Gardening; shortly before autumn came to call...

Yes, you are seeing correctly! 

The green tarp above is the holding place for plants. And, not just any plants. But, all the plants in our garden beds surrounding the back decks. 

What a huge job it was! 

NO surprise though, we knew it would be huge, and wow, was it ever. I began solo, with shovel in hand, scooping off the bark mulch resting on top of the beds. Removing what I could, it was put aside until all was complete, and then the plan was to set it back upon the freshly (played in) dug dirt. 
 

Did I say solo? Oh yes, for a while I just got to work, carving and digging up all the bushes, flowers, and shrubs which had overgrown this garden bed, and then hauled them to the tarp for safe keeping until later on in the day. 

Some of them were ultra heavy, a test of strength to be sure.

Now working side by side with our youngest son, when the beds were absolutely empty, like an artists' canvas, we began anew to restructure them all. 

Overgrowth in the near future was expected some two years before, and I knew full well there would come a day when this task would be necessary to accomplish. 

The beds were carved up to three feet wider, and the temptation to get er done was here and now, with ground frost warning hovering up ahead. 

Some of the plants were difficult to remove, and there were six in particular that were absolute "buggers" to budge. It took both of us, with plenty of sweat and elbow muscle to heave, and haul them out of there. I looked upon them later on when resting on the tarp, wondering if I should just let them wither up in the noon day sun. You know, get rid of them and now. But, they are full of lovely color in autumn, and those fire bushes had to remain...somehow. 

Yep, beginning anew, the beds were completely redesigned... 

Enlisting the help of our youngest daughter later on, her duty was to move the remaining bark mulch, bucket by bucket load. Watching out for slivers, she did a mighty fine job. 

By the end of our day, night fall in fact, we were barely walking, water logged at best. The unexpected high temperatures of the day made it increasingly difficult to attempt to complete the project, though somehow we managed to do just that. 

My hubby arrived home some eight hours later, realizing and watching the tail end of all that labor intensive detailing. 

Waiting for me was a margarita in his hand once he called the project to a full finish on our behalf..... Does he know me, or what?  

There was only one regret. I failed to capture the garden beds as they were once we had completed the task. And, then when the frost came, they all looked rather dismal for what they could have been for a lovely photo. I'm hopeful for a better photo opportunity in spring, and will happily show you how it all ended up. Promise. :) 

Onward to another day....

The following day, we realized seven yards of soil was a bit much for what we required, so further work kept us moving. One load at a time, we were able to use up the remaining mound with a protective tarp over it, spreading it out on the property where required, to fill up sparse areas either sunken or in need of some loving. 

Hubby followed along when we were done with grass seed, hoping the birds wouldn't attack all of it this year. 

What we didn't expect were those chipmunks to come and raid the seeding! Crazy rodents!
 

In the background, you can see our son working his way toward the pile for yet another load. He was such an incredible worker, and huge helper to mom. Project completed, it was time to treat him! He liked that too.

Happy 80th Birthday Dear Mother

To my beautiful Mother;

The more you age, 

the more valuable you become. 

I think your value is - priceless! 

Happy 80th Birthday! 

Love you dearly...
xox

An autumn forest hike

“After a day's walk everything has twice its usual value.”  

~ George Macauley Trevelyan

The best thing I've ever done this past year is join a hiking group. There are upwards of 20 women who walk or hike weekly together, an amazing assortment of ages and abilities to be sure. Actually, the bulk of these women are in fabulous condition, never "walk" per se, rather "power walk" at a great clip to keep anyone else moving hard just to keep up with them. 

I myself like to be in the lead, either right at the helm with our group's organizer, or just behind. I find this keeps me accountable, and really moving to keep up. It's a healthy feeling to become so naturally adrenalized, even if the ridiculous sweating that happens is rather unbecoming. 

The scenery during each of our walk/hikes has been utterly breathtaking at times, most of the geographical hike explorations have been new to me. So far, we've been along beach shores, lush and thick forest paths, along the Nine Mile Portage, through historical Fort road beds, and along snowy walkways on snowshoe. It's always a little bonus when spotting those secret geocatching locations along our journeys.

I love this group of friendly and motivating gals, and find it so encouraging myself, to be in a position of cheering on new members, who are at times very out of shape but very darned and determined to perk up again. The ladies keep up their paces well, so everyone knows if they can't keep up, linger behind with a buddy and see you at the end.

These photos were snapped last week, during a sunny autumn morning deep within the Copeland Forest. 

Surprisingly while we were houghing up steeper hills, a few joggers came along and ran by us so quickly, we literally felt the silent wind beneath their leafy feet in stunned surprise. 

Also surprising was finding out the pedometer clicked us in at 9,879 steps during this particular hike. Yay! Great workout!   

"If adventure has a final and all-embracing motive, it is surely this: we go out because it is our nature to go out, to climb mountains, and to paddle rivers, to fly to the planets and plunge into the depths of the oceans... When man ceases to do these things, he is no longer man."  

- - Wilfrid Noyce

 

  “If you are seeking creative ideas, go out walking.  

Angels whisper to a man when he goes for a walk.”     

-- Raymond Inmon


  

 “A vigorous five-mile walk will do more good for an unhappy but otherwise healthy adult than all the medicine and psychology in the world.” 
 

-- Paul Dudley White


  

“Thoughts come clearly while one walks.”  
 

-- Thomas Mann


  

 Some of the 20 ladies in my hiking club.

 “The longest journey begins with a single step, not with a turn of the ignition key.  That's the best thing about a walking, the journey itself.  It doesn't much matter whether you get where your going or not.  You'll get there anyway.  Every good hike brings you eventually back home.  Right were you started.”

 

-- Edward Abbey 

"We don't stop hiking because we grow old - 

we grow old because we stop hiking". 

 

-Finis Mitchell

 

 

“We live in a fast-paced society.  

Walking slows us down.”  
 

-- Robert Sweetgall


   

Organizing Spices

There's nothing quite like feeling there's a slow brewing rumble,possibly even a war developing in one's own kitchen! 

Yes, I said - a 'war'....(said she with a big wide grin).

True confessions; there are days when I have no clue what I have in my pantry. 

No kidding. 

I never used to have this problem. Not ever. 

But, it has existed for a few years now, and slowly but surely, it's time to end the often, (at the crunch of dinner time fixing and ingredients disappearing) confusion. 

They say you can tell a lot about a cook by opening up and peeking at the goodies within their spice cupboard. I believe that. 

There's one problem however. When "I" open my spice cupboard, I don't always know what's in there either, nor what half of those collected bottles of spice are as a matter of fact! 

You see, there are two cooks in our home, both myself, and my hubby will take the reigns for the family foodie prep. He (as I've shared with you before) has become the food networks prodigy chef extraordinaire. Yes he has. He has a stained apron to prove it. (grin) In fact, he's a fabulous cook! (I love you honey, grinning)

There's a danger, a type of development of a hissy-fitty domain problem though, when two cooks hang out, and cook at separate times in the kitchen. 

My little pantry and spice cupboard problems have festered since my husband decided a food dish is "all about the flavor", thus the increase in spice bottle counts, and even extra bags of spices for when those spice jars run low. Like all that cumin, and cumin seed in there, bags of the stuff to last us an entire lifetime.

There are so many types of spices for use with exotic international types of cooking in our spice cupboard, that I've attempted in the past to segregate the rare ones by placing them on the shelf above the main area from the usual everyday kind, like cinnamon for instance, or parsley. You know, that sort of thing. Well, that worked for a time. And then, "he" mixed all those bottles and bags all up again. Then they seemingly began to multiply, like (for instance) I just discovered we have 3 chili powder bottles. And another bulk refill bag with more chili powder at the back of that second shelf. 

I think there is a danger when one gathers a recipe from the food network online computer site, and then in the excitement (or haste) of wanting to experiment right now, not taking a moment to find out if we have a certain type of spice, or not, well, so why not just buy another? Oh, and the empty bottles, well, there are multiples of those around too, like they're all having babies in there or something. So, I had to perform a kitchen spice addict intervention!  :) (I love you honey...grinning)

What to do? 

Why not re-do! 

So, I re-did every spice container, purchasing all new ones, and filling them up so all would be the same height, and stack-able possibilities came to me in a dream one night. :) 

Our local dollar store was a fantastic supplier for all the spice bottles I would require. That is, they were similar to those in Ikea, but for sale for a fraction of the cost (3/1.00). 

I only bought 21 of them. I figured that had to be plenty, looked like loads when viewing them all laying in a row within my shopping basket in hand.

I was wrong! I had to buy more, like 18 more. 

So, this beckons a loaded question of from me to you; How many spice bottles do YOU have in your cupboards right now? Do you know? 

Go and count, just for fun. You might be surprised!

Today, I finally purchased those 18 additional bottles, and tonight there will be additional spice organizing to complete my spice cupboard intervention task! 

My cherished label machine will be near me, a fresh roll of white tape will continue to produce all the labels I will be requiring to perform this task. 

Oh, I "do" like these spice jars! 

And, I do love all the easy to read labels affixed to them. Oh, and they stack, one on top of another, rows and rows to behold for me when the deed is done. 

There will be a cease fire in my kitchen now, patience and prudence in all matters of organization will allow many cooks to freely express their creative culinary skills, at (often) impulsive tempted timing. 

I'll be heading out next week, spice shopping list in hand, to check out our local "Bulk Barn" for wee bags of necessities to fill all these jars filled to their very brims. 

In the future, if no one remembers to mention a discovered empty spice bottle, maybe that's okay too because at a glance, I'll be able to see through their glass exteriors, and be able to make a notation on my weekly shopping list. 

If foreign spice bottles reappear, it will be time for a kitchen meeting of the cooks, for a further resolve. :) 

Next up? Pantry intervention, but of course. (grinning all the way here...)

Catching "Autumn" with a nature craft

When it comes to all this Autumn season's color, 

how will YOU capture the beauty of nature?

While out on a hike with our nature study homeschool group, everyone was assigned the task to first find a branch shaped like a "Y". It is the best shape for the purpose of capturing autumn, with a built in handle to hold the end product, and two arms to weave simple household string back and forth around. 

Once the weaving is complete, get yourselves in the great outdoors, and have a fun scavenger hunt to find all the colorful goodies around you to savor the season for a time. 

Here's mine! I loved this simple nature craft, so easy peasy, and so very naturally colorful.