Welcoming Autumn (And Fall Garden Chores)

Dewy and golden on a Virginia morning.

The heat has broken and we have had a ton of rain. Which makes weeding neglected perennial flower and vegetable garden beds easy on the back and arms.

The light has changed and my garden to-do list seems most manageable. Mostly because Corey has been such a huge help. You should see the gorgeous stone path he has created - winding its way up to our front door. I need to photograph it.

We hit our favorite nursery, Milmont Greenhouses in Stuarts Draft, last weekend and took advantage of the end-of-season sales. If you have been a reader here, you know my love of fall plantings. Our Virginia springs can just become too brutal, too quickly and new plants suffer. But in the fall, there is rain and cooler temperatures. I've planted trees and shrubs as late as early November. And remember - bulbs can be planted as late as Thanksgiving. (So you can snag those on sale in mid-November, too!)

New to our garden - two beautiful hollies and some crazy-resilient deep green liriope. Another glossy abelia. Some towering sedum and walnut-loving purple nepeta. And a trumpet vine (which means a bent-wood trellis is in order and now on the wish list).

I am also dividing daylilies this time of year. Free plants by-way of a little sweat equity!

Other stuffs:

The Ithaca Farmers Market cookbook. I bought it while we were up on Cayuga Lake. I made the Cuban black beans and rice and ate it for lunch for, like, four days straight.

Autumn music! St. Vincent - Strange Mercy; Ryan Adams - Ashes and Fire; Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks - Mirror Traffic; and right now I am listening to my friend Sarah's suggestion - Laura Marling. {!!!}

I have finally been making sure to carve out time with my cameras. I feel like I abandoned my older cameras because life was just too hectic and hauling around all of the bits and pieces managed to overwhelm me. But I now keep them in the car - at the ready - and it feels good to spend time with them again. Watching the documentary on Sally Mann, What Remains, rekindled that spark, as well.

I sewed a cover for an old thrift store chair over the weekend and just stared at my accomplishment in bursts on Sunday. I am SO intimidated by sewing, but these instructions got me through it. (Working with Alexander Henry fabric keeps me going, too.)

I want to make these doily lamps. Turns out, my obsessive collecting of crocheted pieces will have an outlet.