So what have I been doing for the last few weeks? Mowing the yard, cleaning house a little ( very little from the way it looks ) keeping green things green, watching the Cincinnati Reds win, and perhaps most of all trying to stay cool. The heat has really been rough with high humidity. What I had to do was try to work outside early in the morning and very late in the afternoon then stay inside in the cool. Eventually I had to stay out of the yard late afternoons because of the misquotes and worry about the west Nile virus. The last few weeks we have finally had a break in the weather getting some very much needed rain and lower temperatures and before long you realize it the season has turned over and it is fall. As a matter of fact we had 2 night with very heavy frost which came several days before the normal first frost date. I had to move my elephant ears, banana plants and ferns into the plant room a few days ago before the frost. Everything has really grown this year. My giant elephant ear is over 10 feet tall and the leaves are over 3 feet long and 2 feet wide. Amazingly after coming indoors it has put out 3 new leaves. It is a beautiful plant.
Plants in their winter home
Giant Elephant Ear Touching the Ceiling
Small Elephant Ears Under The Big Guy
Some Boston Ferns
Recently I removed the summer floral arrangements from Grandma's grave and bought new fall flowers. Pat took them and put them in new arrangement which I placed on the grave.Pat did a wonderful job and I appreciate it. Following are photographs of the new arrangements.
New Fall Colors
New Fall Colors
After completing my trip to the west coast back in June I started thinking about a trip to see some of the east coast. That is ironic when you consider we spent many years in Washington, D. C. 3 years in New York City and 1 year in Connecticut in Japanese language school so why go back and see things. The explanation is that for the most part work really kept us from doing a lot of sight seeing and when we did we were usually acting as hosts and really not able to enjoy the sights. So I started thinking about what I would like to see and went to AAA and got the tour books and started reviewing them and making notes. I went back to AAA and started laying out what I wanted to see and they did the trip Tiks for me. When I really started applying dates to the trip it soon became apparent that it was going to take way to much time so I started scaling back my plans so the following is what I finally came up with:
10-4-2012 Drive to Niagara Falls, New York and spend the night.
In New York I plan to celebrate Joyce's birthday ( we wont talk about which one ).
Charlie got tickets to see the New York Jets football team play.
Visit Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty.
Take the Circle Line cruise around Manhattan.
Take a fall leaf viewing cruise up the Hudson River.
Some where in this schedule visit Parisa and Dan and deliver Grandma's dinner ware they wanted.
This schedule is still very ambitious and does not allow for any major delays. I hope that considering the north/south variations of this trip I will be able to get some good fall leaf colors to photograph. Also looking forward to some good sea food. I still have a hugh amount of stuff to do before I leave so I must stop for this time.
My final comments are I love you all and ask for your prayers for safe travel.
Grandpa Bill
This is indeed an ambitious trip!
ReplyDeleteMom's grave looks beautiful all dressed up for fall. She would love it. Your plants must have a growing disease! How do you get them so BIG?!
You sure do have a green thumb! I know you will have a wonderful trip and your camera will be full of great photos. I look forward to your blog posts!
Love You,
Janice