The First Frost down at Home Farm (only about a quarter-mile away) was on Oct 9. Here, in just a slightly different microclimate, the first was Oct 11th. My father used to scrape the date in the frost on the car window and photograph it, so this year I continued that tradition.
The view toward the east, though . . *sublime*
[ID: A photo of a green yard with trees in the background. They are backlit by the rising sun, and have a heavenly glow.]
There is a harmless but ugly fungus that grows on the outsides of the apples. Looking it up, I found the name "sooty blotch." I think my parents used to call it "apple smut." It turns out that if you websearch "apple smut" you do NOT get any orchardist results. Anyhow, I wish I didn't have to deal with it.
I took the top apples out and washed them with a clean scrubbing pad. You can see the difference! It makes them difficult to give away, because an overwhelming majority of people are used to perfect-looking market produce, and would be repulsed by these 'sooty' ones.
K and I made time this afternoon to pick three big bags of apples, two from the giant tree and one from the yellow delicious. During the week I need to go down to Home Farm and pick several bags of the tart red ones, the other red ones (I do wish I knew their names), and the Granny Smiths. If I'm lucky and keep myself motivated, I'll have a whole lot of dried apples and some more apple sauce and pie filling by the end of the week.
October apples compensate/for all the time you've had to wait./ I know you longed to pick them, Dear/ when they were green and nowhere near/ the time when they are ripe to pick!/ And green ones make your tummy sick.
Roughly 30 years ago a friend took me and my brother to a "Haunted Cave," an actual cavern that was turned into a haunted-house-type Halloween activity during October. It was pretty cool, and I wouldn't mind doing it with my kids, but I can't remember exactly where the darned things was. Obviously, after thirty years, it may no longer be running.
Searching for 'haunted cave' returned results in Ohio, which can't be right. Adding Pennsylvania to the search didn't seem to help much. However, I did find a site with a bunch of spooky Pennsylvania info, and it IS that time on Tumblr, so I'll share.
I applaud their use of "supposedly."
Jean Bonnet Tavern I have been to, not for spooky reasons but to enjoy their restaurant. It is pricey, but a special treat for our family about once a year.
I am intrigued by the idea of a haunted aviary. Do the penguins . . . mind when dead Confederate soldiers show up? Do the ghosts mind that they are haunting a bunch of flightless waterfowl? In my mind, the penguins from Madagascar are trying (and failing) to interact with Billy Ray and John Bob Anderson from Macon, Georgia, dead since the 1860s. Highjinks ensue.
A very fine month. May I offer you apples, grapes, and pumpkins?
Heh. In 2008 K suffered - as only a frustrated toddler can - ALL SUMMER because she was determined to pick the apples (green! unripe! sour!). It was a great relief to everybody when it was finally time to pick them. Red and sweet, etc. A always enjoyed piking them, but he never got as unnervingly intense about it as she did.
Next summer I want to plant tons of pumpkins, squash, and gourds. Possibly down at home farm, because there haven't been any planted there for at least 5 years, and there won't be any accumulation of squash bugs or vine borers.
Happy Halloween, everyone. I like the concept of every season being divided into ‘early’ and ‘late’. In our area, the end of October is a good dividing point for early fall, when we’re finishing the harvest and can still pretend it’s summer(ish), and late fall, when the leaves are almost all gone and winter seems right around the corner. So, goodbye to the golden days of early fall, the apples and the brilliant foliage. Hello to the ever-darker evenings, chillier days, and hot drinks.
[ID: First painting is still life of a wooden cutting board stacked with yellow produce. There is a yellow tomato, gourds, an apple, and some crabapples. The second painting is a fall scene in a narrow gap with a country road. The steep hills on either side have foliage that is golden-yellow or still green. There is a creek beside the road. The third painting has a wooden fram and is a still life of fruit and herbs picked in October. One red and one yellow apple, an asian pear, some purple grapes, sage, and mint.]
Celebrate leafs!
Sycamore leaf
Silver maple leaf
oak leaves
Lots of oak leaves!
Oh, K and I just picked apples from the Big Tree. We took about two 5-gallon buckets’ worth, leaving a whole hecking lot still on the tree and many windfalls on the ground. We were assisted in this endeavor by several dozen wasps, bees, and yellowjackets, who were all too busy gorging (or too drunk) to bother us. They just buzzed irritably out of the way when we moved and then re-settled on their feast. Some of them hiccuping faintly.
(This photo is from early spring, but it shows how darned big this apple tree is. It was supposed to be a semi-dwarf!!)
[ID: Photo of an apple tree about ten yards/meters tall. It is bare of leaves. There is a woman leaning against the trunk with her arms crosses, and fluffy brown dog sniffing the yard, and two judgemental horses in the far background. Also chickens.]
Oct 2, 2021
Me, every year around September 15:
October’s coming! I have plenty of time to decorate, get costumes together for the kids, I can do some seasonal baking . . . !
Me, every year on October 28:
Dammit dammit dammit (mumbling around the needle and thread in my mouth as I frantically apply stitches to Herne the Hunter’s kilt)
I’d feel bad about that, but at least I’m old enough to recognize the stuff I did do.
I didn’t get the bat decorations out, but we did grow a ton of pumpkins and gourds and they are places attractively around outside and inside. I helped my daughter make leaf-shaped sugar cookies with colorful frosting. I made several pumpkin pies. The costumes aren’t complete, but I do have all the fabric and notions, and my son and I will get to work on the Hunter’s kilt and cloak tonight.
It’s ok. Not as magnificent as I wanted in my head, but ok.
Hauntober Day 19: Familiar.
This was a bit of a mix-up of fairy and witchy. If you see a hint of Mary Cicely Barker’s flower-fairy style here, you are correct, I am a huge fan of her work. The cat, I have to say, was an excellent familiar! Sunny was adopted from an animal shelter fostering arrangement at the age of 10 weeks. He was living with his littermates, all of whom were darker-colored, in a large cage in a basement. When we met the lady who was fostering and saw the kittens running wildly around the basement, I was a little concerned about how hard it would be to tame him. I grabbed him as he zoomed by and handed him carefully to my daughter, who was 4. I cautioned her to let him go if he struggled or got scratchy. Instead, he dissolved into a puddle of orange goo and snuggled in her arms, purring like a chainsaw. Effort spent socializing: zero. As it turned out he was quite an intelligent cat. Somehow he seemed to have an intuitive understanding of being adopted and finding a forever home. He was a fine friend to my daughter all the years of his life, and (aside from the tiny issue of stealing butter from the table) never did a thing wrong ever.
Happy Monday, everyone. I hope that you and I both accomplish something fulfilling this week. *Hugs*
I just realized how many leaf pictures I’ve done. Painting, drawing, ink. I just - love them!
Hauntober #7, haunted. This painting came about because I toured this building after its renovation, and the amazing woodwork (lovingly restored) gave me ballet-studio vibes. Standing in the empty room with sunlight flooding in, I could picture a young dance student and her ?
Could be a teacher, her mother, a ballerina from history, or anyone else you decide on. Whenever I showed this piece in a gallery or art event, I’d ask the people who responded to it what identity they thought the ghost had. Heard all different stories, which made me happy. One lady looked at it, covered her mouth with her hand, and rushed out nearly in tears. Never found out why, but I was sorry to have given her an unhappy moment.
[ID: a five-yr-old girl in a black leotard and pink tutu practices a ballet position in a brightly sunny room with beautiful wooden paneling. Standing just behind the young ballerina is the ghost of an adult ballerina in the same position, her hand touching the girl’s.]
Hauntober #6 fog. Photo credit to my daughter; she snapped it from the back of the school bus Fall of ‘19 and allowed me to paint it.
Is it time?
IT’S TIME!!!!
Happy October, everyone! Please try to spook local!
