SE MN Fall Color Drive 2020

SE MN Mississippi River Valley is usually about their peak in color in Mid October.  This year we missed the peak by about a week, but when the morning sun was hitting the bluffs, it was lovely!  I love looking at those awesome old homes built so close up the steep Wisconsin bluffs!  Apples for sale were abundent resulting in a few apple pie purchases!

This year we decided to take in both some of the Wisconsin side with the Minnesota side so we headed to Lake City, MN drove south to Wabasha and crossed the Mississipi River into Wisconsin then drove south to cross back into Minnesota at LaCrosse and then headed SW to Rushford for lunch before heading north to home!  203 miles and 5 1/2 hours of some familiar sights and some new sights including lunch at the Norsland Lefsa Manufacturing place with an awesome bakery and lunch service!  So, a bonus for me, I took home half a dozen, fresh off the griddles, lefsas!  I won't list the bakery goodies that jumped into our car tho!  Sandwiches and soup was so welcome by 2:00 PM!  

Baby Croton a year ago.....

A year ago I won a darling mini Croton plant in a ceramic pumpkin as a door prize at our Shades of Green Hosta Society of SE MN meeting!

I enjoyed it during the winter on my kitchen table with a collection of other mini plants which I called my winter garden!   Spring came and the Croton is a tropical plant so I moved it to my Beach Scene Fairy Garden and enjoyed it all summer long outdoors!  As I was picking up Fairy Garden elements to pack away until next spring, I noticed how healthy this little Croton was and how much it had grown so I quickly replanted it into an indoor pot and sprayed it with insecticide so it didn't bring any little friends inside.

I found the little ceramic planter it originally came in, filled it with some fall leaves to set next to it and am once again enjoying it on my kitchen table for fall color!  And, I happen to know the person who had donated it as a door prize, so now I have a daily reminder of a very special friend to remember with a smile every day!  

  

Fall scenes in our yard!

Just got to recognize Fall with some seasonal accents!  

Pumpkins are a must indeed!  

Fall Hydrangea Colors!

 Fall color change in the hydrangeas!  

Love the softness of the mauve colors this time of the year!  Such a nice contrast to the early season white blooms!  A bit of variety to the landscape.

'Limelight'

'Pink Diamond'

'Quick Fire'

One more Covid Style Luncheon!

This one required warm jackets and even some gloves! 

But the conversations and social activity while sipping hot chocolate and hot apple cider kept us warm!  We chatted about the possibility of continuing these on Zoom to keep in contact until Spring!  We all belong to our Shades of Green Hosta Society and have been missing our usual events and friends during this Covid Time.   A big Thank You to June for hosting this in her gardens! 

There were a few colors yet to add some color to the fall scene!  

   

Quilted Flower Gardens!

My favorite quilter, Doris, held a Fall Quilt Sale in her Garden of 175 pieces of her creations!

Proceeds were donated to a local Cat Shelter, and a Dog Rescue Organization!  I have three of her treasured Quilted Flower Garden Creations I have managed to collect in past years. So I made sure I arrived early to this event!  

Such decision making!  But, I walked away with four pieces that I fell in love with!  One went to a dear friend for a birthday gift because she always reminds me of bright Sun Flowers!

One ended up right away on my dining room table because it was an awesome Fall Bouquet!

The reversable Christmas season themed one is tucked away until after Turkey Day!

And one ended up as a wall hanging in my dressing room!  

Such a great way to keep flowers surrounding me all year around!  And they don't need watering!

This one is all hand quilted!

Covid Style Garden Party Luncheon

 So many Hosta Club Events cancelled this year due to Covid safe distancing requirements....

But a bunch of gardeners just need to get together and talk gardening, etc.  It's been a "long distanced summer"!   A casual "bring your own lunch, chair and gather safe distancing in a garden yard" works quite well!  We caught up on our chatting about garden bed prep for fall, etc. and shared some cuttings!  Even a few donations of fall quilted table toppers/wall hangings and hostas for door prizes!  Another garden yard offer for next week's lunch break!  Yipeee!  

  

Mini Fairy Garden came inside for fall!

 A change of pace for on my kitchen table for this fall!  

I usually have one or two mini fairy gardens on my table but decided the older ones are a bit overgrown and I was ready for a change for awhile!  I've loved this one as a memory of our AZ Snowbird years.  Looks like a little ghost has slipped into the scene as it came indoors!

   

Watermelon Pickles!

 Did you have watermelon pickles during your younger days?

My grandma Jo always made a batch or two of watermelon pickles every summer and I loved them!  The last few years I have been searching the displays of homemade pickles and jams looking for a taste of my youth without success.  Every time I buy a whole watermelon I remember how my Grandma Jo always confiscated the rinds to make her favorite pickles.  And often she would buy a whole watermelon for those pickles and quickly cut out that prime center of red goodness to enjoy herself before the rest of us could get to it!  Such tender warm memories to have!

This summer I found a source at our local farmers market and bought the only jar on the display, a quart jar!  Yep, they were a good memory to enjoy, a bit more cinnamon flavor than I recalled, but close enough!  Josie, my great-grandaugher, (named after my Grandma Jo) was here for the weekend and I put my precious pickles on the table.  She tasted one with caution and then her eyes and face lit up!  She loved them and exclaimed she had to have a jar so I told her I'd get her one, which I did the next visit I made to the Farmers Market!

So, do you have watermelon pickles in your memories by chance?

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