The Last Flower Friday: October 16, 2026

 

It's the last Flower Friday of the season.

I won't be posting for a while after my hand surgery on Monday.

We don't have as many flowers in the neighborhood.  Last weekend we had remnants of Hurricane Isaias and the heavy rains crumpled many of the flowers.  We have so many mushrooms everywhere.  I welcome sight after the drought.

My neighbor's Calendula is above.  It's actually more yellow than it appears in the photo.

My anemones have faded but Helen's are going strong yet!

The last of the autumn roses:

Last is a weed that has overtaken our neighborhood.  It is everywhere.  It's called Snakeroot and is native to North America:

This is also the plant that killed Abe Lincoln's mother.  I'm not kidding.  The cows that pioneers brought to the western part of the U.S. often ate this weed.  What no one knew was that the milk and dairy products from cows that ingested this weed became toxic.  Pioneers often suffered and/or died of what was referred to as "milk sickness".  Nancy Hanks Lincoln died of milk sickness in 1818 at age 34.  Abe was only 9 at the time.  Apparently this poison claimed thousands of lives.

A woman named Anna Pierce Hobbs Bixby with the help of Shawneed woman discovered the cause of "milk sickness."  Anna was a midwife, doctor, and herbalist.  Despite her research, snakeroot toxicity was not until 55 years after her death that scientific research confirmed her analysis.

Anyway, that is all I have for you today.  I'll post when I can and wish you all a safe and happy weekend! 

Flower Friday: October 9, 2026

 

Welcome to another Flower Friday!  We have only a few weeks left before the flowers fade so we are making the most of being outside these days.

Sue sent these lovely photos of a flower from her butterfly bush.  She still has some lovely blooms where as our bush is fading fast.  We haven't seen a butterfly for at least two weeks.

The shasta daisies are reblooming in our neighborhood!

Below with plumbago:

The asters are in bloom!

And a rarity around here is burgundy mums!

Wishing you a safe and happy weekend!

Thursday's This and That: October 8, 2026

 

Welcome to another edition of Tuesday's This and That!

How are you?  Did you have a good weekend?

Our weekend was okay.  We are still harvesting tomatoes (much to the delight of our family and friends).  It's been such a weird year.  I pretty much won the battle with squirrels for the tomatoes--thanks to Lucky!  We've learned to ignore the splits happening on our maters.  It was a dry year and even though I watered when we got rain it was a LOT of rain and caused the maters to split.  The drought affected the size of a lot of tomatoes as well.  Many ranged on the same plant from small to large.

***

My neighbor had his annual yard sale and I picked up a really neat basket for my sewing room.  It's pretty big!  Lucky didn't know what to make of a basket that is nearly his height!  😄

When I got home, I realized that despite the dust on the outside, it had never been used.  The tags were still on it!  It's now housing my children's novelty fabric.

I'll bet you have had this experience too--I made (literally) husbands hundreds of kids and baby quilts and are a little tired of it.  In 2026, I'll be making some Camp Erin quilts to whittle down what is left.

***

Buying at Charlie's yard sale was something I rarely do anymore.  I do enjoy looking at auctions but never bid anymore.  I saw a few quilts coming up for auction that fascinated me.  I think this one was made from upcycling tablecloth fabric or actual kitchen textiles.  I think it is from the 1950s.  You can see it up close here.

I've never seen this pattern before and it fascinates me.  I am fairly certain it is from the 19th century.  You can study it here.

The last one from this auction seems familiar but I don't think I have ever seen this pattern in a completed quilt.  Have you?  It is interesting!  You can see more of it here.  I think it is a cool pattern, what do you think?

Wishing you a safe and happy day!

Flower Friday: October 1, 2026

 

Happy Flower Friday!  

I've been walking through the neighborhood admiring all the flowers still blooming.  Most of the leaves here haven't changed color yet or begun to fall.

Mum's the word:  I've been noticing all the chrysanthemums in the neighborhood and was struck.  The plants that have returned from last year are blooming and bushy and seem very healthy.  They are also yellow.  I thought white was the natural color of mums but apparently yellow is very hardy as well!

We have some orange flowers as well.  None of them photographed well this morning because it's been so cloudy.

Trumpet vine

An orange cone flower that is showing as yellow.  

We also saw this rose colored sedum on our walks:

What's blooming in your world?

Have a safe and happy weekend!