another great day

Such lovely weather we are having.  I love "Indian Summer", which is what we always called a warm spell after a frost.   I worked outside for a bit today, in shirt sleeves!  I've drained the hoses from the back yard; moved some empty pots off the deck and took down all the bird houses and summer decorations from the trellis and the pots.  I have a bunch of those little critters that you stick in your pots - rabbits, birds, squirrels, turtles.  Too bad they don't keep the actual critters, mostly squirrels, from digging in the pots.  Before winter sets in, I will move almost all the pots down to beneath the deck, but I only do a few at a time.  About half of them are still blooming - and not just the mums.  Some other flowers haven't been frosted.  The funniest one is a plant that I bought this summer up in Bath, NY.  It is a mum and didn't even set on buds this summer.  Today, when I read the tag, it said that it would bloom in late fall and that in places with a short summer, probably wouldn't bloom at all.  We certainly have long enough summers, but this is cutting it pretty close.  It has buds, but I figure it needs a couple more weeks before it blooms.  I can't imagine anyone in western NY could ever have it bloom, as they've already had a killing frost up there.  I also noticed that my re-blooming iris have buds. They too will have to hurry if they want to be fully open before cold weather sets in. 

I can't believe that Thanksgiving is next week.  Seems too soon.  Although, I noticed that all the stores have their Christmas things on display and have had for several weeks.  I'm really not quite ready for Christmas decorations, but I will start putting mine up next weekend.  I get them down right after New Year's, so they really aren't up all that long.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving.  I'll be sharing food with my friend Patty and her mother.  This year it's at Patty's house, which is very convenient, as it's almost next door.  We buy a huge turkey so that we each have left-overs to pig out on for the next week!