The Mountain Thymes

 Temperature was 35 degrees when we got up around 7.  Seven is over-sleeping for me.  My right hip talked to me all night causing tossing and turning in tangled bed covers.  After the cold morning temperatures, the day turn out lovely.  We reached 65 with sunshine.  I'd like November and early December to be this wonderful and I'd like the clocks to be left alone.  The change doesn't serve a purpose anymore.   October had two full moons which I find intriguing.   Today was the last Union County, GA Farmers Market.  Vendors have slowly been winding down but we show up each Saturday morning for our fresh veggie fix and to see what's happening.  I have my favorite farmers that I always buy from so I wished them a healthy safe winter and I'd see them next spring.  The elderly farmer I purchase sweet potatoes from sells them from his old-truck tailgate.  His sweet potatoes are the best looking and tasting.  I was...

 Fall is a time for transition.  Trees and shrubs quietly undress preparing for winter.  There's a subtle browning of the earth and the intense heat of summer dwindles with a hint of autumn crispness in the early morning air.   Plants are storing energy in their roots for the approaching winter months. Farmers markets display beets, carrots, and other root vegetables along with fall greens such as kale and mustard greens.  A few weeks ago we bought a North Georgia Candy Roaster squash at our farmers market. Last year when I saw these beauties at the market, I couldn't imagine trying to peel and cook something that large so never bought one.  This year I researched different ways to cook them and talked to the farmer about the most efficient way to bake and preserve the meat for freezing.   Cleaning took place on the porch so I could brush the stray seeds  into the woods. Cliff cut the pieces for me.  I wanted to use the sawzall but ...

 After a very busy morning driving back and forth from Lowe's in Murphy to The Depot, as my Mother used to call it, in Blairsville, GA, I took my late afternoon tea to the garden chair over looking the fall garden.  Before resting in the chair, the yoga deck invited me to lie supine and gaze through branches and leaves toward the sky appreciating the calm a forest brings. The leaf colors seem late this year and leaves have just begun to fall.   The hummingbirds have gone south to their winter homes leaving all the beautiful red salvia for the bees. I've been cutting and drying herbs for winter use.                                dill, coriander seeds, basil, and holy basil for tea As of this writing, I'm not going to continue any gardens through winter. I've decided to let nature take whatever is in the garden and kitchen gardens and I'll start new in March.  We'll see how I do ...

 The computer updated again leaving me in a quagmire.  I'm still navigating my way through this new blog format.  I supposed it's good for the brain, especially when technology is my discomfort.   Cliff is involved in the funeral procession this morning for our friend, Jim.  I intended to go to the viewing and then drive to the cemetery in the procession but can't drive this morning after both thumbs and wrists pained me during the night.  To drive would be unsafe so I'm soaking hands in warm Epsom water.  It'll take a few days to heal the joints.  I keep discovering different movements or tasks that cause a problem. Yesterday I tried to open a tightly closed jar, before asking Cliff to do it for me, and by last evening the thumbs and wrists were scolding me.  There's no pain or discomfort at the time so I don't know until hours later that it was too strenuous for the hands.  A jar opener is the solution.   Temperature was...

 OMG!  I'm my parents!  I know they can see how I've become them because their energy , their aura is in the garden, in our woodworking, in the kitchen.  More and more I understand why they needed their quiet times when they just sat and read. No talking. No TV. No noise. Just the sound of silence allowing peace and calm..... serenity.  Cliff is working with the fire department right now setting up scaffolding and stairs for tomorrow's funeral for one of their volunteers who died suddenly Monday.  The house is quiet.  At this age, it has a deeper meaning. We still have two hummingbirds coming to the feeders. I think they're both females.  Usually the males arrive first in the spring and leave first in the fall. Also ,this is the first time I've seen red-breasted grosbeaks in the fall coming to our feeders.  Instead of the spring bright red-breast feathers, males in the fall display squash-orange colors.  I wonder if they brighten up whe...