Future Plans

Boy am I glad I got to that Clean Up – I just spent a precious Sunday in class:  I am studying to get my Real Estate license and the next 3 weeks are crazy and then we are into the holidays (about which I have previously eluded that I have a Thing)

So, why would I put myself through this? Well, I actually took the “Principals & Practices” and “Law” portions back in 1987 with the intent to keep my options open. See, I first went to college as an Art Major with a back up plan to teach if NYC Graphic Arts didn’t happen.

Long story short, I LOVE Art but found out, through several direction changes, that I DID NOT love doing it on deadline or to specification. Teaching might have been okay, but not as lucrative as I wanted, so with a double major in Fine Arts and Business, I wound up in sales – something I had started  at Shillito’s at 16…

But, I have been addicted to HGTV for years and have always felt I missed a boat somewhere – Interior Design has been a passion for as long as I can remember:  I still remember the “pink-adelic” paint I chose at about 8 and when offered a larger bedroom at 11, I drew elevations for two different color schemes…

I have long realized that my Gardening Thing was an outlet for my Art Thing, my Remodeling Thing is more obvious… Can Real Estate sales be too big a stretch – I think not.

So, that said, you will understand if my postings are few and far between until license is in hand and Christmas decor is stored in January. But, that is okay – the garden has been put to bed and those gardening catalogs start shipping 12/26!

Burn Notice

As mentioned many times this past season, Cincinnati and neighboring areas are suffering a drought – with little sign of abating soon. Falls are typically dry for this area but we haven’t seen more than a couple days of rain since July. While this has produced a nice Fall, weather-wise, yards look horrible, leaves were never quite as beautiful as some years, and the ground is too hard to plant perrennials or bulbs.  So, with those jobs not possible, we really did find the time to do clean up instead of adding another 100 or so daffodils to the Way Back.

With all the clean up, the compost bin and additional hidden piles are full and three large debris piles are resting in Big Garden. The fire pit is also full. While, in 17 years, we have never yet run out of firewood, we are now going into the stockpiling phase and that is not good. When we moved here, the former owner left us two huge piles out in the open – small cars could have rested below the clippings without notice. I can’t bear to see us headed back in that direction!

But, one thing is fairly clear, this Fall is probably not one to enjoy sitting around a fire ring roasting marshmallows and that is a shame! We miss the family time and we will miss the opportunity to invite friends to join us. Not to mention the new-to-us picnic table I stained a lovely shade of purple to use for fire-side entertaining… Guess I will be showing it off in the Spring.

Nov 3 – What’s Next

Well, as suspected, I have not been a good fall clean up gardener… I guess this is just not a realistic goal while I have two boys playing multiple sports – each weekend had the minimum of two soccer games and a football game, if not multiples of each for the both of them. There were several weekends with 5-6 games and on those occasions, the games were not local.

 

So, the cornstalks that did not grace the front door, are still in their square although not really standing. Tomato cages, bean teepees, watering vessels DO still need to be put away but the sunflower heads will remain – the birds can surely enjoy the seeds for some time to come.

 

And, guess what – I am not inspired to do any of these things although my husband has been very good at emptying the remaining pots and dumping pumpkins left behind from my Halloween display. He probably knows I am already into “holiday” mode – planning Thanksgiving and then hitting Christmas with full stride. He was pruing boxwood and the berries from our crepe myrtle boxwtoday and all I could focus on was how the box had been pruned too soon to keep for an advent wreath, but the berries would make a great addition. Since Big Garden is also a cutting garden, I do enjoy bringing in flowers and then learned to “branch out” to other areas of my yard for inspiration.

 

I will also be seeking inspiration for next spring – can’t wait for spring already!