

Yesterday morning, I looked out the kitchen window to find the birdbath covered with a delicate coating of ice. Seems it’s finally time to clean it out and bring it indoors for the winter.


Yesterday morning, I looked out the kitchen window to find the birdbath covered with a delicate coating of ice. Seems it’s finally time to clean it out and bring it indoors for the winter.

It’s a typical Sunday morning: Connor’s in the La-Z-Boy, playing on his tablet — sounds like Angry Birds at the moment — and I’m sitting on the couch, taking care of random stuff on my laptop while doing laundry.
“Mom! Wanna watch these piggies go into orbit?”
Connor jumps out of the recliner and beelines for the couch, bumping the “vintage” coffee table with the wobbly leg, sloshing some coffee out of my cup.
We both freeze and stare at the coffee puddle for a moment. It’s not bad — just a splash. I smirk at him.
“As soon as you grab some paper towels!”
He tosses his tablet back into the chair and runs into the kitchen. I pick up my sewing notebook, which now has a quarter-sized coffee stain on the current page. No biggie. What little coffee has pooled on the page drips off as Connor returns with a few paper towels.
We blot up the spill. Nothing’s ruined, no one’s mad, no worries. I tell Connor I’ll take care of throwing the wet paper towels away in a minute, and he goes back to the chair to get his tablet.
“Hey, Mom,” he deadpans as he walks back to sit next to me, “wanna watch your coffee go into orbit?”

This saffron crocus is a welcome bit of color as the rest of the blooms and foliage are fading. I just need a few more of these beauties to bloom before I can make some saffronated rice.

I planted two dozen Crocus sativus corms earlier this autumn. Today, the first flower emerged, bearing three dark orange threads of saffron.

This pollinator seems to enjoy having a late-season flower to visit. Hopefully she’ll have a few more blooms to choose from in the next few days!

Drafting a copy of the single pair of karate pants I own, so I can sew myself a second pair.