The meditation from the Chilmark church’s bulletin last Sunday was a quote from Anne of Green Gables: “I’m glad to live in a world where there are Octobers!”
That’s all there is to say abut the weather this week.
I’m a big fan of yellow-leafed plants. One of the absolute best is pineapple sage. It has finally bloomed a beautiful red. Hummingbirds love it and it will last well into November.
Also there are several yellow coleus incorporated into the foundation plantings at the Square Rigger.
In the shady perennial bed, sun king aralia is a showstopper. It can get three or four feet tall, has a nondescript flower and comes back reliably every spring.
The woods are finally getting some fall color. Although it’s nothing like we used to get in the hills of Pennsylvania. Virginia creeper is turning red and is quite impressive. I have a huge vine of it growing across the top of my vegetable fence. I’m so impressed with myself that I had the foresight to leave it when it was a baby.
Also looking seasonal is poison ivy. There is a vine of it growing up the stop sign at the end of North Road. Go figure.
In June I complained about the sorry state of my newly-arrived sweet potato slips. They were wizened and pathetic.
As luck and nature would have it, I should have had more faith.
The crop is once again fabulous. I’ve only dug a few but one was 10 inches long and downright delicious.
I guess this is one perk of climate change. We have a longer, hotter growing season. Plants that only used to thrive down south have moved north.
In the spring I may have mentioned planting an entire flat of broccoli seedlings close together and did not thin them.
I began taking scissors to the entire situation before they headed up and I was eating them as greens.
Then the white cabbage moth had its way with them. I cut the ruined leaves for the chickens.
The good news is they have grown perfectly again and I’m enjoying broccoli-flavored greens in smoothies and also as lightly sautéed.
I love the fall asters. I use the four-inch pots to fresh up ornamental pots. They come back the following year.
I put some four-inch pots into the ground and they were promptly eaten to the quick by bunnies. I wonder why I never knew they liked them. What I don’t know is a lot!
About a week ago I ripped out tons of past-their-prime Grandpa Ott’s morning glories. Less than a week later the ground was covered in new seedlings. They won’t live through a freeze but it was astonishing that the will to live and reproduce is firmly ensconced in the DNA of plants.
We live in a troubled world. There is way too much happening each day to begin any commentary. I am going on a personal rant this week. Feel free to yell out “okay, Boomer” at any time.
For the second time I received a text message from my mobile phone company that my bill was overdue. Some of my children and grandchildren are on that account with me. The provider company threatened to turn off all the phones. Oddly, I have not received a bill. I’ve been with the company for 20 years and have had the same post office box since the post office was on Main street in Vineyard Haven where Rainy Day is now.
I spent more than an hour with the representative where she insisted that they now send bills by email — by the way, my computer is broken — or the physical address.
Also, she wanted to simply hit my checking account monthly. When I refused, we were getting nowhere until I suggested I find another provider. Then, supervisors got involved and they agreed to send the paper bill by mail for a $2 per month charge. I shouldn’t be living in this new technological age!
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