A Colorado Autumn

Due to early September freezes or even snowfall, Colorado typically has 3 seasons; spring, summer and winter. An overnight drop into the freezing range can leave leaves brown, plants black and yet a return to 70 degrees the next day. However this year we have been blessed with a true fall of warm weather and leaves the colors of burgundy, gold,  and rust.

 

I just walked to my favorite quilter to drop off three tops I finally finished.  At 4 o'clock in the afternoon the air is 80 degrees and the sun is glinting through the leaves enriching their deep colors.  Have I noticed the variety of trees lining the streets of our town before?  In the spring I enjoy the leafing out of  new growth and the shades of green, but until they have a chance to turn their autumnal colors, I don't think I have realized the different species in the area.  Silver maples, ashes, cottonwoods, catalpas are contributing to a richly colorful neighborhood.

A year ago we were in Maine to experience a New England fall - every retiree's dream.  We missed the peak by a week, so we were told.  To us it was a breathtaking canvas wherever we looked. While we kicked up piles of fallen leaves, the trees seemed to still be picture postcard perfect with huge colorful foliage. Do New Englanders appreciate the beauty around them?  Or are they only annoyed with slow driving tourists who act like they have never seen a fall leaf?

This year we stayed in state and relished the mountain aspens peaking with an explosion of oranges and even red. Yes, aspen can not only be deep gold, but also orange and occasionally red.  Over 100 pictures snapped on Boreas Pass and I still didn't capture the beauty.  You absolutely have to be at 10,000', look out over the vista, breathe in the mountain air and give a sigh of OMG to truly experience the change in the aspens.  There are many "aspen drives" in Colorado, but a favorite on the eastern slope (east side of the Continenetal Divide) is Kenosha Pass. Cars clog the two-lane highway as people drop their jaws and yell for the driver to pull over.  Entire mountainsides of aspen groves change with the season at once, providing a breath-taking panaroma.

Our own 3 ace lot outside of Como, Colorado, was stunning knowing that in a few weeks the leaves will have fallen and be snow covered.

A picture cannot do it justice. And likewise in my backyard on the plains of the Denver area.

Our maple is stunning this year.  The middle of October and it has hardly dropped a leaf.  Each branch is covered in burgundy leaves which enrich with color as the late afternoon sun streams through.  My hobby level photography skills cannot capture what my eye is enjoying.  Is there such a thing as rent-a-photographer for backyard scenes?

So I reminded myself walking back from the quilter to sit on the deck, sip a glass of burgundy and appreciate the burgundy of autumn.

Granddaughters and Tea Parties

One of the joys of being a grandmother is doing the silly, frilly fun thing that as busy moms we didn't have time for.  Rather than doing laundry, making beds and picking up toys, a gramma can set a table of cookies, candies, and cupcakes to play dressup in floppy hats.

My sister-in-law's granddaughter is in town and is one year older than my mine, so I thought a gramma/granddaughter tea party would be delightful for these three and four year old darlings.  Knowing they don't eat much at one setting and would be off to play quickly, I didn't spend a great deal of time on fancy food.

• Egg salad sandwiches cut with a heart shaped cookie cutter and toothpicked with a grape tomato
• Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches cut with a biscuit cutter
• Turkey and cheese sandwiches cut in rectangles

No little girls' tea party is complete without cupcakes with pink frosting!

Easter and spring time are perfect seasons for shopping for pastel dishes.  Target had plastic purple polka dot and green polka dot plates and tray with matching glasses.  Not a huge investment and the dishes can double on the Easter table, my annual garden party and of course future granddaughter tea parties.

While the plates were plastic, real flowers, fabric tablecloth and napkins gave the table an air of elegance and whimsy.

Seeding Season at Last

The date has finally arrived to begin my seeds indoors.  The last average frost date here is May 15, so counting backwards I find the magic "weeks prior to transplanting outdoors"  when I can start my petunias, tomatoes, cilantro, etc.

This year I am attempting red begonias for the first time.  These are a special, super duper strain that should reach 2-3 feet and bloom all summer.  However, they begin as teeny, tiny seeds that need to be started 14 weeks before going outside.  March 4, I dropped the size-of-a-pinhead seeds on to seed planting medium and set the tray on the dining room table in front of a south facing window.  They need light to germinate, so they weren't covered with anything but plastic wrap to trap the moisture build up from the 1/4 inch of water put in the bottom of the tray.  I always use a soilless, pre-mixed growing medium. Such mixes are generally made up of peat, perlite and vermiculite along with some nutrients. These mixes are for the most part free from disease, insects and weed seeds.

At about two weeks sprouts started showing.  Out of 45 seeds, 26 are up.  Everyday I see a few more and give them words of encouragement.

This week I'll start cilantro, but next week is fanny farmer week when petunias (4 kinds and colors) and tomatoes (3 varieties) need to be started.