fall has arrived in the South

The house is quiet....the cats and dogs are all snoozing on this gray yet colorful day.

I took out a small step stool and placed it in my closet so I could fetch my soft old sweatshirts from the top shelf. It felt snug and comforting to push my arms through the worn long sleeves.

Fall is finally here and the leaves turned just a few days ago.

Fall in the South is luscious....there's just no other words to describe the chilly nights and the warm sunny days. 78 degrees during the days.....50 degrees at night.....the early morning chill of the house often replaced by blue sky sunny warmth. The humidity is gone....which is still a little surprising....soon you forget about damp...until spring when it returns and surprises you again.

My cats and animals all seem snoozy this week. They find shafts of sunlight on the oriental rug or a block of sun by a window and stretch out to purr or dream with their little feet running and skipping after something in their dreams.

In our congregation we had several deaths this week and just yesterday I learned that my friend's mother died.....it's almost as if the very ill have taken their cues from the leaves outside......and are just letting go. It somehow seems appropriate.

I wish too I could relax in the sun.....and just slow down....but my two big events....the literary fest and the silent auction are in gear....and I have a thousand emails, letters and drafts to do this weekend it seems.

But I think I will do that later....I think I'll warm up the HoneyCrisp apple cider I just bought the other day at the store....and sit with one of the cats or dogs....and just dream in color.....even if its for only a little while.
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