Below Freezing: A short note

Patient impatiens

This is a first. My two containers of impatiens went ballistic this year, and they just keep blooming. I don't think I've ever had them during peak leaf fall. The hares have moved to the porch for the winter, and we are almost battened down.

However. Temperatures dipped well below freezing last night, and the leaves are suddenly almost all on the ground. Jasper and I had a wonderful walk along Flowalonski, which winds along the Messalonskee Stream. 

Jasper in Fall

It is so much easier to enjoy weather that is a bit too cold than it is when it's a bit too hot. Some of it may be psychological; knowing that the planet, and Maine, is warming in a threatening way. But the other part is that you can always put on another layer. Wind and ice complicate that, but we had neither today. Lucky us.

And Jasper, freshly bathed yesterday. Handsome boy with those now strictly cosmetic ears. 

Warm Weather, Extended

Porcelain Mug, Cala lily

It's hard not to enjoy the return from the cold we've had for the past week or so. It's been extremely dry, but also throw-open-the-doors warm. Jasper is happy. And it's hard not to enjoy it, especially knowing that winter is on its way.

Still. It is unseasonable, and one can't help but wonder what lies ahead. There was a time when I reveled in weather. Oh sure, I could always find something to complain about. That's what people who take growing things seriously do. But now contemplating what's next in our forecast is accompanied by a twinge of anxiety. It used to be that a big storm was somehow reassuring. It made me feel like humans weren't in control as much as we pretend to be. 

 

Porcelain mug, Dogwood-ish

But now? It feels more deadly. Not only personally, or species wise, but ALL species wise. Our beautiful trees, ferns. All of it.

But as usual, I digress. I didn't do a lot of studio work this past summer, but just got a batch of work glazed and photographed. I'm not sure why I go to the trouble now, except that it's habit, and I like seeing it on paper. Much of the work was in porcelain. I'm still using applique with botanical motifs, but I feel that urge fading. [Though to be fair, my very favorite mug is still one of the green/brown Cala mugs. . ]

Porcelain Bowl with spoon cutout

Another method I've been working on is slip-trailing. It's particularly handsome on porcelain, I think, though I'm always hesitant to glaze that bright beautiful white. The bowl on the left is only glazed with clear glaze on the inside. The vitrified unglazed outside has such a tactile feel. Some people hate it, but I really like it's rough smoothness

Small Porcelain bowl

 

Below is a smaller bowl that I glazed inside and out, then rimmed it in Emeraude. . .my favorite glaze (along with the old Ancient Jasper) for running; or in this case creeping.

Porcelain mug, left hand side

 

 

Finally, my favorite porcelain in the batch. Again, this mug is only glazed on the inside. I've been drinking from it, and the jury's out. It's a good size, the handle feels just right, but I'm afraid that the unglazed outside may stain with heavy use. It shouldn't, since it's fully vitrified, but it has that feeling. 

Porcelain mug, right hand side

It's interesting on all sides, and unlike the botanical mugs above, it's a right-and-left handed mug, since the slip trailing is really low to the surface. I also smoothed the "dots" of slip trailing on this one so there wouldn't be too much relief. Too much relief, as we all know, can just be annoying. Smile.

The buttons below are part of my maker self too. I just finished a linen dress ("Mom-green", my younger daughter calls the color), and needed buttons. I have so many choices now, but decided I wanted metal, not enameled, instead of ceramic. I found a package of Precious Metal Clay, and voila. 

 

Fine silver buttons

 Buttons for the dress. Fine silver. Who else has such amazing details in their life? Not that anyone ever notices. But still. As I used to tell my clients: You know it's there. It's like wearing really lovely underwear. (Though we will not go there.) Lucky me.

Peak Leaf color. . .

We headed North late this week to hike along Little Moose Pond, close to Moosehead Lake and surrounds. Moosehead Lake is the headwater of the Kennebec River, so it's a pretty big deal. In truth, we're a little past peak leaf color. You can see in the photo to the left that there are a few deciduous trees that have already defoliated, but there it still plenty of color. These photos are not touched up, by the way.

The "pond" (they would call this a Lake in the West) is completely surrounded by the Appalachians. . .a wonderful mix of deciduous and coniferous trees. 

Even underfoot the color is remarkable. 

The color isn't limited to our excursions, though. Our backyard is full of color as well. . . I wake up to the image below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also spent a little time in the garden this morning, tying back the raspberry canes to avoid lodging in the snow. . .premature, I know, but not THAT premature. . .

And I was able to harvest this small bouquet. The hydrangeas keep giving, and the hardier herbs, and even some basil, remain as gifts for the taking. The vase is a new design. I must have seen one like this somewhere (2 circles bowed out, with the top and the bottom slightly truncated), but I have no idea where.  And I just realized that I never photographed it for my collection. 

The highbush blueberries are a blazing red, and the surprise was that two of the small Korean lilacs also put on a show of red in the fall. Nice.

The temperatures have cooled considerably now. Mornings find us waking up snuggled under 2 extra wool blankets, and hurrying out of bed to slip on layers. I love it. For now, at least. Walks smell wonderfully fall (makes me think of walking around my old neighborhood at Halloween), and while I look forward to our first snow, I'm also feeling great ambivalence toward the weather. The climate. When we moved to Boise in 2000, we started looking forward to winter. We had just learned to ski, and it was a new Fun Thing. Now, as climate is giving us the extreme weather evens we deserve, I think of those folks in Florida without power. . .some likely for weeks. If I impose our version of wild weather. . . ice storms. . .over that, it's a grim picture indeed. We like to think we're prepared, but I know that if it's extreme, we're not. I have never chosen to live my life afraid, but this feeling is hard to shake. Stay warm.

Early October

 

I've finished harvesting raspberries now, but I thought this parting shot was worth documenting. The chipmunks harvest the raspberries too, and have them as a meal on the stone steps that are between the two raspberry cultivars. I think it's incredibly cute that they leave the seeds behind for me. We've got several patches of these on the 5 stone steps. I'm glad we can share, and not lose the crop.

Last week I hiked with friends along Salmon Lake. The leaves were coloring, but they're at full color now. . .just 5 days later.

Maine is full of these hidden gems of hikes. We have a wonderful series of trails in back of our house, but there are woods everywhere. You have to know about them, though, and the best way to do that is to "know a guy".

One of my hiking friends is always assessing the various lakes' condition, particularly as pertains to erosion, and/or land owner education. It is a battle to fight against ruining these lakes with too many people doing things that erode the shore, pollute the water, add invasive species, etc.

I love these rocks along the shore. We have an abundance of rocks and roots on just about any trail.

And of course, Jasper is ever present. Lending support to the ongoing mission of enjoying life, and trying to be worthy of our many riches.