Early days of autumn...

The Pampas Grass blows regally in the breeze

Asparagus seed balls turn a beautiful shade of red...

And other things start showing themselves in the asparagus bed...

...like thistles - Yikes, these got big!

And I have no idea what these blue berries are.  Any ideas?

These sedum (planted on the east side of the house) started out so tiny in the spring, but have overgrown the area they began in:

Next spring I think I will divide these and plant some on the south side of the house and see if the color changes with full sun, and maybe dryer conditions.  We've never had Sedum (also called Stonecrop) before.  Given they got no attention all summer, I'm calling this a completely effortless plant.

I think I took this picture of the garden a week ago:

The dying tomato and squash plants have all been removed, and all that is standing today are yellow brittle cucumber plants (on the far right, front), the Kentucky Wonder pole beans in the back center, and a Marconi Giant Pepper plant (front and center).

At this point, I'm hoping the remaining Marconi Peppers will at least begin to turn red so I can bring them inside to finish ripening before we get some cold weather this weekend.  Every other day I'm able to harvest enough green beans for a meal (though I clean, cut and freeze them, usually).  I'm ready to just let the remaining seed pods dry out and then see if they are harvestable for planting next spring.

Editing this post just to be clear that I am not doing the work of removing dead plants.  I'm not doing anything I can't do one-handed.  While I give some direction on what is finished up and can be pulled, Hub is doing the actual work of cleaning up the garden.  

 

While autumn is my most favorite time of the year, and I always look forward to putting growing things to rest outside (even in our smaller in-town yard I looked forward to cleaning out the flower beds and pots, and cutting things down), I have to admit having only one reasonable-working hand puts a damper on my enthusiasm for the season this year.  I'm not complain' (much), just explainin'.

I hope you're enjoying your autumn wherever you are!  Or your spring if you're in the southern hemisphere!  The two most wonderful times of the year...  😊

Week three after hand surgery...

 Monday of this week, I traded this:

for this:

A fun happening...  The Physical or Occupational Therapist who created my splint is a young lady I've known since she was probably in middle school.  Her family and ours were in two homeschool co-ops together, and eventually in the same church.  I don't think I've seen her but maybe once since she graduated and went off to college.  And now 12 years later we ran into each other in an Indianapolis hospital and I had the pleasure of receiving the sweetest care while we caught up a bit on each other's families.  Is that just the best kind of surprise or what!

While the removable splint is its own kind of miserable, it's definitely an improvement over the thick splint and wrap I left the surgery center in two weeks prior.   Mostly because I can take this one off for short stints when I'm sitting and not moving my hand.  

Above, I show the liner I wear with the splint, and provide links below on the chance that anyone reading finds themselves ever needing something like this.   I bought these off Amazon:  A package of off-white ones (in size small) that match my splint, and a package of white ones (medium size) that are a little less expensive.  I found these by accident when I went online looking for more of the material the OT gave me because I realized once I was home that what I was given from OT wouldn't last me very long.

The liner I received in OT didn't have a thumb section - only a hole the OT-ist cut to poke one's thumb through.  What speeded my realization that a thumb section on a liner would be a great help is that the cut thumb hole stretched.  A LOT.  Which was problematic because I found it really difficult to tolerate my now nerve-sensitive skin being in constant contact with the plastic splint.  And when my super tender skin near the surgery site would occasionally pull away from the plastic (or I would pull the splint away from my skin), it was downright painful.   It only took me one night of that misery to decide to purchase these liners.  And thank goodness, through the wonders of Amazon Prime I had them the next evening.  Wearing a liner with a long thumb covering makes a big difference in the comfort level.  If you're ever fitted with a hard splint, I recommend a liner like this.  I've also seen someone wear these with soft splints.  I imagine they would help a soft splint stay a bit cleaner...

Just for fun, here's a picture the surgeon drew for Hub after surgery - to show him what was involved:

My surgeon does a variation of CMC Arthroplasty, where after removing the trapezium bone (at the base of the thumb) he pulls tendons together under the thumb to create a little sling or hammock to support the remaining thumb bones.  This surgery is done to relieve (and remove) severe arthritis of the basal joint of the thumb.  A not uncommon ailment for women (and some men) around my age (early 60's).

My OT (who is someone different from my young friend who created my splint) told me that of all the patients he helps (working with patients of 3 different hand surgeons in the same practice), the ones with this type of surgery and after-surgery-splinting seem to have the fewest complaints during OT.  I'm braced for quite a bit of pain before completely healing, but since I haven't started OT yet, I don't really have a clue what exactly that means.  I'm feeling thankful, but not sure why.

And that's week three after surgery!  I don't necessarily plan to give regular updates, but if anyone is interested in what is involved (either before or directly after surgery, or during the physical and occupational therapy), let me know and I might just share more.  I expect to be doing the work of therapy for the next three months.  Hopefully, I'll finish before the end of the year, but time will tell.

Praying for people struggling with the devastation of Hurricane Ian.  And for those who perhaps didn't lose anyone, or anything valuable, but are going to experience their own kind of loss as they help others, and simply live and work amongst the constant reminders of this tragedy.  It's amazing to see so many volunteers already setting up to help those in need, and to serve those who are already working tirelessly to rescue and recover.  While Operation BBQ Relief has been around for years, I heard about this organization for the first time on tonight's ABC evening news.  The segment with David Muir was more detailed and gave more information about what all is really involved in this operation, but this will give you an idea of what these people do, if you don't know:

I love the comment:  "Tell me you're American without telling me you're an American."   

Late summer glory...

 
Credit for this photo of a dewy dragonfly belongs to my dear friend, Lynne - whose old gate captivated me when we visited in early August.  Lynne sent this picture to me (several weeks ago now) with a note that said I had "reminded her to look for everyday beauty".  A wonderful compliment!

Thank you, Lynne!  I'm sorry it took me so long to post it.  Though I know you know I've been a bit distracted in recent weeks.

Oh...  And just for fun...  turns out flowers in at least one Walmart are intentional.

Summer garden is closing...

September started out busy and full, but it's coming to a screeching halt with hand surgery today.  The surgery I'm going to have is CMC Arthroplasty.  It's to relieve basal joint arthritis in the thumb.  I'm having the left hand done first.  If it's a success, then in a year or two I hope to have the right hand done too.  Surgery has felt like a long time coming, and yet it's amazing that it's now here already.  Why is it always that way?

By the time you read this, I may actually be finished with surgery and home!

While I've been quiet online these past few weeks, it's been busy here.  Finishing up a 2021 tax return for my brother's estate, and an amended return for 2020 has been an excruciating experience as I've worked with an accountant that has been a serious disappointment.  But all of it is finally on its way to the IRS and to the State, and I'm relieved to have that task finished.

Other than that, what has occupied me is the stuff of life. I've enjoyed gardening this summer, and doing some food preservation.  There was a real push these last few days to finish up whatever I could since I won't be able to do that kind of thing again 'till my hand heals up.  We ended up giving a bag of cucumbers to friends on Monday because I had other things I wanted to do the day and night before surgery.  I doubt I'll be posting anymore for the rest of the month (unless I can find a draft that's ready to post).  I'll try to visit my blogging buddies in the upcoming days, but if I'm able to type comments I imagine they'll be short and sweet.

Tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, green beans, zucchini, yellow squash, and Marconi Giant sweet peppers have been a regular sight in the kitchen.  I can't believe I've failed to take pictures of it all during these last weeks especially.  While I regret that, I'm happy to be putting away the canner, and unused jars, and all the paraphernalia that goes along with preserving the fruits of summer.  

Here's just a small glimpse into what was happening around here the last few weeks.

These few pictures do not capture all I've been up to.  Because the green beans were ready for picking in too small of batches to can, I froze all of them as I picked them.  What we didn't eat fresh, that is.  Sweet peppers, zucchini and squash were either enjoyed fresh, or were frozen for future use.  And while the last pictures show what I canned, it's just part of what is in the pantry.  

Making pickles was a totally new experience for me.  Dill pickles were fairly easy, but Bread and Butter pickles were a challenge.  The first batch I made I thought were good, and I even shared them with some friends, but after that I just couldn't get the taste right.  I admit I've thrown out almost as much pickled cucumbers as I've ended up with.  One of these days I hope to have a taste test of the batches I've saved with my sons who like B&B pickles.  I'm hoping to find there are a few jars that are worth eating. 

Oh, and I almost forgot...  yesterday I dehydrated a bunch of walking onions for future use.  A large bowl of them were cut up and after dehydrating were reduced to a mere pint-size jar.  My dehydrator (that I hadn't used in many years) didn't appear to be working very well, so I finished them off in the oven.  I should have just started with the oven - I would have saved myself so much time.  Unless these onions are just amazing dehydrated, I don't know that I will do this again in the future.

And that, friend, wraps up a summer of gardening and food preservation.  With strawberries and cherries frozen in the spring time, then peaches in August, and the garden produce "put up" during the last weeks of summer, I'm looking forward to fall and winter and cooking with these things we grew.  

And lastly, while I'm not about to post a picture of myself right now - mostly because I recently got a perm, thinking it would make a great wash & wear hairdo while I'm limited to one hand for a few weeks, nevermind there is nothing wash & wear about it...  I thought I'd look for some old pictures of the first garden Hub and I had.

We rented a small bungalow house when were first married, and the landlords owned a lot with a tilled-up patch behind our house.  They offered it to us to plant a garden if we liked, and we went to it.  Looking at the pictures, I'm amazed at how large it was.  I don't remember if we planted that whole thing, or perhaps just the freshly hoed ground in front of the fencing material behind us.

 Just for fun, this is 22 year-old me, 

and 27 year-old Greg

putting in our first garden.

And me with one of my first jars of home-canned green beans:

I remember being so proud of those green beans.  And proud of being brave enough to use a pressure canner.   I had never canned before that summer, but I grew up hearing the rattling of the pressure regulator on my mother's pressure canner and that was enough to give me courage to give it a go.  I know now there is a rubber safety plug that would have blown out had the pressure built up too much to be dangerous, but I didn't realize that back in 1981.  The canner in the earlier pictures is the same canner I used in 1981.  I believe it was a wedding gift.  I haven't canned in over 20 years, but even for a 42 year-old pressure canner, I was able to easily replace the gasket and an overpressure plug, and it worked perfectly for me.

This is a wrap!  I hope your summer is winding down nicely, and you're looking forward to autumn.  I sure am.  This is my favorite time of year. 

After a rainstorm...

About the time when the daylilies were fading this summer, I realized sunflowers were growing in front of them from seeds dropped by our feathered friends feeding at the birdfeeders.  I decided to let them grow and enjoy the show.  

While we temporarily removed the bird feeders for a few months since the birds really weren't needing the seed, it was a fun surprise to watch nature unfold outside our bird-watching window while the birds were finding their food elsewhere.

Finding joy in little things, I have enjoyed watching a different view of the cycle of nature this past year.