Fall fantastic weekend

Fall is in the air. It's been chilly. You know it's getting cold when the dog breaks out the hoodie! How cute is Ed?

Anyways, this weekend was a very varied and productive one. After I returned from Boston late Friday night (thanks for the accommodations, C, A, and Gus!), we got down to business. Well, after sleeping late on Saturday.

First, we wrapped up the garden and grabbed a harvest. This time of year, you worry that every night will be the last for some of these guys - so we've been grabbing tomatoes, flowers, herbs - everything we can freeze, dry, put up, or at least enjoy for a few more moments. Here was Saturday's harvest. We LOVE fall snap peas! Yum.

Did I mention my chinese lanterns (physalis - the common name is either Chinese or Japanese lantern, how gauche to use them interchangeably! Eek)? I love these guys, we had them at the farm and they're just so neat. I've been working on a very small patch I started from just a few teeny plants when we first moved in - this year we had a respectable crop with many, many lanterns. Last year - only 2 lanterns. I even cut some this year! The leaves get eaten by the damn harlequin beetles, but the plants look great otherwise and the flowers are fine. I kill all those beetles all the time, but this is the only thing they eat and I can't seem to keep up. Plants are doing great so I guess I won't worry. (Right?)

p.s. - seen the new Motawi tile of these flowers? Love it.

And we worked on El Decko. Almost, almost done. Really, it's functionally done. We put on all the last steps - so the temporary ones aren't falling all over any more - and cut all the boards that were still straggly. We still need to treat it and build that large planter that will cover all our mistakes (you can't see the area in this picture - but it's rough looking!)

And then today I had to go to work at the paying job, at a really terrible place. I know you'll feel really sorry for me when you see the photo below. One of the absolute treasures of the Great State of Maine, Baxter State Park. Baxter was a gift of a former governor of the state, who gave the lands to the people of the state - so we all own it. Rock on, Percival Baxter! I hope you were reincarnated as a giant tree at the top of Katahdin. Where it snowed this week! Ah, nothing like a whitecap mountain to make you remember that not only is fall here, winter is right around the corner. Which is a great thing for those of us who love snow season.