In October I feel the need to rush, get up early, but not too early because its dark now. I rush to get things done in the garden; look it is 6 pm and you can see it’s getting dark. I feel the push to be home. In summer, even when it is dark, its not pitch black dark. That is coming soon when we switch to standard time in November. It’s warm here in October, so are the tomatoes truly done or can we get a few more?
At the same time, I want to linger longer outside to suck up every last bit of summer. October lighting is so beautiful. Shades of gold in particular and warmer sunsets of purple and pink. You want to hold on to that feeling to get through the winter, even though it is California where the days usually don’t dip below 60 and in fact, can be quite warm.
In Vancouver in September it was warm like early summer. No sign of fall even though we were there on the equinox. We came back at the end of September and it was still warm. I am not complaining as this means more days at the beach and time outside.
In early October, we racked our wine of the yeast from our September crush. It already tastes good. The grapes were top quality this year, although we had much fewer grapes than usual. I am excited to see how this batch develops. We will rack it again in December and leave it sit until May when spring can bring a little more fermenting bubbles as the air warms. I wait for them to settle down and then bottle the wine.
Two weeks later, we were off to visit family in North Carolina. A tropical storm had just passed through a few days before we landed. The day we left home, we had a heavy October rainfall, which is quite rare. I drove to the airport in heavy rain and darkness only to find out our flight was delayed. About an hour later, we were able to get our flight out, and it was one of the last ones until the afternoon. The storm was quite intense and caused a lot of flooding but nothing catastrophic. By the time we arrived in North Carolina, their weather had cleared to sunshine and warm with temperatures in the mid 70’s weather. So of course we had to explore the beaches nearby. Each beach seemed better than the last and the water was warm on two of them. I was surprised by the amount of people there for a workday. Maybe they we all trying to suck up the last of summer like I was.
While the temperatures were warm in North and South Carolina, the butterflies were all orange. I caught this beauty in the yard. It’s a Gulf Fritillary butterfly. It was such a deep orange color, that I thought I had finally found fall. The trees had not turned yet. You could see some maples with a few leaves starting to turn, but not that sense of fall yet.
Usually in October, I want to eat Ginger cookies dipped in cider, but it is still ton warm to crave them. I am still picking figs from our trees and the pomegranates have just come in. I will juice the pomegranates and freeze them in little bottles to have throughout the winter, but especially on Samhain or Halloween along with a drink I discovered in Galacia, Spain called Quemada which is brandy, coffee beans, cinnamon stick, orange slices, lemon peel, and some sugar. You need to warm it up and then light it and serve it in little cups. I am going to vary it this year with some actually expresso in it along with the beans. This drink dates back to at least the 11th century when Celtic tribes arrived. It is a drink to drive out evil spirits.
One last little note. A few years back I complained that my Giant Coreopsis had not return. Well, this year, it’s back and its over six feet tall.
Reflections Outside My Window 