The snow birds(slate colored juncos) showed up this week. I guess that means i should get off my butt and plant all the tulip bulbs i rescued from the sale bins at Menards. When will i ever learn?????

What weather comes to North Alabama in early November comes to South Alabama in late November.

Fruit Cake Weather.

Love this time of year. Amelanchier and Sumac and Sassafras and Dogwood are deepening in color each day but still have some green tones here in east central AL. Now that DH is retired he's becoming increasingly interested in plants and has been bringing me tree leaves from his walks, a big improvement over trying to describe the tree to me! Fun to watch someone begin to realize the wide variety of trees in just a few blocks. josh

The temp dropped below freezing for the first time this fall. It wasn't a light frost as the low was 29°F early this morning. It's supposed to drop that low again tonight. The long range forecast into next week says we will return to Indian Summer temps. Lows above freezing, highs in the 60's or low 70's.

Not a bad time of year at all.

Elia

We're expecting frost tonight for the first time. So far, we've had a few nights down to 35, just enough to encourage the color. The tree colors are glorious here.... reminding me why I like autumn so much.

Oh, dear. Juncos in Indiana. Our weather is often four days behind your weather... I am truly not ready for the white stuff.

My heart bleeds for you and your cold weather. It was a nice toasty 6° early this A.M. Needed to use some exterior wood glue on a pergola this morning. Got some out of the shop. It says on the label "O.K. to freeze". Quite hard to get it out of the container when it is solid.

Well, my heart bleeds for you Michael, because I know it's too early for a frost in teh deep south by a couple of weeks. We had our first frost last night, but thankfully it was a light one. I threw a sheet over the remaining tomato plants & that kept them from going bad. The eggplant, however, I fear, is toast.

We had 22 degrees last night in western NC. At 7:30 this morning it was a whopping 23! Stayed cool all day, but beautiful with blue skies and just a light breeze. Thank goodness the yard work is done (sort of) and all that's left is one more sweeping of leaves and blowing off of roofs. I can stand cold if the sun is shining. Grey skies give me mildew on my soul!

The Snow Birds are arriving down here too. It's not uncommon to see occasional Ontario or Quebec plates on cars heading South on I-65. There's always a goodly congregation of Canadians who spend winters in Gulf Shores hotels and the state park.

The migratory patterns of different species are interesting to study....

Elia

DH mentioned seeimg a bit on tv about folks shipping their yachts aboard a special freighter to the Mediterranean so they would have their toys there when they arrived by jet. Poor babies...LOL josh

Every spring I feel like the antithesis of "Goodnight Moon" as I individually remark on and greet each new leaf, bud, and bloom. Each fall I find myself bidding each adieu.

{{gwi:197715}}
This little ditty popped into my head as I walked around the garden today...

In a great green garden
There was a hammock
And balloon flowers
And a woman-
Who lolled out back for hours

And there were three little roses
and a pile of hoses

And two little gayfeather
Who liked only fair weather

And a little bird nest
Filled with Robin Red Breast

And a hoe and a spade
and other tools mislaid

And a giddy old lady sipping lemonade

Goodbye green
Goodbye beans
Goodbye to my summer routine

Goodbye warmth
And the blooms you bring forth

Goodbye roses
Goodbye hoses

Goodbye gayfeather
And goodbye fair weather

Goodbye bees
And goodbye leaves

Goodbye birdÂs nest
And goodbye Robin Red Breast

Goodbye hoe
And goodbye spade

Goodbye to all the tools mislaid

And goodbye to the giddy old galÂs
lemonade

Goodbye herbs
Goodbye hummingbirds

Goodbye summer everywhere.

Jaz, Nice ditty. Is that an illustration from a children's book? I was surprised to see a tiger (or cat?) skin rug on the floor. josh

It's a scanned page from Goodnight Moon, a timeless children's book no parent should be without. In looking for the image, I learned things I did not know about other "offensive" images in this book.

The cheesy "poetry" is my own. I superimposed it on the rhythmic, ritualistic, goodnight I so fondly recall from my own childhood.

Jaz, thanks for the link. I don't agree with the doctored illustrator's photo...good grief. Nor would I want the skin rug removed. If it's been there for 50 years let it lie. I had heard of the book but for some reason it wasn't in my son's collection. I just thought it out of place in an animal's room...sort of like a deerhead on the wall. josh