Rainy Fall Garden

It's raining today, and it feels like it's been raining forever - even though of course it hasn't, and it's really just one of the yucky thick mists that wets the ground and wets through your clothes but doesn't do much to water the plants. I haven't been out much in the garden. Last Friday, I did pull up the spent zinnias and marigolds and Hubby helped me collect seeds. I've got coffee cans full of them in the basement. We walked around the garden and talked about new plants to add next year. The praying mantises are still hanging around the porch, and I saw one today that was huge. He was clinging to the siding next to the garage and had to be at least four inches long.


The marigolds continue to bloom, and I've got a second flush of blooms from the gaillardia. The petunias recovered from the frost and continue their cheerful contributions. Most of the vegetables are gone, but I'm still finding strawberries! When Lowe's advertised them as "ever bearing" they sure weren't kidding!

Today is Halloween, and I know some of my readers don't celebrate this holiday, but I have ever since I was a kid. Catholics tend to love Halloween and tomorrow is All Saints Day for us, a Holy Day, followed by All Soul's Day, which is not a Holy Day but one our family took special note of. I guess this was sort of like a three-day holiday growing up. I went to Catholic school, so I always had off from school on November 1. I love everything about All Saints and All Souls Days - I love to remember the saints, all those interesting men and women who did extraordinary things. And I love All Soul's Day. I pull out the remembrance cards and I look through them, remembering each person who has passed on and saying prayers for them. I've heard that down in the deep south, in bayou country like Louisiana, they have picnics and spend All Souls Day in the cemetery clearing graves, laying flowers, and generally remembering folks. Mexicans celebrate November 2 as the day of the dead and give out skull shaped sugar candies. It's interesting how these three days permeate almost all cultures with some special significance.

For Halloween, we don't get trick or treaters out here in the rural area. When the farms are more than a quarter mile apart, you'd have to walk pretty far to get your candy! The children here go into town and trick or treat among the houses or along Main Street. They held the Halloween parade yesterday which was great timing - no rain - and today will be trick or treating, so I'll wait until another day to do our shopping.

Off to make some breakfast, do a few chores, then spend the day watching the Ghost Hunters marathon and doing some needlework. I am making counted cross stitch and quilted pillows for the bedroom. I have taken a sudden interest in quilting, which my older sister is already adept at. I have a gorgeous quilt she made for me as a wedding present hanging in my home, and I want to make a big one for our bed, but I'm starting small and trying to finish these pillows so I get the hang of it. I plan to make persimmon jam from all the fruits my neighbor and friend Patty gave me, and make leaf cutout cookies which we enjoy during the fall holidays. If I had Life Savers I could make stained glass leaves. You roll out butter cookie dough, cut out the big shape and use an identical cookie cutter to cut out a smaller shape inside the big cookie. You crush up Life Savers candy into a powder, and sprinkle it in the cut out, and it fuses and bakes into a beautiful stained glass effect. Really pretty and good for Christmas cookies, too!

Patty invited me to her farm to see her goat babies. Her herd had 54 babies in the last four days! My favorite goat, Ginger, had triplets. It's too muddy for me, but as soon as the sun shines I'll head over to her farm with my camera to share with you those cuddly babies. Goats may not sound sweet, but the babies are like little puppies.

Have a great weekend!