in honor of the first frost

post #253
       Last night, tonight and tomorrow night: frost on the pumpkins (if I had any) and death to those invisible chiggers who have bothered me up until this last day of them.  Enough already!
       I happened to call my neighbor, Ethel, two days ago for information about her piano tuner, but it turns out they no longer have their piano.  What they do have is string beans.  Several varieties of beans, in fact. She had been putting some up that day.  Even though they have an enormous High Tunnel Greenhouse, a serious frost could do some damage, so I decided to go right over there to check it out. They live "over the cliff," as we say, and driving there feels exactly like that is what is happening! It is beautiful, as long as no one else is driving out while I am driving in....

        The plants themselves are spectacular, growing way taller than I can reach, and I am tall!  There are "purple beans", which came from Sandy and Junie, the kind of bean that turns green when cooked but starts out looking very purple. The proper name for them has kind of gotten lost along the way of yearly sharing them around:

       Ethel told me the names of the other beans they grow, but today I am just calling them beautiful beans. I am sure they will be able to get some more "messes of beans" before we settle into full blown nightly frosts.

Ethel closing the "back door" to keep the chickens and cats out, and the warm air in

daily record of when and what was watered

The chickens moved to the wood pile... They do have their own house next door....

Back at the house, there are other signs that the time has come to change seasons:

 


 A deer path on the bank by the driveway

I'd like to thank Seth and Tom for their great work this summer holding down the green growth around here, with mower and with weed eater.  Today was the last cut.  It looks so green, since the frost has disappeared for the day.  I can't quite imagine all the snow that might cover it between now and the first mow of the spring.  

Before signing off, as a photographer, I want to mention a book I just finished reading, Hold Still, by the award winning photographer and writer Sally Mann.  I wasn't sure I would like it, but it was recommended by Jennifer Reis, an artist friend who somehow manages to read, read, read. I was amazed by the way the photos and words were so naturally interwoven, and how straight forward and strong she is in her writing.  I am not necessarily a fan of her work, but I found the shaping of the story so very compelling.  And the cover is fantastic: 

I am grateful for bits of beauty here and there throughout the year.