Do we have Leaves?

We had leaves and plenty of them, notice that only 1 neighbour has 2 bags out for collection?  I think all the leaves in the bay blew into our yard, now raking and sweeping all of them was actually a lot of fun this year as the weather was grand so it was like gathering giant corn flakes.  The problem was with obtaining the paper bags to collect them in, (new rules) I ended up just bagging them in the big old orange plastic ones first, which ended up being a good idea due to the weather turning to snow, anyways we just transferred them into the paper ones once the stores finally got more stock in.
Well that's the end of the fall clean-up.  My garden is empty.  I put wooden stakes behind every perennial plant in my flower bed so that I now know exactly where they are.  I had put everything on computer but when you can't be exact, it's easy to dig things up in the spring as I found out this year.

A Quilt for August

My little niece August was born Aug 15 on her Grandma's birthday, how special is that!!  I had the quilt top made in 2 weeks.  Then after this and that, I finally finished it, I had to go back up to Stonewall to get more of the colour for the binding.  So it will be off in the mail soon.  I went out of my comfort zone and actually did some leaves here and there, I free handed them so they are not perfect in way shape or form, however I will never get past stitching in the ditch if I don't do something other than that will I!

Violet loves her quilt, I gave it to her mom when she was up last week, I put her picture on the label on the back and she totally loved that little special that makes it hers.  Not that all the colours don't say, this is Violet's quilt!!!

Now Ryann said she wants a Christmas blanket, thinking of ideas there. . . .a rag quilt stands out, however whatever it is, I will have to start soon as I take forever to complete anything.

My Friendly Squirrels

Well, this is what those little guys can do in a very short period of time, this lattice is very strong and thick!
My sister asked if I was sure it was squirrels and not beavers!
ok, this was last month, I'll have to get on this blog more often so I can figure some things out.

My Favorite Time of The Year

I remember this poem from when I was just little, love it still. . . . 

September

Helen Hunt Jackson

The golden-rod is yellow; 

The corn is turning brown;

 The trees in apple orchards

 With fruit are bending down.

 The gentian's bluest fringes

 Are curling in the sun;

 In dusty pods the milkweed

 Its hidden silk has spun.

 The sedges flaunt their harvest,

 In every meadow nook;

 And asters by the brook-side

 Make asters in the brook,

 From dewy lanes at morning

 The grapes' sweet odors rise;

 At noon the roads all flutter

 With yellow butterflies.

 By all these lovely tokens 

 September days are here,

 With summer's best of weather,

 And autumn's best of cheer.

 But none of all this beauty

 Which floods the earth and air

 Is unto me the secret

 Which makes September fair.

 'T is a thing which I remember;

 To name it thrills me yet:

 One day of one September

 I never can forget. 

Still Quilting

AUGUST QUILT

A BABY QUILT, for a little darling niece named August, not quite finished, I think I will border it with the raspberry colour batik.  It's actually quite large, each square is 8", so it's a good size.  I'm still 2 quilts behind, sigh. . . . . .  It is the favourite time of year for me, still hot on most days but the morning breeze promises 

cooler weather to follow soon.  

Maybe a fire tonite, that would be nice.  I've started pulling out plants in the garden that were really non-producers.  Yesterday we had Moe over to replace our lattice under the deck where the squirrel super-highway was, it is reinforced with small wire mesh as well.  I have my fingers crossed.
This is a short entry, just to ensure I had at least one entry in August, hopefully another to follow.  Gotta run for now.
going to find supplies to make squirrel (friendly and humane) traps.

Berry Picking

Nothing says summer more than strawberry picking, or berry picking of any sort.  So that's what we did the other day at Boonstra Farms by Stonewall.  

We went early to try and beat the heat, they were actually closing early that day.  We wanted to get there about 0830, but we kinda got a little off the direct route and it took us a bit longer to reorientate  ourselves!!

The day started off well with some cloud cover and a nice breeze, then out popped the sun, we were smoking hot in no time and both Ryann and I forgot our hats.  We quickly filled our baskets (well as fast as we could taking into account the number that were disappearing), thank you Ryann!

We were going to go the the barn and see the animals but it was just too hot.

We went into Stonewall to Subway (opted out of the tea house, no air conditioning!)

Then of course had to make a stop at the wonderful quilt shop there.  We had a great day, hot but nice.  We will try and get out picking earlier in the season next year, the farm said that the berries were getting smaller but seriously, these berries were the smallest ones I have ever seen, some smaller than raspberries!

Here is a pic of Ryann enjoying the berries later on that day, again!

ANTHRACNOSE

I love the colours on these leaves, they are among my most favourite, which is why I love the fall season.
However, when one sees multiple fall looking leaves on the ground in the first week of July, closer inspection is warranted.  As you can see, it is some sort of fungus (of which there are many) to attack plants, trees, foliage of any sort and it has descended on my tree in the front yard.  I had ripped out all my strawberry plants earlier in the year as the leaves were looking somewhat like this, the rhubarb leaves to a degree, my lovely Virginia creeper, Midnight Lady with her lovely large leaves.

Fungus spreads literally with the wind as the spores go through the air landing on anything and  everything and if the site is nice, set down and destroy to whatever degree they can.  I am going to try spraying with some liquid soap, a gallon of water with a heaping tablespoon of baking soda.  This apparently changes the ph and the fungus will not set on the leaves sprayed with the baking soda, it does not kill the fungus itself.  I'll let u know how that works out, I have a pretty big yard to deal with.
I wanted to try and be as organic as possible before resorting to fungicides containing coppers and sulphurs!
In the fall, I will not leave any leaves anywhere in the yard!!  All to be raked (well the ones already on the ground have to be raked now and bagged to try and prevent the fungus from spreading).

• Anyways, always something new.
  I also did something yesterday that I knew was wrong but did it anyways, must have been the heat!!
  

  

  Never move plants around in the heat, esp flowering ones that are producing (in this case zucchini).  It looks like it might recover somewhat though.
  Radishes have gone to seed, the lettuce is done, the spinach has gone to seed.  What a heat wave can do to growing plants!
  Time to re-seed!