Changes are in the Air....and I like Them!

Everyone that knows me knows I am not a fan of cool weather, and I loathe cold weather.  I am a hot weather kind of gal.  I like to work in the yard and come in worn out and drenched, I will sit on my deck, porch or the beach at 110 degrees (okay so I go in more if it is that hot but you get the idea!).  I can always cool down but I NEVER SEEM to get warm.  Given all that, I am generally quite grumpy about fall. Fall to me was always an ending...an ending that signaled nothing but bleak skies and cold.

Over the last few years I have gotten better about Fall by ignoring it.   I have expanded my collection of fall décor and extended gardening until almost Thanksgiving.  This year is different though.  The weather here this Spring and Summer was downright weird.  It was cool way longer than normal.  So spring and summer gardening was running late.   I was nearly a month behind on planting my annuals and tomatoes and that never happens.  I generally have to drag every towel, sheet and newspaper I can find to the yard to stave off frost since I have planted way too early.  Not this year.

Once it did get warm enough to plant, the rains came and came and came.  In fact I think it literally rained all but 4 or 5 days in the whole month of July!  Thankfully there was an upside.  A normal mid July walk in the yard would be accompanied by the sound of crunching grass.  This year with all the rain our yard is just now beginning to crunch and water bill stayed low because I hardly ever watered.  The downside to too much water and not enough heat - a sluggish growing season. 

 

For the first time ever my inpatients didn't grow to knee high, my tomatoes never grew to any size and suffered rot from the excess water.  Weeds however, thrived! 

So as we roll into fall this year.....here is the big shocker..... I am actually enjoying it!   My plate is full already between work and my antique booth so I am (dare I say it?) almost giddy that the growing season won't last until Thanksgiving for the bulk of my plants.  This weekend the inpatients, vinca and callibrochoa are all going bye bye.  I will leave the sweet potato vine, other greenery and the mums to carry us till the holiday season. 

 

Hopefully having all the annuals out of the way early will allow me to clean up the beds early.  Even though there will be tons of leaves to clean up, not having to work around still blooming plants will make it much easier.

Yes, I am embracing seeing the fall décor, nippy evenings and the beautiful crystal blue skies that September and October bring. 

 

This photo from last fall reminds me there is true beauty in fall.

 

 

 My list of yummy fall goodies to bake and cook is quite lengthy already and I REALLY MUST get started on my Christmas shopping.

 

I am also looking forward to a couple of days in Gatlinburg in October....with pretty scenery like this.

 

 

 

So this weekend when I am not working on furniture for the booth, I will relax and piddle in the yard, watch a lot of football and fill the house with the smells of fall. 

 

Thanks for stopping by I hope you all are enjoying this beginning of fall in your little corner of the world.