A Spurt Of Siberolina

With frozen cabbage.
I wondered exactly how long would they last up here.

There is light snow.
Fifteen degrees descending.
With strong wind

The Under Garden draws near.

The first good blast of deep cold is always a bit of a shock.

When life doesn't venture far from my front porch.
What did I do with that mop?

The Under Garden Waits

Each rain, each freeze, each roaring wind thins the Tall Flower Meadow closer to a sparse collection of standing stems. I've been trying to wait for a solid crushing snow before chopping most of it down.

But Thursday, Saturday and Sunday I stayed home and practiced being retired and old. Sitting still is still not something I do well. That means I wandered around and fondled the Under Garden, clearing around individual evergreen components of the undulating tapestry of texture and color that will take me through the winter.

I tried to be clearly visible while doing so. From Thanksgiving through Saturday night it was a mad house on the scenic byway with deer hunters swirling around as thick as ladybugs coming in for the winter roost. Today was the first relatively quiet day since the season opened.

I witnessed one drive by shooting. At least the a-hole was shooting away from my house.

The urge to go ahead and chop it all down was there, but the need to practice being old and retired was stronger. I've had both of my eyeballs sliced open and all my teeth ripped out in this, my 60th year. I deserve to rest, recuperate and ponder a bit. I am weary. A fear of getting shot helped keep me close to the house too.

The Under Garden waits for the right day and time. It will come. I would still like some real snow first. There is no rush. The meadow dries mighty fine on its own.

Toothless On Thanksgiving

In the magic light of an early winter morning,
When I can stay home

And I feel fine.

Individual results may vary. For me this has been pain free. There has been some discomfort of course. My jaw bones were bruised and my gums swelled up big time when he ripped all twenty three of my remaining teeth out of my face and sewed my gums closed. That's how loose and rotten they were.

As far as I was concerned, my primary task was to get some food in me and to let my mouth heal. I'll worry about the dentures later. I have now spent some quality time toothless, eating and rinsing and rinsing some more.

There is a not completely explainable comfort I find in being toothless. It feels so right and I am not fully healed. My old teeth were shot and a constant source of discomfort. Eliminating that is such a relief. That however does not fully explain this strange comfort I find in being toothless. It feels so right.

A whole new world of tasty food opened up to me. There is really no need to chew. Sadly, that includes a potentially addictive chocolate pudding I found in the yogurt department.

I had my first post surgery denture fitting yesterday. That and good marks in healing (all that rinsing) made a big difference in how they fit. The dentures are getting closer to feeling so right. I have now spent some quality time with the nicest looking teeth I have ever had in my life. I like my new choppers. It's almost time to learn how to eat with them.

I think all will be well.

So the witches said.

It was a beautiful day.

I wandered out to fondle the Under Garden to start getting it ready for its winter debut.

But now is not the time for the big chop down.
Not when the light does this.

Elegant Decay

The Tall Flower Meadow is drying and fading nicely as we enter the barren time.

I have not been moved to speed the process along. Give me some real winter first to help knock things down.

I can see the Under Garden peeking through. Its time will come.

On an appropriate day.

For now I watch the decay.

The Witches Big Bloom Day

It has been a full week of bone chilling 100% humidity hovering back and forth around freezing. I managed to get quite wet the first day. That chill set the tone for the week and slowed me down. A good thing really.

I sit here for the very first time fully aware and with no teeth. The old ones are in a bowl on the kitchen counter. I was going to have to find out what this felt like at some point. I got a full set of new choppers instantly on Wednesday. The new ones are in a container on the bathroom sink. The old ones were shot. Gum disease, bone loss, big time bone loss.

I did check around enough to get the Kama'aina discount. $6000.00 for a full set of dentures. My period of indentured servitude will at least be cut in half.

Now I have to learn how to eat and talk again. Such is the way it is in the early winter of my decrepitude.

I missed Bloom Day last month. And that is how it happens, the garden bloggers post less often and slowly fade away in a rapidly corporatizing internet. I have been slowly fading away.

At least I am trying to show you the very best of the wild cultivated gardens when I do manage to post. For Garden Bloggers Bloom Day of November 2018 I have a once in a decade super bloom of the native Witch Hazel, Hamamelis virginiana.

Never before has the bloom been this full or the flower petals so long. This bone chilling humidity must be just what the witches want to extend the bloom period even longer This has been going on for two weeks and shows no signs of slowing down yet.

This Witch Hazel super bloom won't last forever. At once a decade I should be able to see it again. I'll probably be going to take pictures of it with my new knees by then.

The solid humidity has frozen again. The snow has started to fall.

The First Day Of Winter

I still see remnants of a lingering fall in my travels.

High on the low spot winter has arrived. The last tree in the forest remains.
While just a bit to the left,

The native Witch Hazel, Hamamelis virginiana, is having a once in a decade super bloom.

Never before has it rivaled the bloom of the Witch Hazel hybrids I've planted. Even the petals look longer this year. It is the last bloom in the forest.

Winter rolled in last night. Today the air has changed. The same fog of the Winter of Monet has returned.

It wasn't just the cataracts in my eyes, the winter air is indeed made of a different substance. It comes from a different place in the world.

The Witches respond.

Once in a decade they can have an actual see from a distance super bloom.

With the first little bit of winter that sticks.

Which Way Does The Wind Blow

At this time of year I get it coming and going. The leaves must fall. They are. I will say this lingering, low cold autumn has been very good for a number of my small trees and shrubs that haven't been very reliable for good color in the past. This year I am seeing them as advertised.

Who knows what next year will bring.

All the darkness puts me in a hibernating mode. I can sleep for ten hours just fine.

But I am obliged to wander away in search of nuts.

Some nuts do manage to roll down my driveway. They always have.

I arrive home in the In Between Time to the vibrancy of fading color.

In between blowing winds, luke warm or cold, which will it be.

The Mountain Tobacco tree cures in the wind.

Magnolia fraseri.

The urge to hide is strong. Let the scenic byway roll on by.

Which way does the wind blow? Snow?

Moving On To Fallen

A whole bunch of leaves fell in the last wind and rain. More of that is incoming for Monday and Tuesday. By Wednesday it could be all over. The mountains are already naked up top and I see a possibility of the first snow for the weekend.

I have not declared one garden officially closed for the season. Ample wet and no real cold of substance has slowed things down. Or have I slowed down? No matter. It will get done eventually.

Half way to barren and the forest is still looking mighty fine. Enjoy.