Keeping the Home Fires Burning

We have frost almost every night now. Four times last week and again this morning. Heavy frost. The kind that necessitates scraping off the windshield in the morning. I didn’t cover anything in the garden. I was ready to let it all die – and it did. There will be no more flowers now until the snowdrops show up next spring. The temperature was 24° on Thursday morning and Friday morning it was 27°. This morning it was 23°. That seems too cold for October. I’ve put off getting out my heavy winter coat and gloves. I just can’t bring myself to do it. It’s still October, which in my mind is jacket and sweater weather. Although the nights have been cold, the days are pleasant – in the 60s. One nice thing about the cold – it has brightened the colors in the trees. We've also had several beautiful sunrises and sunsets. Autumn is all about color.

Frost every morning now.

Sunset on Monday.

Sunrise on Friday.

Thursday after school I’d planned to start cleaning out frost killed flowers, but when I got home the weather was so beautiful and the hills beckoned me and I couldn’t resist. I left the work for another day and took a long walk instead. This time I went the opposite of the route I usually take. I started at the beaver pond and walked up the road to Burrell’s. Then I crossed the road and went up the hill, through the thin edge of the woods, and then out into the fields. When I came out of the woods, there were three deer grazing in a field of newly sprouted winter wheat. They didn’t notice me at first and when they finally did, they didn’t seem to care much. They stood and looked at me for five minutes and then trotted into the woods. I walked the fields along the edge of the woods almost to Raymond. Then I crossed to the other side of the ridge and came back home via the hollow.

From my walk: starting at the beaver pond.

Up in the woods.

Deer in the wheat field.

The view from the top of the hill.

Down in the hollow.

Home again.

The Shilligs arrived home in the wee hours of Thursday morning. It’s so good to have them home. They brought their daughter Kale and husband Roman and their new baby Lev back with them for a visit. I haven’t seen Kale in several years and I’d never met her husband before. Their baby boy is cute. It’s nice having neighbors next door again.

We worked at burning branch piles during the week. Friday evening and on into the night we had two big branch piles burning. Kurt came over and helped. We use our electric leaf blower to help fan the fire and Kurt spent several hours keeping the flames going. Then on Saturday, good neighbor Ziggy and his step-daughter Jenny came over and spent most of the day cutting down the rest of the trees. While they were cutting, we continued stacking and burning. We were at it all morning and into the afternoon and there is still more to burn. It seems endless. I’m ready for it to stop. I’m tired of smelling like smoke. I’m sure the rest of the neighborhood is tired of the smoke too. With piles of branches here and there and cut up logs and the general disorderliness of it all, I feel anxious. I want to get it all cleared away so I can start visualizing what I will do next. Clutter always bothers me – in the house and especially in my yard. We’ll keep working at it.

Burning branches.

Keeping the home fires burning.

I got some other winterizing jobs done during the week. I got new glass (actually it was plexiglass) and repaired several broken windows – one in the woodshed and three in the barn. I harvested my pumpkins. There weren’t many this year. I will work at cooking and freezing them this week. I spent Friday afternoon pulling up frostbitten plants. Marigolds, morning glories, cleome, cosmos, and petunias all went into the compost. I cut the tops off the dahlias and this week I will dig up the roots and put them down cellar for the winter. I pulled up the gladiolus and set them to dry before they go down cellar too. I ordered some fall bulbs and they came in the mail on Friday so after I pulled everything up, I planted bulbs – Siberian irises, fritillaries, flowering alliums, and daffodils. Pulling dead things up and putting new things in for next year – that’s the cycle of the seasons in my garden.

This year's pumpkins.

The Thayns arrived late Friday night to spend the weekend with us. They helped with the burning on Saturday. I love it when they visit.

On Saturday afternoon we went up to the church for a celebration – our little branch’s 40th anniversary. It was a nice affair. Our stake president and his family and the other members of the stake presidency and a former stake president were there. We had several people speak on the history of our branch. Twenty -five years ago when our chapel was built, the members made a time capsule that was hidden in the building. That was opened. The contents, mostly photographs and paper documents, had gotten wet and were in bad shape, but it was interesting to take a look back to 1979. There were wonderful refreshments, mostly made by Julie, but with contributions from Kale and Miriam. So it has been 40 years since the Wellsville Branch split off from Hornell. Many members have come and gone in those years, but a few of the original families are still here. It occurred to me this evening that, although I think of our family as newcomers to the branch, we’ve lived here for half of its history.

The contents of the time capsule.

Refreshments.

Today was another perfect autumn day. Driving to and from church the trees were so beautiful. After church we had lunch over at the Shillig’s house. Julie made delicious soups and rolls. After lunch we drove up to an overlook in the lower end of Ulysses Township. The drive to the top was lovely. When we got to the top, the trees were not as bright as I thought they’d be, but it was pretty looking out over the hills. When we got back from that drive, we had dessert over at the Shillig’s – chocolate cream, coconut cream, and pumpkin pie. I had the pumpkin pie. Then we came home and the Thayns packed up and left for home. Now the house is still and a little too quiet. It was then that I found out that all the pictures I’d taken in the afternoon didn’t get saved. My camera is on its way out. Which makes me sad because I take a lot of pictures.

Early this morning.

On the drive to church.

Up at the overlook.

Tomorrow is Columbus Day and we do not have school. It is actually a teacher in-service day, but I don’t have to go to those. I have plans for the day. The weather is supposed to be good. I will keep burning branch piles. I have lots of leaves to rake up. Maybe I’ll dig up the dahlias. I’ve mowed the orchard and now I need to remove all the cut grass piles. So much to do and I will love every second of it.