The Last of the Color

When these leaves are gone, that green grass is what helps get me through winter.
That, and the evergreens I've planted here and there.
This is the Bloodgood Japanese Maple I planted the day Dad died.

Why so quiet, you ask? Because we snuck off to Texas for a 12-day jaunt to see Corpus Christi, visit family in Arlington and surrounds, and see how many pounds Nan could gain eating three meals out every day. The verdict: A good number of pounds, or a bad number, that is ...

Visiting Arlington is now such a study in contrasts with our current life. There, we stay at Mason's ex's house and can get to the hardware store in 2 minutes. Here on Flat Top, it takes 50 minutes. To Mason's favorite burger joint, 1.5 minutes. Here? Trick question. All of Mason's favorite burger joints are in Texas.

All of that convenience -- and the thousands of restaurants within a 10 minute drive in Arlington -- create a parallel universe to Flat Top. So we go there, get our fill, appreciate it all, then retreat to the cabin and fall back in love with our little home in the woods. I can't tell you how much I look forward to winter, when I will no longer be working and we won't leave the mountain six days a week and create satisfying meals out of whatever is left on Days 5 and 6. Of course, I prefer that it be spring or summer, when it's warm, but I'm trying not to be too greedy.

This Seiryu Japanese Maple didn't give me much color last year,
 but this year? I'm happy.

When we returned to our little cabin in the woods last week, we found a forest full of leaves covering the ground and just a speck of fall color left. So far I've gotten the leaves off the grass, but there's a whole lot of raking and shredding in our near future. And soon, that pile of firewood you see in the background of that bottom photo will be keeping us warm day and night.  It's good to be home.

Missing Our Mountain

The color was better yesterday. Sorry.

I work only three days a week, but the past month has felt like a marathon of work. It all caught up with me today, cured only by a rejuvenating 1.5-hour nap on a rainy fall day.

I woke up in a cathedral of fall color. The best days were the past three, when it was sunny and glorious – and I was working at the nursery.  I didn’t get the camera out until today. So consider these a day off from peak!

How many times have you seen this photo in the past five years?

Our road; a good portion of it, anyway.

Why so busy, you ask? Well, mostly Mom! We’ve been going into town more frequently to help her with her new back yard. There has been planting and painting and more, but it’s almost done for the season; we’ll add a few more plants in the spring.

We also have a house-sitting gig that pulls us off the mountain once a week, and a few side gardening jobs. It’s just been way too much time away.

Of course, there are always a few plants to get in the ground here on Flat Top. This fall’s additions: Annabelle hydrangeas, a cotoneaster tree, an edgeworthia and some evergreen clematis vine.

In the veggie garden I’ve got spinach and lettuce in for the fall, and peas ripening as we speak. Fresh peas are divine. Oh, also a few carrots. And a whole lot of weeds. Bad girl. Busy girl.

So busy that all these Juliet tomatoes went to waste. Boo!

My succulents, thanks to Cheryl, before they came into the house for the winter.

My fall-blooming Shishi Gashira camellia.

Mason? He’s been busy with beer – and projects at Mom’s, poor guy.  He built her a 10-foot long trellis on which we are attempting to espalier a Carolina jasmine vine. Looks pretty damn good!

After all those trips in and out on our dirt road, we finally wrote our county commissioner to see if there’s anything that can be done to get some fresh gravel on it -- maybe even a grader. I’m sure they’re having a good laugh about that down at the county offices about now. We tried …

Summer Vacation

The last bonfire of summer; it's back to work tomorrow.

Three months can fly by, even when you're not doing too much. We had two goals this summer, and today, the day before I head back to work at the garden nursery, we achieved at least one of them. Kinda.

But first, let me tell you about how much fun we had this summer:

1) A trip to Beaufort, S.C., to stay over on a few days our friends' big-ass power boat; there was kayaking, sunbathing on Hilton Head and a whole lot of food. And some boating to boot.

2) A trip to Arkadelphia, Ark., where my sister's family has parked their 80-foot houseboat (and ski boat) on a gorgeous lake. I even got up on a wake board, though I kept calling it a waterboard. Oops.
3)  Many trips to Mom's to mow her yard. Oh wait. That wasn't so much fun!

So our first goal this summer was to install a new septic tank. We're penny-pinchers, 'cause all we've got are pennies, so we decided we could dig the hole ourselves. Exercise is good for us, right? Four feet by 4.5 feet by 5.25 feet deep. Mason's oft-repeated mantra: What could possibly go wrong?

Down in the hole, pre-jackhammer.

Let's just say we rented a jackhammer at one point, and it's still not done. But it's close! Complicating matters -- besides the layers of rock we found 3 feet down -- was rainwater that kept filling the hole. A good-looking frog has taken up residence in the resulting "pond." He's about to get evicted to the nearby creek.

And for our second goal of the summer, my vegetable garden finally has a lovely deer-proof (we hope) fence, topped by a pergola-like decor. In full Flat Top fashion, we built it out of a bunch of free wood we scored from an acquaintance who was tearing up an old deck from his house. Yes, we're scroungers. (The biggest slabs of wood will be used in the "Bunkhouse" project, coming soon, maybe, possibly; we'll see.) But scrounging comes at a price: See those cross pieces atop the fence? Each one came from an old deck railing. Each one had 4 nails removed from it. Each one was cut and belt-sanded and painted. Much the same for the 2x6s that top the fence.

Best-looking veggie garden fence on Flat Top!

In between those adventures, there was a lot of watering plants, harvesting vegetables, making pesto and tomato sauces, eating, drinking and walking the beloved Nick the Dog. I picked up a few landscape jobs along the way, yet I'm completely mentally unprepared for my return to the nursery grind. Not sure Mason is looking forward to it, either.

Mason trying to get Nick to look at the camera.
I worry about how much time these two are about to be spending together.

Cutie boy!

 

Mason's Kin Come Calling

When you think Flat Top, you think: Beer. Bonfires. Feasts. Political discussions. And a good dose of nature.  Well, you can now add toddlers to that mix. Wait, WHAT?

Yes, Flat Top experienced a full-on family vacation last week, and Mason and Nan lived to tell the tale. (But note that it took us a week to recover and tell you about it.)

Meet Sawyer, age 18 months.

Jackson, 4.

(And that's Matt on shoe duty.)

And Emery, just about to turn 8.

Throwing rocks into the lake was a big hit.

These are three of Mason's seven grandchildren. They came with their adventurous parents, Matt and Joanna, who like camping and foolishly thought: How much harder could a few days on Flat Top be? (Smartly, Matt chose not to tell his wife that we don't have air-conditioning until the day before the trip.)

Luckily Grandma Cook (aka Karen, The Keeper) was smart enough to send along a blow-up pool to help entertain and cool the kids. The hammock was also fodder for great entertainment. I set up our new croquet set, which was entertaining for awhile, but in the end, it was a rope hanging from a tree in the front yard that kept Emery and Jack entertained for hours. Seriously, hours! Digging up potatoes and picking tomatoes in the garden also were big draws.

Walking back from the lake.

Who wasn't happy? Nick the Dog. He was banished to Grandma Williams' for the duration. Nick + one kid, manageable; Nick + three kids = Not good. But on the bright side, Nick got to lounge in icy cold air-conditioning while we sweated in 90-degree heat that dripped with humidity. Hmm, maybe he WAS happy.

Sooo, people, who's next to visit? (Tip: You may want to wait till September. This summer's heat has been brutal.)

Visitors!

We pitched the tent where the bunkhouse is scheduled to be built.
 Soon. As long as the stock market cooperates.

Yes, that's right, we've fooled more people into visiting us! This time it's family. Mason's son Matt and his wife and three kids are clearly a bit crazy, because they're coming tomorrow. And it's stinking hot. Low 90s, with humidity in the low 90 percent range. It's Africa hot, for my Matthew Broderick fans.

We've tackled a few jobs before their arrival. Ever since August heat arrived in June, we've talked about installing a ceiling fan in the loft. We don't have electricity to burn, but on sunny summer days, we can at least afford to run a ceiling fan for at least a few hours at night. And because we're going to give the visitors the house to sleep in, the fan became a top priority for Mason. Last night was the first night we needed it, and trust me, it's heaven sent.

We'll be sleeping in the tent for the next couple of nights. When Mason bought that damn condominium of a tent when we lived in Minnesota, I just shook my head. Now? Heaven sent! Camping ain't camping when you can stand upright in your tent, even if you're Mason. Throw in the double-high queen blow-up mattress, and it's really not even roughing it. OK, it's not home sweet home, but it ain't bad.

The tomatoes are out of control! These got blanched,
peeled and turned into a tasty tomato sauce.

Now if only I can convince our guests to eat nothing but cucumbers and tomatoes while they're here. ... But Mason makes the call on the menu for his family, and the call is for steak. And shrimp. And chicken. And twice-baked potatoes. (OH, and I made some homemade banana/salted caramel ice cream that's TO DIE FOR!)

So, are there any tomato- and cucumber-lovers out there who like to sweat all day but get free food? You can have the cabin to yourselves if you just help devour the harvest!

What's Blooming

Gotta love zinnias; unfortunately so do baby Japanese beetles.
(We don't water the lawns; so far, the rain has cooperated.)

Summer days on Flat Top just kind of unfold. Like today: I didn't plan to have a bonfire on an 84-degree, 95-percent-humidity kind of day. But after we finished our Sunday waffles and walked Nick, I headed to the veggie garden with my clippers and a colander. After snipping a few tomatoes, I noticed flies, which are one of the few kinds of bugs not common here. Then I noticed the stink.

Apparently a two-foot-long black snake (that's non-poisonous, Michiela!) got himself entangled in a pile of plastic netting I have left sitting outside the garden when we started to put up the new permanent fencing. (Thank goodness we don't have dolphins here!) Not sure how long the snake had been there, but long enough to stink, and be rotting from the flies and ants.

So we started a bonfire and got rid of him. And once I had a roaring fire going, there was no more ignoring that box of old receipts Mom gave me to burn. Receipts from as far back as 1990. From Sears. For things like T-shirts. OY.

It started to thunder, then rain, but I just kept on burning. No shortage of downed limbs and such to burn along with the paper.

And so goes a Sunday on Flat Top. (Mason, you ask? He brewed beer, of course.)

Mandevilla, a rare annual for me. I'm too poor for annuals these days!

Chicago Apache daylilies.

Love this mix of foliage.

My Quick Fire Hydrangea tree.

Mason's gladiolas, which desperately need dividing this fall.

Two of my nine apples!! 

My friend Terry gave me these happy lilies!

Note to Self

Must plant more zinnias next spring!