autumn twenty-ten

(P.S. still no frost...)

someone call al gore

There should not be so many flowers in the middle of October in Minnesota. In previous years we've had frost in September and it would not have been uncommon to have had snow once or twice by now, though it wouldn't stay around long. I remember a homecoming in junior high, a September event, where it snowed as we sat on the cold metal bleachers. This year we've had 80 degree weather in October.



We might have frost tonight, if we're lucky. I'm tired of this extended summer.

there is a certain slant of light

This dog is a genius.

lately

Lately, I've been making a lot of pumpkin pancakes.



They're made from my favorite pancake recipe, with a lot of pumpkin (or squash) puree and spices thrown in. These are not whip-up pancakes like buttermilk pancakes; they actually take a little while to cook with all the oats and I always throw them in the oven for a bit to make sure they're cooked through.



This is a pumpkin roll made from the famous recipe on the back of the Libby's can, with a few more spices added. (I love the Carl Larsson tray it is sitting on.) My grandparents were over for dinner to send off Anders on his new gig as a professional musician.



My parents didn't immediately warm to the idea of him dropping out of school to tour. My parents, charmingly provincial (in the best way) as they are, equate professional musicians with drugs and "fast women." They were eventually won over when they heard how much he'd be making-- it isn't a fortune, but considering the fact that people with bachelors degrees are having just as much trouble finding work as everyone else nowadays, and a music degree is more problematic than most, they came around to viewing it as a very good thing. I am just worried about whether or not he will keep his sanity performing that show every night.



I've also been sewing. More on this later.



OK, so I promised autumn pictures, but I don't actually have any good ones. I'd been admiring the trees etc. on the way to the gym every night but:

1. My camera is ancient in digital camera years, is NOT WYSIWYG and generally has trouble with low lighting.
2. I tried to take pictures through my sunglasses so they would turn out similar to what I was actually seeing-- I promise never to subject you to any other such artsy plans again.
3. I felt silly standing on the side of the road.

a short one

I have given myself up, body and soul, to the pursuit of applying to graduate school. Because things aren't nebulous anymore, I've also given up the lectures until the new year when I'll be done with the application process and can add randomly to my stash of knowledge. I'm looking forward to reading Waugh and Hartley and Saki, and watching Simon Schama's "History of Britain" all the way through in a marathon aided by knitting and baking pleasures, and going to bed without feeling like my entire future is being frittered away by sleep.

I want to get it all done before Christmas because I haven't had a really peaceful Christmas holiday since 2008.

Autumn pictures to come. It's all yellow, brown and red colorways in the trees right now, and immense golden fields with big round hay bales and combines driving around them. All this is picturesque until you get stuck an implement going down the road--taking up both lanes-- doing 15 mph.

a late summer walk

A few days ago, I went out on a little walk with "the big dogs." It isn't how I would have it in my own home, but my dad continues this separation between inside dogs and outside dogs. My siblings and I would like to have these doggies inside during the winter, but between my mom's allergies, dad's insistence that they are for "outside" and a general obsessiveness about keeping things clean, it will never happen. When I have my own house I will always have dogs that can snuggle up with me on the couch at night for a good lot of trashy TV.

Anyways, Sven is more of a poser for the camera than Ole is. Ole tends to run or look away, like you're trying capture part of his soul if you point the camera at him, while Sven will sit and stare at you--mildly interested.

This was one of the last gorgeous autumny-summer days. Now, if we're lucky, we'll get a few summery-autumn days before things start to freeze. The temperature shifted down to the sixties quite abruptly after this, and it has been wonderfully gray and rainy. As someone who carries a sun umbrella and doesn't in any way enjoy being overheated (on a beach towel or otherwise) this has been a most welcome change.



You can see the corn fields in the distance turning gold, and there are these matching wild, sunflowery coneflowers everywhere now.



Our grove is full of these jewel-like plums, but they aren't quite as full as in years past, as we've had some pest problems. (Is that a little bokeh? Yes?)



Have I captured the way these fruits bunch and suspend themselves in the branches like so many round red ornaments? I hope so. It is impossible not to reach out an arm and watch them fall while you give the branches a shake or two.



Behind the plums is a row that has these great bunches of decorative blueberry-like berries. I don't know what they are, but I am quite certain that they are not edible.





More of the plum trees, some without fruit but with autumn colors shining through. I think these must be the ones that produce the white flowers in the spring.



Our soybean field soaking up the last of the summer sun.







Again, these miniature sun flowers are absolutely everywhere, but if you look closely you can see the variety of wildflowers that are about. Most, however, are also yellow.







A sunset over the "lake." Or is it a pond?



Anyways, sunset pictures are a dime-a-dozen during the summer, moving on.

We have this great, squat juniper (?) variety tree right on the edge of the property, by the lake, and it is currently completely laden with these wonderful berries so that it is a whole shade lighter than its greens. Unfortunately the failing light wouldn't let me take a proper picture of the whole thing.



I adore the way the light shines through these brambles-- it is a little sinister and dead looking, and very, very fall.



Of course, the dogs are still around! They were getting impatient with me stopping and taking pictures. I was, admittedly, being eaten by mosquitoes as well.





Ole says, hurry up!





We have two apple trees that grow closer to our house and it is currently the off-year for the one that actually produces big green apples. How it does this, and the other doesn't, I don't know because neither have ever been properly taken care of or pruned. This one is spindly and sort of pops out a handful of tiny red apples every year that are inevitable worm eaten by the time you see them. Pretty though.



Apparently the farmer's market isn't selling apples yet because we had a frost on mother's day this year and it set everything back. When we DO get some nice ones, though, I really want to make apple jellies again. They're like portable apple sauce cubes. You don't need a spoon!

the garden as it is

My parents, always a good subject, have been obsessed with the concept of this garden for years. They call it the "walled garden," presumably to keep out deer and wind (we live in such a windy place that they're building turbines less than a mile from us, which we are not that thrilled about).

It was built entirely by my dad and brother, and as it was a scramble to finish it between winter and the growing season, we didn't have enough time to plant very many things, or plant very nicely. It is sort of a mess.





We only have successful crops of beets, zucchini and green beans so far.



My wonderful mother planted about six packets of various vines in a corner that could have been more than filled by a few seeds. The result, it seems, is a lot of vines and very few fruits growing. I've found a few pumpkins to put boards under but there appear to be a LOT of these ornamental gourds.



Which aren't good for anything, really. It is all a big cross pollinated jumble that will have to be tilled over next spring.

The growing season here is so short (it may freeze any night now) that it took this long to get zinnias.



We have big plans for the garden next year though. If I am still around (which I more than half hope that I am not because it would mean I still don't have a job) I intend to move the pumpkin patch to the hillside where it was before and just do my best to keep away whatever was eating the pumpkins. I'm also very intrigued by the idea of planting colorful fingerling potatoes, onions and garlic. People in Minnesota, sadly, do not use garlic (Scandinavian foods have very little seasoning in my experience). Ah well, there is always the farmer's market until then.