We spent a long weekend in Montreal and saw so many pretty things. I'll get around to posting some Canada photos but first things first - I have get out into my garden and pick some Zinnias.
SCENES FROM MY GARDEN
I'm enjoying every moment in my garden as fall closes in on us.
I keep checking on my caterpillar friends hoping that they don't get gobbled up by a bird.
I gathered a whole wagon-load of hydrangea flowers and made a wreath.
My little woodland native garden is coming along. It's looking good despite the fact that it was just planted this spring and the bunnies have been grazing.
My White Wood Aster is blooming and that makes me so happy. You can see a photo of the White Wood Asters at the Chicago Botanic garden below. Hopefully mine will be big fluffy clouds like that next year.
Wasps love my flowering fennel.
I'm so pleased with the flower bed next to our patio. It looked ho-hum for much of the summer but now it is full of color. I wish I could capture it better it's such a nice view to see out my banquet window.
And it's been giving me a constant supply of bouquets.
WOODLAND STROLL CAPE
I've been wanting to make this pattern for so long. I'm kicking myself for not doing it before because it's such a fun little pattern. It's the Woodland Stroll Cape from Liesl + Co. It has only three pattern pieces and it's not very big so you can afford to buy a fancy fabric.
We're goiing for a weekend trip to Montreal soon and I am going to wear it all over town. I should call it the Montreal stroll cape.
AHHH... MUCH BETTER
Another window finished. A small step to helping this old house go on with its job of keeping us cozy.
Befores and then afters:
SOME CHICAGO BOTANIC GARDEN FAVORITES
Here are a bunch of photos that I've taken in the last few weeks. Sometimes I wonder why I keep taking photos. Year after year I am drawn to the same things and I take similar photos. But since I enjoy it I just keep doing it.
At this time of year the gardens are very photogenic.
It's amazing that this little jewel of nature is right next to the highway. Interstate 94 runs between the gardens and that building in the photo below. I remember my mom often noticed (as we were hiking or skiing) when the sound of roads would disappear. It was pleasant to notice the lack of sound and sometimes I get that here at the gardens even though we are so close to the noisy highway.
I've been going to The Chicago Botanic Garden once a week since the beginning of this year. I take a photo in the same spot each time I go. I haven't posted those photos but I'm already thinking of next year. I'm thinking I might take the photo below throughout the year. The little prairie is the most varied and interesting spot for me, so it would be a good spot to capture all year long.
FLOWERS IN MY GARDEN
My morning glory is hugging the purple coneflowers.
The bed next to our patio is full of blooms right now. I'm particularly happy with my Japanese Anenomes and my blue sage.
Who needs fussy dahlias when you can grow big beautiful zinnias so easily.
I ripped all the pachysandra out of the bed by our back door. It was looking a little ragged after we had a big tree taken down and the plants were getting more sun. I wanted to try something new - something more nature friendly. So I've planted a bunch of prairie petunia which is a native plant with pretty little purple flowers. And I've ordered some daffodils for the space too. I really hope the prairie petunias fill in. I put up a temporary fence to keep the hungry rabbits out until the plants are bigger.
I always forget (until it comes) that September is a great month for flowers.
HOME AND AWAY
Brian went to Sydney this week. Here are a few pictures that he sent back to us.
Back at home the girls started school. No pictures but they are off to a good start.
Shadows are getting long.
I went to the Chicago Botanic Garden. It's hard to decide which part I like best - the English walled garden or the prairie?
There is a change in color in the prairie - more brown, less bright green.
I see so many goldfinches this time of year but you know how shy they are - it's hard to get a photo of them.
After dinner one night we took a walk along the lake at Northwestern's campus.
After our couple 100 degree days last week the cool wind felt wonderful.
We went to Glacial Park on the weekend (Brian rode his bike and Bea and I met him with the car)
The asters, which are my favorite, aren't putting on a show yet - it was a sea of goldenrod.
This park is remarkable because there is a hill - yes, a hill in the Midwest! Here's the view from the top.
And lastly, since our mini heat wave, it's been so good to throw open the windows at night. And also to enjoy evenings outside while we can.
THE VERY TOP OF SUMMER
We are well beyond the very top of summer but I read this quote in the first week of August and I can't stop thinking of it. The feeling you get when you are at the tippy top of a ferris wheel does indeed feel like the rush of the peak of summer.
“The first week of August hangs at the very top of summer, the top of the live-long year, like the highest seat of a Ferris wheel when it pauses in its turning. The weeks that come before are only a climb from balmy spring, and those that follow a drop to the chill of autumn, but the first week of August is motionless, and hot. It is curiously silent, too, with blank white dawns and glaring noons, and sunsets smeared with too much color.”
― Natalie Babbitt, Tuck Everlasting
So here are some top of the summer photos.
I bought some zinnia seeds from Floret this spring and I just love the little bouquets that I'm able to make.
This summer Bea has set up on the dinning room table with all her projects. She's been using her microscope and our cameras. She also brought another one of my dad's old microscopes home so now it looks like a microscope family. The tiniest one is only about six inches tall.
This is a picture of a little park along Lake Michigan that I sometimes walk to. The native plants are looking big and wild and pretty.
Brian had a week of meetings in Chicago - I dropped him off at the hotel and had to take a photo.
I finished a dress. It's the Upton Dress from Cashmerette. Right after I finished it I was at the farmer's market in Midland and I noticed an Amish lady with a dress that had almost identical features. Hmmmm. My neckline is a little lower and the hem is higher but... I guess it needs some styling to make it look less boring.
My Japanese Anenomes are slowly, slowly getting bigger and now they are blooming. It's a test of my patience.
About a year ago I finished this sweater.
One day I decided it was just too big. So I ripped out some of the length and made new ribbing and now it looks like this. I think I will actually wear it now.
I bought some yarn for a new small knitting project.
When I can - I work on my windows.
Just today, I finished the glazing on this set of windows. The part where I use whiting powder to clean up the oily putty is my favorite part. I use a brush to move the powder around and it absorbs the excess putty and I do a finally neatening on the corners of the putty. It's satisfying.
So now the windows will sit for a couple weeks while the putty hardens. There they are in my very crowded garage. Now that we have two cars - one is always in the garage and so every space is taken up with window stuff, bikes and garden stuff. Such big problems I have (rolling my eyes at myself).
Just a few more photos from my walks at the Chicago Botanic Garden.
School starts next week. We're dropping to the chill of Autumn.