20 September …
I need to start off with a mea culpa …
My real birthday is not the 9th of September. It is in May. The reason we celebrated in September is that was when all but one of the family was here in Siskiyou County. So it was actually a celebration of me reaching 87 and not of the actual birth day anniversary.
To those of you who were confused I apologize for the confusion …
but not for reaching 87.
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T.S.Eliot said … “In the faint moonlight, the grass is singing.”
In July, Paul and I listened to the corn grow and now in September we are looking forward to hearing the fir trees welcome the first snow.
There is a spider in the courtyard who will not give up. It (she?) kept building her web across the pathway and we kept walking into it. But finally she built it in a spot where it can stay and I was able to take a picture. Can you see it?
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Weather turned quite chilly for a bit with rain showers tuesday and overnight. There has been frost in the garden and tomatoes have been pulled and packed so the fruit (is tomato a fruit or a vegetable?) will continue to ripen.
The plums have been gathered and the first of this year’s plum cakes was eaten to the last crumb.
The corn stalks have been pulled to dry for Hallowe’en decoration and later to be chipped and returned to the garden soil. There are three or four ears of the glass corn. That’s okay for a first try and we’ll try again next year.
All around leaves are turning and falling.
I am taking in the hummer feeders one at a time forcing the hummers to leave for warmer climes. Enticing them to stay might make me happy, but would not be good for them.
It is almost time to start thinking about next year’s garden so the seed order will be ready come Spring. Or we may even make the order now for spring delivery. Some of the seed strains are already sold out from the supplier I want to use … Siskiyou Seeds, who know this growing area and it’s worth using them until proven otherwise.
However, I have been thinking about a nursery in Klamath Falls for plants. The ones here in Siskiyou and Medford seem to tend to a warmer zone and KFalls is frost prone like we are. We’ll see …
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I’ve also been thinking about the approach of in-the-house weather and the coming reading time. NPR offered a list of books for winter. I’ve chosen three for a start.
The collection of essays about us, them, and the other by Toni Morrison …
“Stay with Me” by Adebayo …
“The Franchise Affair” by Tey (an old one) …
If you choose to read (re-read) any of them, maybe we can compare notes later.
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It is nearly time for the annual Spinzilla. I will again be spinning with the Web.sters team. I can’t recall my yardage total from last year so I’ll just have to do the best I can and see what happens.
This year Paul had expressed an interest in having a school sweater of many colours.
So I let him pick out some colours and will use that fiber for my Spinzilla effort. I am spinning some of it in advance in order to determine about how much yardage I get from each ounce of fiber. Then I can use that to compare my final output. I will worry about a pattern for the sweater, using as many of the colours as possible, AFTER I get the yarn spun.
In the meantime, last year Tyler had chosen a fiber called Piedras (Stones … remember we are collectors of stones). I finally have his sweater started.
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The season is signalling its turning in many ways. One which we have begun seeing in the mornings is mist on the meadow and the reservoir. The land and water are warmer than the air and so …
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Tonight is the monthly meeting of the radio club. Main items on the agenda are planning for the final two events of the year … Biketoberfest next Saturday and the Headwaters Trail Runs the following Saturday. Then we are done for this year. Only other event on the calendar will be the potluck in December.
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Sundown tonight is the start of the Jewish High Holy Days, Rosh Hashanah, which is a time to ask forgiveness for any hurt we have caused.
In addition, one of the faith leaders I read advises …
The Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson taught about the transformative effect the simple act of blessing one another has on our interpersonal relations, and on the entire universe. Our heartfelt blessings to each other have the power to elicit deepest blessings to each of us individually, to all of us as one, and to the entirety of our universe. As Maimonides writes, one good deed has the potential to tip the balance of the entire world in the favor of merit and goodness.
Let us each take a few minutes to simply bless everyone we know once, twice and again, in advance of the new year
… let us all simply shower one another with blessings!
So … ‘til next week … I wish for everyone L’shana tova.