Yummy mum-my

Large-blossomed apricot mum

After a hectic and stressful couple of events early on in the week, the latter part ended on a high note.

While it had taken me 4 days (jeez, where IS all my energy?), I finally built 3 new raised beds back by the shed.  (CLICK HERE for the story and then CLICK HERE for the real dirt.)

Mid-week I actually took time to do some serious house cleaning (advent of having to live INside for the winter - heh).  For those of you who know me, this was quite a feat. LOL

Saturday a.m. was rain and storms until dawn (.8") followed by buddy Dave coming down for a market foray up to Hartville and - what a surprise - he managed to drag along buddy Doug who I'd not seen for over a year! (Yay, Doug! ;-P)

We always shop at Beilors first for veg and local foods.  Finally we're seeing decent prices on homegrown stuff (peppers, tomatoes, squash, potatoes, greens, etc.).  I stocked up a bit for the freezer and we will return next Saturday for more.  MY veg garden was a near total wash this year. *sigh*

Large-blossomed lemon sherbet mum

Then some browsing around at the Hartville market (deli delights for lunch and Doug introduced me to Strongbow English dry cider - VERY refreshing!) and another look around the new monster facility that is Hartville Hardware.  (I think they are so big they have their own zip code).

On the way home we stopped for a few edibles at a supermarket and I was seduced by ANOTHER new color (apricot) that I just HAD to add to my growing collection (I'm such a mum junkie this year! LOL)   (The lemon mum?  Today's purchase.  Do I need an intervention?)

Back home we set out all the deli on the table in the sunroom, piled up the plates, sipped cider and enjoyed the views from the (recently cleaned) bay windows.  The skies had cleared by mid-afternoon so we were then able to mosey around the gardens for an hour in sunshine.  Then the fellas packed up and left, just as the clouds rolled in again and we got another downpour (.2").

All in all - a great way to end a week.  This week is starting -- cold.  Only 36 degrees this morning.  Good grief.

Looking forward?  Since it's now officially Autumn, it's time to get a lot of plants/shrubs off the deck and into the ground.  The temps are cool and we're getting more rain.  I figure I'll be doing a lot of digging for the next week or two. (*ugh*)  After all, were only a couple of weeks from our first frost date and from the looks of it, there's no time to waste.

(OH GOOD GRIEF.  There is a FROST ADVISORY for tonight!  There darn NOT be.)

I covered the tomatoes.  Better safe than sorry.  *sigh*