October Garden

Two of the prettiest plantings in the garden at this time of year are the burning bush and the ornamental grass, Sarabande. Sarabande, to me, is the queen of all ornamental grasses.


Miscanthus sinesis Sarabande



Euonymus alata (burning bush)

Space to Spread Out

All Christmas surface mail to France has to be mailed in October so it is time to get out the brown paper, stamps, paints, and stencils. Lucky Rachael, who, like Martha Stewart, has an upstairs room (albeit small) soley dedicated to this type of activity. I am constantly getting supplies from upstairs closets, downstairs basement storage units, main floor trunks, etc. In another life, I would like a clean, bright laundry room and a separate, well lit area with a table and craft supply storage. But then I think of the billions of people world wide, especially in urban areas, who live in very small spaces. UN- Habitat predicts that within two decades, 60% of the world's population will live in urban areas and the percentage rises to 70% by the year 2050. I am therefore grateful to have this not overly large house and an acre of woodland garden. And with the luxury of clean air and the beauty of the changing seasons so evident from every window, I feel a certain responsibililty to preserve and care for the natural surroundings. I hope the next people who live here will feel the same way.

October Is Hallowe'en Month

Home Made Treat Bags

Cool Autumn = Baking

Making Scones With Nova Scotia Cranberries



Fresh From The Oven

My Constant Cooking Companion

October At Home

October Ornamental Grass: Miscanthus Sinensis Silberfeder

I can't seem to make it out of France without being felled by something or other - cold, flu, food poisoning... This time, I almost made it out of the country. I had only a scratchy throat on the high speed train from Lille to Paris. And I might have made it over the Atlantic and broken my record of illness on French soil if the flight had not been delayed for over an hour because 3 passengers checked their luggage but didn't show up at the gate. Who does that? And why? Had they been drinking in the departure lounge and lost all track of time? Are they just mischief makers? Security conscious activists testing the system? Was it the result of a relationship break up at the interminably long and never-moving line up at the Air Canada baggage check? Alas, the longer we had to sit by the departure gate, the stronger the scent of French perfume as more women who had tested the wares in the duty free shops or who were examining their very recent purchases with renewed enthusiasm joined us. And there is nothing worse if you are asthmatic and coming down with a respiratory based flu! It accelerates the fact and the knowledge that you cannot breathe as well and you are not going to breathe as well for a long, long time. I did make it home after a seemingly endless journey to a clean, orderly house, a tidy garden and two very happy dogs. Hadley and Ryan (our neighbourhood golden boy) had taken such good care of the place, inside and out, that I was able to crawl into bed for a week and wallow in on-again, off-again fevered sleep.
We’re into the third week at home and I am only now just getting off the Ventolin inhaler. I can only hope it was the seasonal flu or the swine flu and I now have immunity against at least one of them. If it was a weird and unrelated, totally French strain, then I am afraid the next round to hit our region is going to carry me off. And, gee, I have only just learned how to say "Cecile" in French!
I knit very little in France. There was so much to do – making play doh dishes with lovely little bits of play doh food, blowing bubbles on the deck, walking to the park to say hello to the sheep, geese, and ducks, playing on the slides and the wooden car, singing and dancing in the park bandstand, reading books, doing puzzles, peeling oranges – oh the days were busy and full. There is nothing sweeter than watching the ongoing development of a clever little mind.
It seems to have taken forever to get out of the haze of medication, wheeze, cough, fever, and a longing for Lucy.
But I am back on the needles with a handsome pair of socks!


Pattern: BFF Socks
Designer: Cookie A.
Yarn: Lisa Souza Sock!
Color: Garnet
Needles: 2.25 mm circular