11.18.2024 | Ordinary Monday

It is a wet, dark early morning here in the Carondelet Garden.  The Doodle Dog gave me an early start this morning with here insistent need to make her morning ablutions.  Early morning temperatures are in the low 60s with highs reaching 70-degrees this afternoon.  The rains should move out in early morning with a chance for them to return this evening.  

We spent the past few days gathering the leaves from in and around the Carondelet Garden.  We rake them up, mow them over and then pile them into our compost cube to store for a whole year.  Leaves decompose through fungal action, so we need to keep them damp all through the process.  At the end you get this amazing, wonderful product!  This job is almost done for this year.  There will be one more gathering of the leaves as the rest are beginning to fall with this early week rain.

It looks like we will be getting our first major frost of the season sometime in the next week or so.  We have been busy winterizing the garden a bit.  We harvested the last of our Fall lettuce crop.  What a joy that has been this year.  We are still cleaning flowerpots, but the plants are gone, and it is a job that can be done at any time.  All of our tulip and Spring bulb pots are planted and are setup waiting for the early Spring display.

We are now in the second half of November.  Winter is just around the corner and the looming temperatures are proving that fact.  So as the weather changes it is a good reminder to keep the bird feeders stocked.  It is one of our greatest joys watching the birds feed from our kitchen window.  

It is a bit bleak outside right now.  I guess that is why the song is called "In the Bleak Mid-Winter."  Not quite there just yet, but we can see it in the horizon.  The holidays are approaching.  We've picked up our turkey and ordered our ham for the big Thanksgiving feast.  An empty seat at the table this year.  A glass of bourbon will be hoisted, and memories will be shared.   We are grateful for the gifts shared and the memories we carry.  

Gratefulness and thanksgiving.  Not a bad way to start the week here in the Carondelet Garden.  That's all the news for now!