By this time last year, the gardens had already been buried under a blanket of snow.

But this year, though we’ve had a few dips to proper seasonal temperatures, overall it’s warm more often than not. It’s not quite summer, but think warm early spring. Warm days and cool nights.

The roses absolutely love this kind of weather. And because the days aren’t super hot, the blooms last a really long time.

Even so – this really surprised me.

This is the climbing rose I have on the catio. The one that supposed to bloom more than once, but never has. But last week, I noticed buds. And by mid week – it was blooming. It’s only one small cluster. But still beautiful to see.

Several of the roses that aren’t actively blooming, are in buds. Odds are out on whether they will get a chance to bloom. I’m not making a guess either way – I just can’t predict Mother Nature anymore.

Case in point… while it’s overall been mostly warmish – we have had nights below freezing with frost. While many of the perennials can handle a light frost, all of the annuals should be knocked out by now.

But…

I’ve still got gerberas and African daisies.

The driveway side is a little more protected, but even still…

Begonias and Sunpatiens should be completely flattened. But they are not.

And how about Morning Glories? In NOVEMBER!!!

These perrenials have all rebloomed (Clockwise from top left): Pincushion Plant, Dianthans, Blanket Flower, Butterfly bush, and Waterperry Blue Veronica.

And the Toad Lilies are in total glory

And my Dwarf Burning Bush is really on fire this year! I love it!

Will I have another garden post for you next weekend… only Mother Nature knows for sure!

Just the handsomest cat on the planet… that is all.

So… when I finished my last pair of socks, naturally, I needed a new knit on the needles. I had planned on another pair of socks… but the yarn I planned on using was allllllllllllllllll the way upstairs in the stash, and I was just too lazy to get out of the chair and go get it.

So instead, I reached into the sewing stand I have beside my chair and came up with this:

It’s a ball of Bernat Sox that I picked up in a bag of random sock yarn at a thrift store. As you can see, it’s Bernat Sox (an acrylic/nylon blend). The colour is called “Crazy Hot” but I’ve renamed it Clown Barf. Because that’s totally what it is.

The ball is only 50g and I can usually get a full pair of shorty socks from just 50 g. However, because this was a thrifted yarn, I’m not sure it’s a full ball. So I’ve gone even shorter with just an inch and half long cuff (15 rows). I knit most of this first sock in between waves of trick-or-treaters on Halloween night.

The second one is already on the needles, and I’m hoping to get it off the needles by the weekend and start that project I originally intended.

As you know, in addition to quilting, knitting, cross stitching, and gardening, I also have other crafty hobbies like painting and drawing. And several of those projects have been accumulating in the dining room over summer.

With the garden put to bed (sort of – it’s still blooming, but I’m done tending to it), I finally had some time to tackle some of this.

Of course, someone had to come see what I was up to…

But eventually I was able to get him to settle down so I could get to work

First up…

Remember these guys? I had started painting them and then decided my cheap paints were crap and put them away until I could finally get better paints. I got better paints but they just languished.

But now they are finally done (The higher-quality paints made all the difference!) And if you’re wondering what happened to that snail planter… he’s in a time out. Even the better paints couldn’t make painting all his little details fun. Part of it is my hands aren’t as steady as they used to be, and my eye sight definitely isn’t as sharp. I gave up. Dave said he’d take a stab at it (he paints model ships regularly) but we’ll see if he actually does.

And while I was waiting for coats to dry on those, I painted up these three little birdhouses we got for sale at Michaels several weeks back.

I kept it simple with the decorations

And I think they turned out pretty good. The framing on the sun porch is exposed, and it means lots of little “shelves” for treasures.

Now with those done, I have to decide what this coming weekend’s project will be. I have some regular terra cotta pots to paint. But I also have a brand new set of Prismacolours I haven’t cracked into yet

And this paint by number kit.

Michael’s is a very dangerous place, and I probably shouldn’t be allowed back in there until I finish all the projects on my table.

Thanks to the help of my ginger companion…

I finally made some decent progress on Mr. Moth.

Not only did I finished all the leaves on the branches, I got the little berry branch done at the top. All that’s left are two leaves on the top, and some random little ditdots here and there. I might even be able to finish it next weekend!

“I’m ready to keep you on task!”

The night before Halloween, I finished up my Felici Aquarium socks. To recap, nothing fancy here; just a plain vanilla using some yellow Stroll for ribbing, heels and toes. I did the leg about three inches, which is my preferred length for socks for myself. Normally, I do ribbing through the whole sock, but I just wasn’t in the mood for anything even remotely complicated.

Now I’ve got something new on the needles, but it’s not what I planned on. You’ll have to stay tuned to find out more.

The other day, I needed some fresh air after work. I went outside and filled up the bird feeders and sat down with my camera. I was hoping to get some pictures of the squirrels – I feel like I haven’t spent much time with them this year, and I just love their silly antics.

Well, the squirrels didn’t want to come out and play, but the Blue Jays did.

I have eleventy billion pictures of the Blue Jays looking pretty and regal, so I decided to play around with my camera settings and see if I could get some pictures of them in flight.

It turns out, those jays can really fly!

I got several blocked by the peanut ring.

And a few “levitating” pics.

They were definitely mostly “outakes”

This one is not too bad, but I know I can get better.

I think my best shot is actually this accidental one

Though this one is pretty cool too..

Lift off!!!

Maybe I’ll get a little time this week to get out there and try again!

This Halloween night was our best yet – with about 100 trick-or-treaters coming to our door. I suspect this is mostly because the weather was nice. Really nice.

It was nice enough that I was handing out candy bare foot. And I was pretty warm under my cloak with only a sundress on.

But of course, it couldn’t last. Last year we woke up to a snow storm on November first. It’s not quite that cold this year, but it’s cold enough to turn the furnace on.

As predicted… the wind has taken care of most of the fall colour. There’s still some out there, but we are definitely past peak.

I took the following pics throughout the week when the days were still pretty warm. Warm enough that the butterflies were still out… and lots of these guys.

If you look closely – you’ll see that neither of them are bees. They are hoverflies.

There are hundreds of different types of hoverflies, and most have markings that mimic bees/wasps. Next to bees, they are probably the most important, prolific pollinators in the garden. I see tonnes of the smaller one there, but the bigger one… well he’s new. That or I’ve always just confused him for a honey bee – because that’s about how big he is.

If it wasn’t for the different shaped eyes, he’d be very hard to distinguish from a bee.

There are still quite a few blooms in the garden, though I suspect they are the last we will see this season. We are really on the countdown to winter now.

Of course, everyone’s favourite feline wasn’t forgotten this Halloween. He looked so good in his Vampurr cape last year, we decided to try something new this year.

Who is the handsomest fluffy bat cat????

Coincidentally… this week is Bat Week!

Do something good for our little winged night-flyers if you can! I’m going to talk to Dave about building a bat house!

Halloween is here!!!! Soon I’ll be dressed in my witches best, and handing out treats to all the little ghouls and goblins who date tread to my doorstep.

And that doorstep is decked out!

I finally got some string lights to put up on the front porch, and I think it was just the thing the set-up was missing. I had a heck of a time finding Halloween lights… Everything was Christmas – even back in September! We finally found some at Dollarama of all places… I hope they last at least a couple years.

For the graveyard, I just rearrange the solar lanterns that were already in the gardens.

I think they work really well in highlighting the headstones and skeletons. It just needs some creepy fog/smoke.

And of course, there’s Doug.

I can’t express just how much I adore Doug. He’s just the cutest!

Overall I’m thrilled with how my little garden of bones has grown since we moved here.