While the nights are chilly, the day still warm up nicely. So there’s still quite a bit blooming in the garden.

But the garden continues to throw up surprises…

The Queen Elizabeth rose put up her first bloom this year. She was one of the roses I bought that were in bad shape. I take this flower as a sign that’s she’s going to do spectacular things next year.

And I was in complete shock when I went out and saw this…

ANOTHER of the clearance Clematises I bought has bloomed. And it has several more buds. Hopefully the frost will hold off long enough to let them bloom.

And this one too…

One last flower from Chicago Peace would be a wonderful end to a wonderful gardening season.

When you stumble upon the cat coven conjuring something curious in the catio…

As I mentioned earlier this week, I finally finished up the Bearly Bonnet.

I didn’t have any more of the Regia Tweed left, so I had to crack into a skein of Fat Cat I had left over. It’s a little heavier than sport weight (it’s DK), but that’s okay, as I wanted a bigger hat anyway.

It turned out a much better size, and should last baby a few weeks, at least. Now… it’s onto something new!

I woke up yesterday morning, looked out my bathroom window…

And decided I needed to go for a walk and take in all that beautiful fall colour.

I had stuff to do, so I didn’t end up going until late in the afternoon, but by then, the light was perfect. While there are a lot of beautiful trees in town…

I decided to head up River Street. It leads out of town, and within five or so minutes of walking, you’re in the country. There are still houses on one side, though they become spaced out further and further apart as you walk. The other side of the road is all farm fields, meadows and hedgerows.

If it wasn’t for the occasional truck dieseling on by, one could almost imagine herself as Elizabeth Bennet walking that three miles to Mr. Bingley’s house.

There are quite a few sugar maples in the area, and they really do turn amazing colours.

They almost glow in the landscape.

But it wasn’t just trees….

I don’t like the Virginia Creeper in my yard, but it does turn a brilliant shade of red in the fall.

There were wild asters all along the roadside.

And lots of milkweed. The stuff on the left wasn’t quite ready yet, but the patch on the right as nice and dry. I opened a few pods and helped them on their way, and stuck a couple pods in my pocket for planting in the garden next spring.

It was a beautiful walk, out of town and back in. A perfect fall day.

I FINALLY got the Bearly Bonnet off the needles (more on Thursday), so I’ve been able to get back on track with my tiny stitches.

I used my evenings this weekend to finish up the black work on the machine legs. Now all I have left is the filling in of all the boring beige bits. Hopefully it’s not too boring.

It’s Thanksgiving Day here today in Canada. I’ve got my turkey ready to go. It’s just Dave and I this year, so we are going to be eating A LOT of turkey for a few days, but I’m looking forward to it. Not least of all because I’ve got some new casserole dishes to try out…

Well… new to me.

Not long after I moved out on my own years ago, Dave’s mom gave me a small “Spice of Life” Corningware casserole dish she had kicking around. It was missing a lid, but it was the perfect size for making small dishes for one or two. I loved it so much, I asked Mom to keep her eye out for more as her and Dad were antiquing. She found me another, medium sized one with the lid.

Sadly, I broke the lid (note: Hot lid, cold water… not friends!), but I use these two dishes several times a week.

Yesterday, after running a couple of errands first thing, Dave decided he didn’t want to head home yet, he wanted to go antiquing. I wasn’t really in the mood, but I’m so glad he persisted….

Not one, not two, but THREE large-size casseroles – WITH THE LIDS!!! If you look online, some of these go for more than $100 a piece! Happily, I got each of these for $25. And then I found these…

They are little single-serving size. They have a little handle on the side and lids for each. I didn’t even know they made these! But they were so cute, and at only $7 a piece, hard to say no!

Now I better get in that kitchen. Lord Burton is ready for pie!

Yesterday was the first day of my vacation, and Burton and I were determined to spend it sewing.

I’d set aside the Mod Cat blocks to work on the Hallowe’en quilts, so now it was time to get back to it. Assembling the top is never my favourite part of making a quilt, but these blocks went together easy peasy, and pretty darn fast. Before I knew it, I had them all together.

All it needed was a couple borders.

Burton had taken a break to watch birds from the catio, but he came back just in time for final inspection.

As you can see, it passed. It’s now in the To-Quilt pile, waiting for the next trip to Mom’s. And Burton and I are moving on to the next project!

While the nights are terribly chilly, the days have been rather lovely. So the cats and I have been outside every chance we get, soaking up as much sun as as we can. October can turn grey in a moment.

And the gardens, while not quite as amazing as they were a few weeks ago, continue to chug along…

The mums are pretty much unstoppable until we get hit with a really hard frost.

The Cosmos continue their insanity. I’ve stopped deadheading them because they just keep popping out new flowers without any help from me.

Both the Black Knight and White Profusion butterfly bushes are still in bloom. There’s even a few butterflies still kicking around – mostly Red Admirals and White Cabbages. I haven’t seen a Monarch since our little friend flew off earlier this week.

The bees are still pretty active though. Not as many as there were, but it’s not unusual to see a bee or three out there if the sun is shining.

Cone flowers are still pushing up a bloom or two.

And this Spanish Thrift has been blooming non-stop since I put it in the driveway garden in June. I tried to grow it several times at the townhouse. It would bloom once, than die off, never to come back the following spring. I’ve since learned they they are Alpine flowers, so prefer well draining soil… the townhouse was heavy clay, and just not idea. But here, the driveway garden is perfect. I hope I can get some other colours next spring.

And who doesn’t love a pop of purple in October? L-R – New England Aster, Blue Lobelia, and Toad Lilies.

All this beauty could end any day now, so excuse me while I go enjoy as much of it as I can.

When I was making the Hallowe’en quilt, a certain kitty took a liking to a certain piece of fabric. When the quilt was done, I had a small chunk of it left, so I took a pattern from one of his bandanas, and while I was at Mom’s quilt, I whipped one up for him from the fabric.

Of course, when I headed home, I left the darn thing behind. But Mom was kind enough to pop it in the mail for me.

Doesn’t he look so dashing in those adorable pumpkins?????

You ever have one of those knits that shouldn’t take more than an evening or two, but days and days go by, and you just can’t seem to get it done???

The second Bearly Bonnet is doing that to me.

I’m through the main garter, and should be joining in the round to finish the back… but I’m not. Normally, evenings after dinner are for knitting… but life has just kept me too busy. I’m either out running errands after dinner, working on something around the house, or just too darn tired from the days events to knit at stitch.

But I really want to get this done so I can get it (and the quilt) off to Mom and baby!

As of Friday evening, I’m on vacation for a week. And my first priority is finishing this darn thing!