Cozying Up Season

 I'm trying to make it a habit to go out in the garden for at least 10 minutes each morning for some sunshine. I always find a chore or two which keeps me out much longer.

I was thrilled to see a couple of the lavender plants put out a second bloom.
Is this the last of my cut flowers for the season?

Wednesday's 10 minutes turned into 2+ hours with an impromptu mowing session. My intention was to pick up downed sticks - it's been very windy. Then I decided to mulch the leaves on top of the sticks, which just lead to the whole lawn getting mowed/mulched. That will hopefully cause any further falling leaves to just blow on down the hill. 

The election results finally show a glimmer of hope. That eagle was a good omen!

Yesterday I missed out on what looked like a great hike because I had an appointment to get my eyebrows microbladed - a less permanent tattoo. So now I have very aggressive eyebrows until they heal over to reveal more natural looking brows. It's been 2.5 years since I last had it done One brow was pretty much faded to nothing. Since I don't do conventional make-up this works well for my self confidence, but I'll probably stay home for a week until they are healed and look much less harsh. The weather looks horrible so I won't miss much. 

Before and after. Now just waiting on the healing.

I wanted to test the flavor of my free pumpkin puree before I process more, so I made a batch of
pumpkin muffins. Delicious and filled with apples, raisins, and walnuts!

Thursday morning was very cold and dreary in the garden, but I spent my time cleaning a Earth Box for my indoor salad garden. Then I harvested my small bit of sage. It'll go perfectly on butternut squash ravioli.

Saturday turned into a fine day after three days of grey skies and high winds. I took a nice long walk and was surprised to see a butterfly fluttering about a copse of trees. In November! There was not too much else to look at, but I'm trying to appreciate all the seasons. 

A very hearty butterfly still hanging on.

Bittersweet - an invasive but pretty vine.

This autumn is a season of drawing in, cozying up, and getting comfortable to appreciate the big pause, the great freeze, that is winter. 

When I got home, I made a cup of coffee and sat in the garden, wondering how many more days I'll have this opportunity. Sunny, 53°,  and no wind seems to be fine for enjoying the garden. By 2:30 pm though, the sun dropped behind the trees and things started cooling off very quickly. 

My pretty glass bauble/bird feeder did not survive the windstorm. I found it broken on the ground.

The calendula still thriving! I've collected some of its seeds and scattered the rest in
hopes of self seeded plants next spring. That is how this one grew.

My vitamin A needs will be well met based on my cooking lately. Squash, pumpkins and carrots, oh my!

I’ll close out this post with my leisurely Sunday activities. It’s been raining all day, so what better chance to make soup and read books.

Along with two butternut squash, I’ve also roasted two of my free pumpkins. The goal is a pot of Panera-like Autumn Squash soup, and another 4 cups of pumpkin puree for the freezer.

I save the containers when I buy the soup on sale and they are perfect for the freezer.
Can you tell how much I love this soup? That's about $40 worth of soup for $9 of ingredients.

I’m working through Dan Brown’s new book Secret of Secrets which I only have for another week from the library. I have three other books in the queue for my two book clubs and an author talk next week. I'm going to hear Elizabeth Strout discuss her book Olive Kiteridge, with some friends. I am listening to that on Spotify because there are only so many hours in a day!