Bringing The Garden Inside For Texture Plates

It happens in a blink. Overnight. That one freeze that takes the garden into winter.
From this...


To this...


So this morning I spent some time with clay, making slabs.





After voting and running errands, I grabbed some clippings from the garden before the potential for new nature texture plates was entirely gone.





I really enjoyed this creative phase...





It became quite the messy work space for a bit...


I love drying bits from the garden...


Sun starting to set - time to clean up...
I miss those endless days into nights of studio time.
That has been one of the hardest things to get used to in the last five years since having children (my life revolves around them - which is ok - I just had to learn to adjust).


And amongst the bins of older collected items - all these spirals found in nature (now pressed in clay). Wonder how cool this will look as a raised texture and glazed?

Feels good to just jump in and do something.
Exciting to have new texture plates in the works.
Thank you Mother Nature for the push...


Oh. I made some crescent two hole (perfect for earrings) pieces too.

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Windy this fall...

Wind blown everything in this fall garden.
I think the winds from Sandy are still about - circling and keeping the clouds about.
Just swept up the leafs so I could close the automatic garage door without it opening back up 10 times...






And now I think I am going to prepare some clay in the studio to press some of these decaying plants into - inspiration has blown my way... :)





And it's time to ponder the state of this messy garden and possibly set up a plan for next year. Maybe hire help? Better make & sell lots of beads to do that!!!


I wonder when the frost is doing to hit hard for the first time - I always look forward to that photo opportunity (kinda makes up for how messy this garden gets with how cool those photos are...)
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Almost Frosty

Temperatures here in DE are dipping into their fall into winter temperatures.
Soon we will get a hard frost - but so far, not quite hard enough...




Annual grasses (planted for some seasonal texture & color).




The nasturtium have reseeded themselves this year and are finally in the last week - really taken off.




The Zinnea - how wonderful is this display of shapes and textures in this flower head (I really miss my cone flowers!)




No idea what this is. I am infamous for grabbing seeds & trying some out. I believe this was from the local natural foods store... Not that this is edible. But the fruit look like little pumpkins (I bet I took a photo of the seed packet).

This morning there were little bits of frost on some plants



I love the way the frost gathers on the edges.


Like little white highlights...




And the bees are tucked away - unable to move in these temperatures...



The bees are literally stuck there - just hanging on...


And this will be the end of the Zinnea growth.



Little microcosms of moss & seed & garden debris...



And the potted mums. These are always a frosty morning pleasure to view.

Now back to weekend family time and a bit of glazing during nap time...
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Late Summer Garden

Here are some pics from my garden as we are getting our first taste of fall-like weather... I love this time of the year!






























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Monarchs Are Emerging

Although my garden seems to be quite a mess these days (I can't stand the humidity, so I don't weed when it is extremely hot & muggy), the critters are loving it!

We have had so many monarch butterfly caterpillars I our garden this year. Chloe and I collected 6 for her classroom at school (at a late stage so we didn't have to worry too much about a supply of milkweed, especially since the caterpillars in our garden have eaten most of it).

So here are some pics from the garden today. At least 4 adult Monarch Butterflies have emerged in the last few hours.






























I just love being in the garden just at the right time...

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Longwood Gardens Mid Morning

Today is a day for family time.

So we chose today as the day to renew our annual pass and make two trips to Longwood Gardens.

We are going back pending some thunderstorms this evening to see the night time version of "Light" at Longwood Gardens.