Our Tunisian Feast and Ornament Exchange

Here's to Neila and Chuck for hosting our annual ornament exchange and preparing a veritable feast of freshly-cooked Tunisian foods. The fragrant cooking aromas carried me away from all things midwestern to a family feast in Chuck's homeland. Many thanks for a wonderful day!

Let the festivities begin! And first, let's see the beautifully hand-stitched ornaments we exchanged:


And now, for the party!

In October Summer becomes Fall

Between the mostly wet October we have had, some days were summer-like. Leaves on our trees stayed green for most of this month. Our backyard garden looks the best it did all summer in this Oct. 13 photo.



A mid-October visit to Interstate Park, where the St. Croix River flows between Minnesota and Wisconsin was perfect for a morning hike to see the colors.

Time for Change is Now

We live in our world blind to its needs for sustainability, as though another generation or two in the future will take care or get by as we have. Perhaps that will be so, but I wonder what our world would be like for our present generation if we took more care in how we live and in the traces we leave behind.

Then I wonder will there ever be in our world a time of complete and lasting peace? Of long forgotten animosities and buried weapons? Of restored rain forests and glaciers, reforested acreage, and healthy farmlands that provide for all species?



These thoughts came to mind while reading Presence – Human Purpose and the Field of the Future, by Peter Senge, et. al. The book is about fundamental change and how to forge it, but it is also about seeing our world through a new lens. It is a book that has led me away from being satisfied with incremental change for the better and feeling reticent among prospects for change that have led nowhere. It has made me feel emboldened to confront any political position and say, if its premise does not propose fundamental change in how we grow food and choose to feed ourselves, and does not acknowledge that our health care and educational systems are completely broken and need to be rebuilt from scratch, then I am not interested in participating in these politics.

What is the switch that must be turned on to produce the groundswell for changing our hearts? If Hurricane Katrina did not convince us to respect the force of nature, and to take care first of those most in need, then what will? For how many more years must we instigate and fight wars in lands far from our borders, of losing human lives, without plans for rebuilding societies we have destroyed? What stops us from seeing the truth and realizing how unsustainable our behavior is?


There is no time better than right now to look at our world, question why, and move our hearts to another way of knowing and behaving. Put aside what you have always known to be true and see another way. We are each a tiny organism in a vast world and universe. What hurts one hurts all because we are all connected. What does it take for each of us to feel the responsibility of stewardship for our world and each other?

Urban Gardens

What is it about gardens in transition from summer to fall? The colors are most vibrant as the days get shorter and the plants prepare their seeds for harvest or set their roots for hibernating. Summer has its glory days but when cooler days start returning, I think nothing beats a garden in early fall. And what joy to stroll through my neighborhood and enjoy all the gardens around me

Starting in my front yard, the asters and sedum complement each other so well.

The backyard never looked this good all summer. The salvia and alyssum have finally filled in the flower box, the marigolds are golden and spilling over the border, and a lone tomato is left for harvesting.

Anticipating colder days ahead, lettuce and arugula have gotten a great start in the new cold frame while we wait for a late fall harvest of delicata squash from plants that have been growing since spring.

My neighbor's front yard has been blooming all summer with red and purple salvia, then I saw that one of my sunflowers jumped across to her garden.

This neighbor's apple tree is the envy of my garden. All our fruit trees perform well except for our apple trees. This one seems to be ignored by its owner yet produces abundantly.

What is fall without colorful mums? This arrangement dominates the patio in front of this home with an eye-catching arrangement.

This curbside garden is one of several in my neighborhood where neighbors have planted flowers and small shrubs between the curb and sidewalk. The long red flowers of the Love-Lies-A-Weeping plants dramatically border the street.

Another curbside garden of zinnias and coleus, two hardy plants that help the neighborhood look alive from spring through fall.

Urban gardens at end of summer and all summer long provide a comforting habitat for birds, butterflies, and all the residents of our neighborhood.

Weekend in Wisconsin

For a perfect fall-like weekend in Wisconsin, I recommend a visit to Hoffman Hills State Recreation Area where fall colors are just starting to show. This is from the Prairie Trail that leads to a wetland.


Here is a view of the wetland at Hoffman Hills.


At the cabin, three deer families stopped by to graze on clover and wildflowers that we have been seeding for the last two years. It was a treat to see them so close, just outside our windows and by the door.

We were encouraged also to see a honey bee at work on our wildflowers. There must be a honeycomb somewhere nearby.

Later we saw this young snake slither across the road.

The wetland at the south end of the property is filling in nicely with trees and brush, as the creek reclaims its banks and the beaver dam creates a pond in its center.

Labor Day Weekend 2007

This is the time for big harvests in our garden, but sometimes this summer it just felt as if the bunnies were quicker to harvest things (such as our beans) before they even started growing.


This bunny print sewed up nicely as a new apron! So appropos for this season.

Between our garden harvest and a visit to the farmers market, we cooked up a large supply of tomato sauce that will last quite a while. Fresh tomatoes, peppers, basil, oregano, and thyme leaves - this is what we live for all year long.

A trip to Minnehaha Falls on Labor Day presented the perfect photo opp. The falls were glorious on this day, with recent rains restoring the flow from a trickle earlier in the summer.

This statue of Minnehaha carried by Hiawatha is so sweet and stands in the creek leading to Minnehaha Falls.

These late August days require being outdoors, and I am lucky to have had time available to enjoy our bright, clear, comfortable weather. What better place to enjoy it than at a nature center? I visited Richardson Nature Center in Bloomington, MN today. Everyone was having a great day outdoors: the naturalists, the visiting families, the birds, raptors, turtles, and other critters.

My first stop was the viewing area that overlooks a feeding station for the wild birds. In total there were five wild turkeys, the largest of the visiting birds. Shortly after taking this photo, a naturalist threw a bunch of corn cobs behind the bushes and the turkeys immediately left the viewing area for their treat. (Perhaps they are more domesticated than wild.)



Additionally, I viewed a couple of downy woodpeckers, some goldfinches, hummingbirds, chickadees, nuthatches, crows, and cardinals at the bird feeders. I am not proficient or quick enough with my camera to get their photos, though.

On this beautiful day I hiked the Oak Trail that weaves around a pond, including a little bridge that takes you out onto the water and back to the trail. From the bridge I saw a lone egret and at the other side of the water a heron, both fishing for lunch.

Back on the trail, I came to a clearing where the earliest touch of autumn color already appeared. This sumac is starting to turn its signature deep red color, reminding us that summer is coming to a close as the change of seasons is about to begin.

At another clearing I found late summer wild flowers glistening in the sun. Considered weeds in the garden, these wild ones in the field match the beauty of any cultivated flower. Wild aster juxtaposed against goldenrod have a brilliance that could stand the test of any flower arrangement.

I also came upon a thistle with bee busy at work collecting its nectar while pollinating the flower. Richardson has an active honey bee colony where you can view the formation of the honeycomb in progress.

At the end of the trail I noticed this brilliant yellow flower, similar to the goldenrod in the background but of a very different shape. Then I saw a sign warning not to touch this plant, called Wild Parsnip, because it exudes a chemical that makes your skin more sensitive to sunburn.