Summer's End

We could not have asked for a more beautiful Saturday. The sun was out and the temperature was warm. MSU had a home football game and East Lansing was starting to become crowded when my coworker, Val, and I drove over to attend a memorial service for Julie G's brother and Phyllis G's son. The service was very moving. The family members and friends who spoke about David did so from the heart and it was obvious that he was a very loved person. The church, Edgewood, is very beautiful and the artwork in the sanctuary reminded me of quilts. The stained glass windows are in blues and greens, my favorites.
After the service, I decided to relax on the patio and read my latest quilt magazines. It is usually too hot in the summer to read on the patio but it was so pleasant that I couldn't resist. I also noted that the gardens and trees are starting to look more like fall and the leaves are starting to change color. It is summer's end and it's is kind of sad to me. Summer is my favorite time of year.
I stopped by Bob and Mark's home to pick up some things left over from the Habitat fundraiser and Bob and I enjoyed sitting on his front patio and caught up on our lives over the past few weeks. He has returned to MSU to get his masters degree and its been a big change for him. Bob and Mark gave me some really cool blue bottles to add to my collection. One is really large and has a unique shape. I have been collecting blue wine bottles to make some garden art. I have something in mind and hope to work on it next spring or summer. Stay tuned.....

Instead of going to a movie or the Blues Festival, I stayed home and made a wall hanging to be given as a door prize at the Harvest for Habitat dinner next Sunday. What do you think?
I used the same pattern as the house quilt wall hanging for the Habitat Lansing Board room. Some lucky person will win this wall hanging at the Harvest for Habitat dinner on Sept 28th. I still have some seats to fill at my table and the deadline has been extended to September 24th. There are going to be some wonderful door prizes in addition to the great food. So far we have: tickets to Wharton, MSU PAC Theatre, Riverwalk Theater, NCG movie theater, Dinner for two at the State Room at MSU, Popcorn and Free movie rental from Hollywood Video, a basket for the dog owner, a basket for a golfer, a bucket of free trade coffee and chocolate, a basket of hand made art jewelry, and more.
I spent most of Sunday outside working in the yard. I managed to fill three large paper yard bags and also had four bundles of branches for the yard waste pick-up on Monday. It was overcast and cooler so it was perfect weather for getting more of my garden clean-up accomplished. I am sure I will be in pain after all that work, Ugh! I thought you might enjoy seeing more garden pictures, enjoy:

Sedum "Autumn Joy" surrounding one of the birdbaths.
Two types of sedum. Autumn Joy and a variegated version with white flowers.
Morning Glories that came up from seed from several years ago.
Cat art in the garden. I bought this metal cat at the East Lansing Art Fair a few years ago as a remembrance of Smokey.
Hydrangea blooms looking rather autumnal.

Autumn blooming clematis. The fragrance on this plant is wonderfully sweet.
Variegated Porcelain Vine.
The berries on the porcelain vine show why it got its name. They truly look like glass beads and the colors are so vibrant and unique. They turn from green to purple to blue green and they look metallic too.
This is pretty true to the real color of the berries.
Another look.

The sedum Autumn Joy in the back shade garden is very bright pink.
My dying Russian Olive tree. I just love the unique bark and the swirly knots on the bark. No wonder Van Gogh painted Olive trees in his paintings.
Olive Trees by Vincent Van Gogh.
I might try growing a vine on my Russian Olive. Some of the branches are dead and others are dying, but the trunk and bark are so interesting I don't want to remove it.
This hydrangea is looking really great thanks to the rain we got last week.
This is a woody perennial, Cariopteris. This one is called Blue Beard. The flowers come late in the season and are a pretty periwinkle blue color.

I also have some Cariopteris that has yellow green leaves.
This is my compost pile. Well, it is supposed to be my compost pile. It has been taken over by morning glories.
The cariopteris has seeded in the back garden and so they are free and I have more now. I might move the babies to other locations to get a better balance of color in the garden.
This the real beauty in the garden right now. Pink Anemone.
Up close.