Clear Blue October Day

This title kind of sounds like a country song...

As hard as it is to believe, it's October 6th, and southwest Pennsylvania is beautiful. Bright blue sky, mid 70's temps, light breeze, dry ~ no rain! Last week here felt more like late November, with 4 or 5 days of straight cold and misty rain, but not today...this kind of day is the reward for making it through that kind of weather! Anyway, pictured above are some fresh herbs I snipped for dinner, parsley, basil, and oregano ( my Mom started this oregano from seed not too long before she passed away. It's a pretty tough perennial, so I'm glad it's still going strong!) I keep them in water until it's time to use them, and they not only look pretty, but they make the kitchen smell wonderful.

I can't say enough about these chrysanthemums, the color is vibrant. I bought 6 of these last fall at Walmart of all places ~ they were very small, and $1.00 each. They were so tiny last year, and looked a bit out of place in the flowerbed, I planted them pretty close so they could be seen and they were only a buck! Four of them survived the winter, two of each color. I think they look fantastic together, and the color really brightens up the fall!

And green beans in October! This past spring was really wet here, my beans didn't like it at all, and I had trouble getting them to grow. In the end, I had two surviving plants, which I planted in my 'secret garden' in our backyard. These two plants finally took hold, and gave me enough beans to snack on daily in September. They all of the sudden have produced alot of beans, enough for dinner tonight...which I forgot about until I was about to put dinner on the table. As I was putting out the salad, I said "Oh no, I forgot to cook the beans!" Luckily, my girls like to snack on them raw too, so that's what we did! Yummy! And even better on October 6th. In Pennsylvania.