New slippers

 Continuing with all the fall chores this week. Most of the 2 cords of wood that sat across the yard all year has been moved to the shelter; there's about one wagon load left and that will get moved tomorrow. There's almost 3 cords in the shelter now with another 2.5 cords left to bring in. Two of those were delivered just a few weeks ago and will probably not be needed this year.

Most of the 2 cords that were here are now in the shelter. A small pile of kindling in lower right corner of picture will also get moved.

How different the yard looks at this time of year!

The bottom right corner of that picture is where my round wood stacks were stored the past few years. Now that they are cleared, I plan to build new flower beds in this area next spring. How different the yard looks at this time of year!

Another chore that needs doing this fall is tending to this sad sight:

That's my Dutchman's Pipe vine. It was planted about the second year I lived here, so it's now about 8 years old. It took several  years to grow into much of anything but has obviously outgrown the rose pillar I used to support it. It fell over last month! There is no way to remove the vine from the pillar, it is completely intertwined with the supports. I finally had an idea for fixing it a few weeks ago. I'm planning to use three substantial tree limbs, taller than the pillar, to fashion a teepee around the pillar. Then I'll tie the top of the pillar to the top of the teepee. That will hopefully keep the pillar from falling and give the vine more room to spread. That's the plan!

This week saw a pause in the Beatrix Potter ornaments construction. The weather at the beginning of the week was quite cool and I needed new slippers for the winter. So I took a few days to knit up a new pair. They are knitted with rug wool that I've had in my stash for a number of years. Very heavy, rugged, and warm! Toasty warm.

Still, Squirrel Nutkin was finished earlier this week...

As if there wasn't already enough happening, I set about cleaning out the pantry last Sunday. Roughly a bi-annual task to sort out the expired stuff from what's still good. I try to use everything before expiration but it doesn't always work out. While at it, I was reminded how dark it is inside so I decided to re-do the pantry! I'm painting it cream colored inside to lighten it up, confiscating the right 6" to build a broom cupboard, and will build new shelves on euro glides so they can slide out. Wish me luck! Here's what it looks like after I removed all the shelves. Hopefully there will be an after pic by time the next post goes up.

I was out meandering in the garden the other day and found this absolutely beautiful Mallow. It's quite late, but we're luckily and thankfully having very mild weather these three last days of the week, supposed to get over 70 F tomorrow! We've only had the mildest of frosts yet and that seems unusual. Anyway, it must have been included in the packet of wild flower seeds that my neighbor gave me last spring which I scattered over an unused bed. How very beautiful.