Halloween Photos

The annual Halloween pictures with the Princess were fun.

I can't believe she will be 5 in December. The years have just flown by.

I feel like this is the end of the seasonal pictures. She is not as into the whole dress up thing anymore.

Makes me sad, but I understand how that all comes to an end at some point.

Seems like when they go to school there are plenty of school pictures and events that go along with pictures.

So this will probably be it.

I wasn't as excited with this outfit as the past outfits, but there isn't as much available once they get out of the T's. Then its little girls dresses etc and there wasn't much to choose from.

Of course there is still the costume thing, but she has that to wear on Halloween.

We had a great time and if this is the end to seasonal photo sessions then I guess it was a good last one. She even agreed to the spider barrette.(-:  What more could I ask for.

I love her so much.

What's New?

Same old stuff here. Waiting for the big frost to hit. Almost done with the little shed to store all my plants in. It is getting painted this week. Then insulated and then the plants can go in and stay toasty warm until spring arrives. The little shed also serves as the pump house for the well.

So it has another purpose, but my husband added two big windows so I could put all the plants inside during the winter months. It will be really nice. I always put plants in the house, but the house is not to big and the plants take up a lot of room.

The next thing I am doing is painting the outside of the house. Same color, but just a new coat of paint.

Of course there is always the bread baking adventures. I probably haven't shared them much lately. Here are the last three bakes.

This was this mornings.

Saturdays

Last Saturday

I try to bake every week and you can see that mostly the bread looks about the same. I am thinking that is a good thing. 

I have found, if you let it do the final rise before putting in fridge inside the plastic bag, it is much nicer. 

Todays bread I did not do that. I left it sitting out to rise and then put in the bag to refrigerate. 

So note to self...remember bag.(-: 

Although you probably can't tell much difference, the bag actually adds a ton of moisture to the dough and causes a lot more action.

This sour dough adventure has been a blast. Some ups and downs. 

O.K. a lot of downs to start with, but now I think I have it mastered. 

Maybe time to move on to a different recipe. There are so many to try. So many great artisan breads out there.

You may remember that this bread is just flour/water/salt and of course the starter which is just flour and water. No commercial yeast is ever used. 

That is what makes it so much fun. 

Will it rise or not?

That can be the big question as you start learning this whole process.

I would say though, if making every week, you learn slower then if you made it everyday.

Since it is so time consuming I chose to only do it once a week. 

Then bake the following morning.

There are no short cuts in this bread process.

Unlike yeast dough you have to really be patient. I really don't have a lot of patience so that makes it harder for me. (-:

The best part though is the first bite.

Which sometimes happens before the bread is cooled.

When I was in high school I worked for several years at a local French bakery.

Hot bread out of the oven was always everyone's favorite.

Customers always asked how we worked there and didn't gain a ton of weight.

The answer was we were kids and most of us were in sports.

Fast forward to now. You get the picture!

So yeah, baking everyday would be a huge mistake. 

That is also why I give one loaf away and keep one for the family.

Giving a loaf away is never a problem. Most people like fresh  baked sour dough.

Well that is all for now.

Hope your week starts out well.

Last Pick of the Season

The 2018 garden is coming to a close and it was the best year ever. Everything except tomatoes that is. For some reason they did not live long. Just about when things were going well they started dying. So that was a bummer.

Anyhow this is the last crop of butternut this year. This is the second crop.

The largest was 5lbs 13oz.

We had about 30 jack o lantern pumpkins.

We picked those a couple weeks ago.

I can't wait for next year. I am going to plant more pumpkins and less zucchini and crookneck squash. (-:

Fall Planting

Or should I say getting ready for Spring? 

Ah, yes, that fabulous season when everything is new again. I can hardly wait. But I must, and there is plenty of time to get it all done.

First there were 200+ bulbs to get in the ground. Daffodils and Tulips galore. 

Then I decided to dig up every thing that was in need of transplanting. Another 100+ bulbs.  

Plus I had more bulbs in pots I had never planted in the ground. 

So now all are planted into the ground awaiting their Spring activation.

I worked outside all day moving things around and planting things.

Re-arranging stuff.

It is an endless job. (-:

Here is what is still blooming.

My daughter gave me this little sun so I hung it on the new arbor.

This rat tail cactus is not blooming, but it looks nice.

I guess that is all for now.

Enjoy your week!

Buying Things You Don't Like

Do you ever order something and in my case on eBay, and then not like it?

Well I did that the other day. 

I ordered a lamp shade that was advertised as yellow, but when I got it, it was a cream color and not yellow. 

This what was advertised. It looks yellow to me.

It was not at all. 

It was this cream color.

I tried really hard to like it. It was really nice, but it was not what I wanted. 

Someone told me to put a yellow light bulb in it and it would be more yellow. 

That was not what I wanted to do though.

So I was upset for the weekend and then today I decided to find something I do like.

Why waste time worrying about something I don't like.

So I looked on eBay again then called the local shops and I found one here locally.

I am super happy now. I got a green one instead and it is probably what I should have got in the first place, but I thought the yellow was so pretty.

Live and learn.

If anyone wants a nice cream colored slag glass lamp shade let me know. 

I will make you a really good deal.(-:

One Month

Vincent is one month old. Actually on the 12th he was one month old. I am late getting a picture posted.

Time sure does fly by whether you want it too or not.

Tomorrow the Princess will be coming over for a visit.

We plan to do some Halloween stuff.(-:

My daughter is off work until after the Holidays. Then I will babysit both kids.

Should be interesting.(-:

I have had questions from my daughter like ...do you think you can do it?

I say...well I managed to raise two of my own didn't I?

Of course I can.

I'm just a little older then I was when they were babies.(-:

Sunshiney Saturday

This rose is the Cha-Ching Rose. Such a pretty golden yellow.

You can see it blooming behind the head planter.

Enjoying The Blooms

It is still feeling like Summer with a hint of Fall here.

Today I saw this pretty butterfly flying around.
I think it is a gulf fritillary butterfly.
Quite a bright orange little thing. It is very quick moving too.

It took forever for it to land long enough to get a picture of it.

There are still a lot of blooms around the garden.

Each day means it is one day closer to the end of the flowers and the beginning of the long cold, darkness they call Winter. I am trying to enjoy every last minute.

The Fall Scene

There is a few fall colors, but mostly not.

The hibiscus was about it.

 The rest are flowers blooming now in the garden.

Anemone 

A reblooming daylily

One of my favorite roses, Dainty Bess

Cha Ching Rose

Tropicana Canna

And Polly, because no garden is complete without one? (-:

Up

Well it is up and that is about it.

Do I love it?

Yup!

Is it perfect?

No, but it is perfect for me.

I love the already rusty look. It blends in perfectly.

It also matches the other one I bought this summer.

It was easy to put together. I have it attached to the oak barrels so the wind does not blow it over.

It would not be o.k. on it's own.

The bottom shelves I am going to try to make work as side shelves.

I have rocks to move as you can see they are in the middle of the pathway.

I have to work on that.There is also a lot of raking and clean up in the future. (-:

But, here it is in all it's glory! (-: 

  

I transplanted two clematis into the tubs. I know they will like it much better in the sun.

One was my Mom's and I had planted it in the butterfly garden, but that area does not get enough sunshine. So I dug it up and moved it. Hopefully it likes it better. The other one I have had for years in a pot and it was not getting enough sun or water so it now will get a lot of both.

Everything is in fall mode so no blooms until next Spring. I ordered 6 new rose bushes to plant. One in each barrel by the arbor then the others around the garden. I like how the floribundas do in containers here. They seem to bloom all season. I love their non stop colors.

So looking forward to Spring is where I am right now. I have a lot to do before then and a long few months of nothing to look at before that happens.

Soon winter will arrive. Ugh!

I hope you are enjoying getting your gardens ready for their long cozy sleep!

Rain

It is raining. Hard to believe after months of no rain and fires all around us.

I am also so happy that we got the hornets nest down when we did.

Today the arbor is arriving.

It might be fun to put it together in the rain right?

Check back tomorrow maybe there will be a picture of it.