Thursday, September 28, 2017

Home On The Range


Did you say what have I been up to since our last visit? A little fall decorations for inside.



Promised myself to finish the porch floor before winter so last week, I did.

Paint brush dried up in the bag. It's been months since I painted. What does that mean? New brushes.

Scrape, scrape, scrape.


That looks much better. The next thing I did was not a good idea but what's fall without candy apples.

Couldn't find my thermometer but I can always cook it to the hard crack stage and drop the candy in water to see if it's ready.



I unfortunately picked a hot, humid day and no matter how long I cooked the candy it didn't reach the point it should have. Supposedly it's ready in about 20 minutes. But I cooked it and cooked it and cooked it. Then I made a bad decision.


You're supposed to use a cookie sheet to place them on but I used wax paper. Bad decision.

My beautiful stayman and Jonagold apples. All the way from Lancaster. I also used the greens ones shown. Not sure what type they were. All stuck to the paper and sticky. Don't laugh. They shall be eaten and the next time I make them, it'll be a cool crisp day. On to today's project.
Never make hasty purchase from the Philadelphia Flower Show that you don't plan to use immediately. I bought this 2 years ago to hang on my door. It seemed like a good idea at the time.




Stuffed with newspaper. Maybe I should have used plastic bags. Doesn't really matter, Christmas will be here soon and a wreath will be in it's place. Yes, that's my foot.
As I said. Avoid hasty purchases. This has been on my porch all summer. It did well though, didn't die and got little, little water. As little as I give a cactus. Maybe it'll be able to come inside over the winter.

It has to look better than that. Lets see what I have inside the house.





Not perfect. Won't win any awards but it'll do. Wonder if the corn stalk will be standing in the morning? Autumn has returned to Philly and it's beautiful today. Windy, blue skies. If I could capture today's weather. 
See you at Linvila Orchards this weekend? Maybe. It's a beautiful weekend to pick apples and eat apple cider donuts. I promise to walk off all the calories!

Friday, September 22, 2017

Autumn Equinox

Autumn arrives at 4:02 PM in the Northern Hemisphere ushering in  warmth, blue skies, and my anticipation of walking upon golden, red, and orange leaves.














The season for Montauk Daisies to bloom.

That tiny grass plant grew and covered all the other perennials.



Sunday, September 17, 2017

Birthday Weekend



I enjoyed myself yesterday spending time with family celebrating my birthday. Are you a September baby? Ironic but I recently realized that I'm not actually born in the fall. Missed it by a few days since fall doesn't arrive until the 22nd. I still claim it as the time of my birth and favorite season. We're having Indian Summer. It's been hot in Philly. After being spoiled with fall temperatures, summer returned. To Primex today to see the pansies, see if paper whites and amaryllis have arrived, and see their selection of fall bulbs. Paper whites and amaryllis had not arrived but that didn't matter. Just window shopping while walking around the store, green house, and nursery was fun. There were lots of perennials marked down to $3.00's and some still full priced but the color of pansy I wanted was not available. Maybe in another week. There also wasn't a nice selection of pumpkins and gourds yet but I found a few I liked. 



Corn stalks  to decorate next week.


And Kale

These should look pretty out front in the spring minus the carrots. Actually bought a pack of carrot seeds after my poor results this season.  Had to get some seed trays for holding my seedling pots this winter. I have a few already saved from when I buy tray of annuals.




I saved you a piece.




Very Aromatic and sweet smelling.




Sunday, September 10, 2017

Walking In The Wissahickon

Wissahickon Valley Park. The park has 50 miles of trails and many entrances. Today we went in on Henry avenue in the Roxborough section of the city. Last time I visited we entered near Valley Green Inn. The park includes 3 stables and is owned bythe City of Philadelphia. Parks and Recreation is responsible for it's maintenance and conservation. Lots of wildlife inhabit the park including opossums, red foxes, raccoons, snakes, woodpeckers, chipmunks, turtles, toads, frogs, and salamanders, deer, groundhogs, and turtles. Some of the woodland plants and trees include Canadian wild ginger, tiarella, nodding trillium, umbrella magnolia, and tulip poplar. 

This was the first thing I saw getting out of the car. Tried to get the horse's face but couldn't get a good picture.


Found a parking space.

Pebbles all over the ground were the worst part of the walk. After we got past them it was easy walking. It was beautiful out today, low humidity, beautiful blue sky and a light wind. No mosquitoes bothering my daughter and I. Hoped to see some wildlife like a chipmunk, large fish, or turtles but no luck. Only tiny fish near the sand. It's unusual not to see or hear birds because they're a lot in the park. Didn't even see a squirrel.

Lets walk.




We'll get down to the creek soon.

I always like to see what woodland plants I can identify by their common not botanical name. There were lots of ferns, a particular type of hosta, and pachysandra. Din't see wild ginger, trillium, or tiarella.

This is the only type of hosta I saw during our walk.

Don't know what type of plant this was. There were lots of them. The yellow flowers are pretty. 
(believe this is impatiens capensis)


Lots of pachysandra.



I believe it's white wood aster.


We're still in Philly. Why was she digging in the garbage can? I was attempting to photograph the building.

My daughter on our way down to the creek.

Lots of hikers and bikers were out today enjoying the day. There were also many pets and children. 




















Should we wet our feet?







Don't know what type of pod this is. The leaves don't look like the tulip poplar tree.



You caught me resting.



This looks like the tulip poplar.


Acorns falling. Time to hike back to the car. Till next time.