I managed to delude myself for the past few weeks imagining it was late September.  Last I looked, many trees had leaves, and I was still planting a shrub or two.  This morning, with its  light rain and cold front, shattered my illusions. I also looked at the calendar and realized Thanksgiving is a mere week and a half away.  For those of you trying to face this gluten and dairy filled fest for the first time, going to a blog like Karina's Kitchen is a good place to start.  I make a mean gluten and dairy free turkey and dressing, and I'll try to post the recipe next week. However, instead of gazing into the future, let's instead talk of blooms and brilliant foliage for Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day hosted by Carol of May Dreams Gardens.  By the way, this meme of Carol's is one of the most successful...

Compost piles, the backbone of all good gardens. Compost that is.  What did you think I was talking about?  At my suggestion in a recent comment, Carol at  May Dreams Gardens asked if we would show our compost bins. I've shown RDR's dirty underbelly before, and I'll be glad to do it again if only to impress upon everyone that compost is the most important, basic structure to good soil. If your native soil looks something like mine above, you need compost and lots of it.  Compost is easy to make.  You can work very, very hard at it if you want, or you can take the laissez-faire approach.  I do a bit of both, but first, let's talk about why that nasty red clay and sandstone needs compost.  It's as simple as nature.  In forests, leaves fall to the ground and decay bringing nutrients to the forest's understory, the...

In my garden, it feels like June.  Today's high temperature was 78F.  All the doors are open to the warm breeze.  You would think it was spring, except that the trees have lost their leaves, and the spiders and other insects are slowing down like time worn clocks.  The sun goes down earlier, and that's when you feel the slight chill of winter's embrace. The roses are beautiful, blooming in twos and threes, but the plants, except for the Knockouts, are unsightly and leggy with ink spotted leaves. The spiders are still doing their thing though, just a bit more slowly.  The cooler nighttime temperatures make them slow enough for even me to photograph.  This one was leisurely doing her thing today.  At least, I think she is a "she." The lake is beautiful and calm, but storm clouds approach letting us know Mother Nature is still in control no...

Last night, HH and I attended our church's oh-so-swanky auction at the Skirvin Hotel, so, Friday, my husband asked me what I was planning to wear. I made a gesture toward the closet and said, "Something black."  I then thought for a moment and said, "I think I need new black shoes though." "Go buy some," he said. I do so love those three little words. So it was that after I dropped Bear off at school, I was headed for DSW shoes when my car made a sudden right turn a mile or so beforehand and pulled into the parking lot of our local nursery.  They didn't open until 8:30, and it was only 8:15 so I called to check in with my mom.  I told her I was going to buy shoes, but . . . . "Where are you," she said. I explained about the car. "Oh,...