While working in the yard I looked at the house and was amazed at the reflections in every window. Here is a picture of one of the windows.
Most of those beautiful leaves have fallen now and I think we have several tons of leaves! As much as I hate leaf blowers, when our neighbor offered the loan of his, we accepted. (I had already spent two days raking.) Even with the blower, the mower and the rake, my SIL and I only managed to clear the front yard in a day. There are several piles still to be picked up.
We made a huge pile of chopped leaves in the middle of the yard. This will be our
lasagna garden next spring. We started the garden with the moving boxes that were too worn out to use again. They were collapsed and put on top of the grass and some dirt scattered on top to hold them in place. The leaves were next, then the kitchen waste gets dumped into the leaves. It is amazing how much we generate - coffee grounds with the filter, tea bags, egg shells, peelings, etc. By spring it should all be nice rich compost and we can plant in that bed on top of the ground.
I have planted bulbs - daffodils, crocus, autumn crocus, tulips, iris and grape hyacinths. Also planted peonies, hydrangeas and astilbes. There is a garden club in town and I have been invited to attend. I'm looking forward to meeting other gardeners. Now that it is winter, I'll tend my house plants and write up my order for some David Austin roses!
As you can see by the photo on the right, things are starting to grow. The tulips I planted last fall are poking their tips out.
Even if you don't need anything, it is such fun to browse in antique and consignment shops. You never know what treasure awaits! And it is a good chance to shop for friends and relatives who collect things.
This guy decided to go across the street to eat at the neighbors so I only have the back view!
This little fella was so happy to discover the peanut butter suet.
This morning my daughter woke us up calling, "Come look out the front window!" There was a turkey eating sunflower seeds that had spilled from the bird feeder only a few feet from our front porch. We went to the farm store to get whole corn but they were out so we'll try again tomorrow. We plan to throw the corn off the back porch and it should slide on the ice down to the back of the yard. The turkey was walking on top of the snow and the ice crust was supporting him so the flock should be able to walk in the back yard. Hopefully the flock we saw this summer has survived.
This is the second day the ice has stayed on the trees even though the sun was shinning. Walking anywhere is treacherous. Mr. B and I went downtown to Main Street for lunch but had to give it up when we couldn't cross the big slushy puddles and get up the steep ice bank on the other side. A nice young man offered to help us, assuring us that since he is a volunteer fireman he is very capable. We believed him but decided it was safer to give up and go elsewhere. Now I understand why people go to the mall just to walk.
This bench looks like a nice place to sit and contemplate things.
There were several areas with shrubs, bulbs and pots for sale. It was hard to set limits, but I knew I couldn't buy more than I could plant before winter.
Here is a hydrangea that was still in bloom.
I bought two hydrangeas, two peonies, two astilbes, three hostas, and lots of bulbs. It has been a real push to get it all planted. I finished a few days ago. Many days I had to forego planting to rake leaves.
Most of those beautiful leaves have fallen now and I think we have several tons of leaves! As much as I hate leaf blowers, when our neighbor offered the loan of his, we accepted. (I had already spent two days raking.) Even with the blower, the mower and the rake, my SIL and I only managed to clear the front yard in a day. There are several piles still to be picked up.
