October's Bright Blue Weather?

O suns and skies and clouds of June,
And flowers of June together,
Ye cannot rival for one hour
October's bright blue weather.

That’s the first stanza of the poem October’s Bright Blue Weather by Helen Hunt Jackson. My Grandma Rathfon recited that poem to me once. It was one of her favorites. She loved the month of October. She was born on the 7th day of the month in 1906. She always wore an opal ring, the birthstone of the month. And every year that she could, she took a drive up through Perry and Juniata counties in October to see the glory of the season in the beautiful land of her ancestors.

Mary Elizabeth Showers Rathfon

I love the month of June. It’s my favorite month. It’s the best month of the year here in Gold, with long warm days and the gardens at their peak. But if I had to name my second favorite month, I would, without hesitation, name October. Its glory is second to June’s only because it is so brief and it is a sadder sort of glory. And I love it because my grandmother loved it. So far the month has been a bit dreary. I hope the clouds soon clear so we can see some of that bright blue sky before all the leaves fall.

October sans blue skies.

Things were pretty quiet here last week. We had another frost on Wednesday morning. It wasn’t as hard as the one we had last Sunday, but it was enough to finish off the tender plants that had survived. Now comes the time for pulling up, cutting back, and ripping out this year’s garden. It’s a violent procedure and to someone not accustomed to it, it might seem extreme. To me it’s a sad and yet exhilarating time. Pulling up spent flowers that once were beautiful and brought me joy is sad. Clearing them away to make way for next year’s garden, which I’ve already planned in my head, is exhilarating.

The brightest things in my flowerbeds now are the autumn blooming crocuses. I wish I had a hundred of them.

Autumn blooming crocuses.

In the vegetable garden most things are done now. I harvested and froze all the peppers. The potatoes – well, I don’t want to talk about that. Raspberries and strawberries are done. I pulled up the beans and they are drying on the back porch. The few winter squashes that grew are curing on the back porch. There are still some things alive and growing. I’ve managed to keep the tomatoes alive. They are suffering, but they are still loaded with fruit and I will let them live until a killing freeze threatens. Then I will pick all the fruit and bring it in to ripen indoors. Broccoli, cabbage, and cauliflower actually like this cooler weather and are doing fine.

From the garden yesterday.

I planted a type of corn called Glass Gem this year. It’s a dry corn for grinding. The stalks are drying out now and the ears are almost ready to pick. The other day I picked a few ears that were ready and husked them to see what they look like. It’s the prettiest corn I’ve ever grown. I don’t think I’ll be able to grind it up. I just want to look at it.

Glass Gem Corn

On Tuesday I picked the rest of our grapes and juiced them. I made some of that into jelly and then canned the rest of the juice. Yesterday we picked up a half bushel of grapes we ordered from the Amish, so I spent part of the day making another batch of jelly and canning two more gallons of juice.

The drive out to North Bingham to pick up the grapes on Saturday morning was a little disappointing. I took the camera because it’s a beautiful drive and this is a beautiful time of year, but the day was dreary, cloudy, and rainy. Still, you can get some sense of the fall leaves from the photos I took. If the weather clears, the next two week will be amazing.

Out in North Bingham

It started raining on Thursday and it’s still going – mostly a steady, drizzly rain, but yesterday we had a downpour for an hour. With the rain came cooler temperatures. It’s sweater weather now – inside the house and out. We were tempted to light the wood stove, but can’t bring ourselves to admit it’s necessary yet. Anyway, we’ve stocked the woodpile on the front porch and necessity will win out before too long.

The woodpile on the porch.

This weekend is General Conference, an event I look forward to twice a year. I love the talks by our General Authorities. Their inspired counsel always lifts my spirit and gives me hope. With the world so far gone in its rationalized, relativistic reveling in wickedness, it’s good to hear the words of prophets, seers, and revelators to bring things into perspective. I also love the music. The Mormon Tabernacle Choir is such a great choir and we get to hear them sing in three of the sessions. Their music is as powerful as the spoken words. We always look for cousin Rick in the choir. This time we had an extra treat. The Saturday afternoon session featured a choir of elders and sisters from the Missionary Training Center and Josiah was in the choir! Every time the choir sang, the camera paused for a moment, at least once and sometimes more, on Josiah. It was great seeing him and knowing what a great experience he was having being in the Conference Center and participating in such a wonderful event.

The missionary choir at conference.

Josiah is on the left, fourth row, second in.

Josiah in the choir.

This being General Conference Sunday, we are observing our usual custom – we slept late and had a quiet and leisurely morning. We’ll watch sessions at 12:00 and 4:00, and between the sessions we’ll have dinner at the Shillig’s house. It’s a great way to spend the Sabbath day.

On Whitney Hill Road.