"Fall" is coming

It feels like fall is approaching...well, here anyway.
The nights are getting "cold-ish" and the days are definitely shorter.

But of course, we'll probably get another hot spell in October like usual.
Haven't noticed any trees changing color yet, but it won't be long now.

We have an old resprouted trash tree, a silver maple, in our backyard. I've already cleaned the patio of dead leaves twice in the past three weeks!

Garden's a bit tired right now, as always at this time of year. Especially with water restrictions being mandatory. Hope we get decent rainfall this winter.

Shrub roses and pelargoniums amaze me with how much bloom they are showing even with almost no water. My usual show of summer glads was really wimpy because they didn't appreciate being so dry - I hope they will be better next year.

I always know when fall is approaching because I start getting a plethora of huge spider webs everywhere...with equally HUGE spiders in them.

I agree about the shrub roses. My neighbor is very neglectful with watering and her shrub roses are ablaze with flowers.

Are you sure it isn't spring that's on the way? My freesias are coming up and two of my (non-reblooming) azaleas are blooming.

My freesias are sprouting, too...so are Tritonia, Watsonia and Dutch Iris. They did that last year, got to a certain height and then did nothing...but bloomed when they were supposed to.

My English primroses are coming out of dormancy, too.
Do we thank Al Gore for this ?

The nights are alot cooler here, we used to have to have a fan on when we slept, not now.
And for sure the nights are shorter, we walk around 6:30 and would get back about an
hour later and would still have enough light to do a little outside, not now.
Oh well, it will be spring before we know it, so it's ok, and since I'm going to be a grandma next spring, I sure hope spring hurries!

My freesias are popping up...haven't been down to check the watsonias. I saw liquidambers somewhere the other day already starting to color up, though mine have not started yet. I'm very affected by the seasons and I started feeling Fall coming several weeks go...the change in the lighting and mood. I get lethargic and dreamy and want to start howling at the moon....lol....so I know it's on the way...lol.....

congrats on being a grandma weegy : ) - springtime seems like the perfect time to welcome a new baby!

JasperDale - you spoke too soon! Now we're in for a short hot spell - at least we of the inland ilk. I am ready for fall - I want to get my winter veg garden in once it cools down a bit. I was in Manhattan Beach last night, and really could have used a sweater - I'm used to the heat here now!

Thank you tootsie!

Gramma Weegy! How cute is that? Congratulations.

Yes, we've noticed the shorter days - DH hates coming home from work and not being able to fiddle with his projects before dinner, so he notices right away. I notice the dark in the morning and find myself oversleeping on the weekends, which I don't like. AND our birds tells us right away, because they want to go to bed earlier. Trust me, when the big one starts jumping on the chair back behind your head, you pay attention! lol

Even down South, it begins to feel like Fall is coming....Dogwood leaves begun to turn, and when we mow the grass, we're likely picking up fallen leaves rather than cutting grass.

Thank you Kathleen, I'm pretty jazzed!

Congratulations weegy! Grandchildren are always a treat.

It's sure looking like fall here although the cannas are still blooming and so are the begonias and the dahlias. The ligularias are blooming too. I love their strange daisy-like flowers in the shade. The mums are blooming too and some of the roses. I've even got a few daylilies that are blooming.

Thank you Doss! I've always heard that grandchildren are such a joy, we should have had them first!!!
Don't you just love the blooms in the garden!?!! Other than the earthquakes, I can't think of a better place to live. We've got it all.

I do love blooms late in the season. I forgot to say that the sea lavender is blooming too - but then it always does. It's a much underused plant I think.

Hi Mike!

Doesn't matter what the temperature is out there, Fall is coming! We had a merciful respite from the heat & humidity right after Hurricane Ike passed through - cool and dry air from last Sunday evening through last night (which made living without electricity much easier to handle.) Everyone on the block was in the street enjoying it.

I'm prepared (and practiced) to frolic, how about you?
:-)

Mary, it's good to hear from you and that you're OK.

Late afternoon/evening was really cool here today. DH just returned from a business trip to Minneapolis and was amazed at the humidity when he got back - he said it was beautiful and dry there.

I was in Las Vegas over the weekend, and NO indication of "Fall" anywhere ! LOL

The second I walked off the plane I could feel the moisture being sucked out of my skin.

Today is the first day of Fall. I am going to miss the lovely days of summer and all the pretty plants blooming, but I know it's time for them to rest and for me to dig in and fix many things in my garden this year.

So JD, did you win any money in LV? lol

Donna

I can tell it's Fall this a.m.....need to go outside and start working, but it's actually cold and overcast and I just want to curl up and hibernate..never happy..lol...too hot, too cold, too dry, too wet......

Sherry - it was cold this morning! If I had feathers, I'd be fluffed up like my birds! And I had to turn a lamp on, too.

I love the cool mornings, but I'm always kinda fluffy - so that must be it.

Jasper, come on - how'd you do in Vegas?

Believe it or not, I never touched a slot machine. I went for a friends wedding, but I did even out my farmers tan . !

JD got married in Vegas.........He's the new Mr. Britney Spears.

He decided that a pseudo pop star, bi-polar, knuckleheaded, hyper-fertile wife would be better than having to actually admit he's dated Melanie Griffith.....and her lips, which took up an additional chair at their table at Spago.

I want the stuffed giraffe, he said to the man who took the pellet gun from his hand before sinking six straight ping pong balls into goldfish bowls......wait, those aren't games in Vegas.....are they?

We got down to 48 last night, fall is most certainly coming, and my bloody Freesias are up as well. Truly an unfortunate truth.

best to all,
don

I don't think it got down to that here......did it? I'm so sorry that you all hate to see Fall and Winter coming, but it thrills me no end. It's this time of year when I'm so sick of watering that I don't care if things live or die, I just don't want to water them anymore. And I want to light the woodstove and have soups and stews, and make it up over Tioga Pass before it closes for the winter, hit Cambria before the rains set in and stop at La Super Rica in Santa Barbara on the way home...these are the things October does best.....you guys can have summer, I do not want it.....

ahhh, Cambria....

Nothing like a lovely mango stuffed pork loin at Robin's or a crab sandwich on the Cayucos Pier.

We still love stopping at the Pink Palace (Madonna Inn) for a burger and the most ridiculous decor ever conceived of.

A trip to Channel Islands Harbor, and a lovely glass of grappa while munching on spanicopita [sic?] and then a lovely dive in the kelp forest around Anacapa Island......oh wait.....I do this during summer to escape the heat.

Strike that.....

Cambrias' nice though.....lol.

hugs,
don

As I figured, Britney was a no show, ...but I did get to stay in one of them thar swanky rooms at the Venetian. I even shaved. And all this time I thought the Venetians were famous for their blinds...

Stopped at a GREAT place to eat in Baker called "The Mad Greek" and gorged myself...surrounded by REALLY bad shlock decor of a plethora of those plaster Venus de Milos, faded plastic flowers, half lit Xmas lights and a broken ice maker.

40 minute plane ride from LB to Vegas, and a 6 hour drive back.

Just an FYI for those who haven't been on a plane in 20 years (like me) : If you book your flight the DAY BEFORE, and PAY CASH, and you bought a ONE WAY ticket, they haul you off to the side at the airport and go through every inch of your luggage, wave that wand thing around you about 50 times and do everything but a body cavity search. They confiscated my Aqua Velva aftershave, but allowed me to keep the Brylcream.

I KNEW I should have paid that overdue library book fee....

Sherry: We need to introduce you to the wonders of PVC pipe and timers.

Don, you make a great tour guide. I never even heard of Cambria and now I want to go there.

Waves ~~ Blooms

JD, I've eaten at the Mad Greek, the food is wonderful. But warning: they have no ac and a stop in July can be sweaty. But the patrons were a diverting entertainment while stuffing my face. A broad spectrum of America was stopping buy to eat Greek.

PS. The librarian's are the only hold out on info. You musta just looked suspicious and Not nearly enough like a harried business man. giggle
And yes I know it's not funny. But it is ridiculous.

Do not touch my Aqua Velva!, and that Brylcream was given to me by that guy over there. He said his name was Bill, but he was wearing a name tag that said Omar. I thought shiny hair might keep Britney's attention away from Percoset and Jack Daniels.....

Check HIS shoes........he's wearing Birkenstocks.....

I bought a one way ticket to Vegas because I'm going to try and beat Nicholas Cage's record for bottles consumed during a visit.

I love Greek........Why did the Greek boy want to leave home?........he didn't like the way he was being reared....baboomcha.

Why didn't his brother want to leave home?.....he didn't want to leave his brothers behind........Just flew in from Philly and boy are my arms tired.

I'm just so confused about Venetians..........They aren't famous for their blinds?.......Being Vexed seems to be an increasingly frequent phenomenon for me.

I detect a cranial swelling,
don

There was a trashy peroxide blonde in front of me in line, with 5 inches of black re-growth...when her food was ready, she madly raised her arm and waved her number in the air...thus treating everyone to a view of the Greek National Forest.

I kept eating anyway...

Yeah Mike!

As the Greek National Forest is a grove of olive trees, you are to be commended for your strength.

Sasanquas are blooming?......I've got some very bizarre behaviors around here that will give you a new frame of reference on "seasonal".........and it has nothing to do with mares or any insights into my pathologies.....lol.

if I don't lay off the Greeks, I'm gonna get Uberized...

Did anyone ever see "The Moon Spinners" with Hayley Mills ?
It took place in Greece.

Hey ! Whatta ya know! I'm hijacking my own thread !!!

hiya Mike,

Isn't this thread about Fall?

Who knows more about falls than the Greeks? Aside from the Romans, the Mongols, the Brits, the French, the Spaniards, the Portuguese and the US?.....lol.

Not that kind of fall eh?

Okie, here's a wacky fall thing.....All of my Stapeliad collection is now blooming, and while that bodes well for any upcoming visits by friends, it is three months too late. My blue gingers aren't supposed to bloom until April or May...well they're in full bloom. I've got orchids IN the greenhouse that are blooming that are totally phototrophic and shouldn't be blooming until December.....yep, they're in bloom. It's all as kooky as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs.

Oh, by the way, my bloody Magnolia campbellii is growing as if it was spring. It should be covered in spider mites and preparing for a winter's respite from the heat.......NOPE.

fall is failing, I do hope someone posts some Jacky Lanterns soon so I can get into the spirit of my favorite holiday.

the halloweiner,
don

My fruitless mulberry is in leaf drop AND putting out new growth at the same time.

Cecile Brunner rose is in about 3/4 of a full bloom phase.

I'm also noticing an abundance of baby birds everywhere.

Did I miss the election?

yes!

baby birds, the offspring of Lady Bird(s) won the election.....thank goodness!

And now the national priority isn't about bailing out banks but it is about beauty. AIG be doggoned, we're planting Salvias is the new political agenda. The Hummingbird lobby is just as pleased as it could ever be.

Morus alba, is also behaving weirdly here amigo.......it's not about an election, it's about nectar!

When was the last time we saw a debate moderated by Big Bird? I think the questions would have less to do with whether Russia is visible from someone's front yard or how many front yards one owns. But then we've got a rather bird-less set of choices who may benefit from some time channeling the Bird Man of Alcatraz. I think it would be a feather in our collective cap if we could actually elect a California Condor as the new inhabitant of the ecosystem known as the White House.......wouldn't it be great if the executive chef only had to prepare different flavors of road kill?.......oh heck, it's already doing that.....lol.

Here's to more birds with political weight, and obviously more dead squirrels being served at state dinners.

a bit right of left of Marx and a bit left of right of Mao,
don-de-don-don

Where's Joe Friday when you need him?

Our local news weatherman just forecast this upcoming weekend to be "our first really cool weekend of the year"....can you hear me cheering? See me starting to bring in firewood? I want cool and damp, no more repeats of last October and evacuating. Good news here is that my California Pepper tree at the front door is fully a-buzz with bees (and they say peppers are good for nothing!). My mulberry has just a few yellowing leaves so far. I think I may just have to take a run up to Big Bear (or Idlyywild at the very least) Sunday to pretend that I actually live in the mountains in Fall.

Don, would that be Groucho or Karl?

I don't know where fall went - I thought it was on it's way yesterday with the slight splash of rain we got yesterday, but then they forecast 102 for the L.A. Co. Valleys today!

When I was driving through South Pasadena yesterday, I did notice the slight change in the light - so the earth is still tipping in the Fall direction, but enough with the heat already! I'm ready to get out the sweaters and corduroy, and to start making my weekly pot of soup or stew.

Being from the Pacific NW originally, I only miss the Fall for its crisp nights, but it used to mean the beginning of almost incessant rains until July of the next year. The Seattle climate is great if you want an English Garden - almost identical to the climate of the Southern English coast. Now here in California it means a few months of what is basically considered Sping in most other parts of the US - until May, when we begin the great long warmup here in Pasadena.

I frequently say to myself, "I love where I live!" I feel very fortunate to be able to garden in such a great climate.

It's fall up in the mountains here. Here's the road less traveled that I was on this past Sunday.