Autumn Isn't All Dying Plants

Some plants come into their own in the Autumn (which I like better than Fall as a name for the season) like the mums I raced out to buy one gray afternoon and slammed into the ground in the front flower bed.  My assistant and I have been pretty dedicated to keeping them watered.  I just have to make sure that my assistant isn't watered more than the plants--or that he's wearing clothes and shoes that can get soaked and still leave him dry things to go home in.  Once he got ahead of me and soaked his shoes in fountain water and they didn't dry before going home time.  Daddy noticed that he came home barefoot.  Oh, he didn't scold me or anything but I like to return my assistants in as close to the condition I received them in as possible.  This is why they make plastic shoes and inexpensive clothes.  There's a lot of water and dirt that needs exploring, a kid has to be ready.

The ferns, however, have given up for the season.  The ones in the foreground lasted the longest but I know they'll be back in the spring just as happy and ferny as ever.  They're established enough that the nibbling of the first batch of baby bunnies doesn't decimate my ferns for the whole year.


Last night I finished the third Rebel Girls hat and tried my hand at some duplicate stitch using bulky yarn.  Not the right choice, it was illegible.  I didn't even leave it in long enough to get its picture taken, I pulled it out and reconsidered my yarn choices.  I'll try some worsted weight yarn today to see if that looks better.  I have to figure out a way to get those words on those hats.  It's such a cool idea.


What do you find when you clean out the junky top drawer of the dresser?  You find four old cellphones and two cameras.  I have them all plugged in so I can make sure to erase any personal info on them before donating or disposing of them.  I'll probably keep the cameras but there's no earthly reason to keep old phones.


Today is a "fill the freezer" day at Chez Malcolm.  Piggly Wiggly had chicken thighs and drumsticks

for 99 cents a pound (why don't they put a cents sign on keyboards anymore?) so we stocked up.  I got them spread out to freeze them and Durwood's packaging them in vacuum bags.  Then Festival had their Mom's Meatloaf on sale (Durwood's a big meatloaf fan) so we got 3 lbs. and some foil pans.  I baked two 1 1/2 lb. loaves this morning; one will get sucked and frozen and the other's in the fridge for eating.  The Pig also had fresh, wild-caught whitefish for a reasonable price so I found a piece that's just right for our supper some evening.  That's getting frozen too.

November 3--Pierre-Auguste Renoir, In the Garden.  She wasn't wearing gloves.  Jules had removed his hat and Amelia wore no gloves.  They held hands.  Passers-by glanced at them out of the corners of their eyes.  No one commented beyond a few clicks of the tongue by older women itching to call Amelia out on her brazen behavior.  They knew it would be no use speaking to Jules because men were beasts and took advantage of any opportunity.  It was up to women to maintain decorum and this young woman had obviously never learned that.  Neither Jules nor Amelia noticed the small sensation they created in the shady corner of the garden.  They were too rapt, gazing into one anothers' eyes, their lips barely a breath apart in public and in broad daylight.  Their lack of decorum was almost unbearable.

I didn't think I needed to go to a grocery store today but then one of Pick n' Save's "$5 Friday" deals is ice cream 2/$5 and who can pass that up.  I'm off.
--Barbara