An October Fall in Lillooet BC
Wednesday, October 04, 2017
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| Fall in Lillooet - October 3 2017 |
On Tuesday afternoon my Rosemary and I returned from a three
night and two day visit to our older daughter Ale’s home (almost one acre) in
Lillooet, British Columbia.
We did two days of heavy gardening but we had little time left to move plants around. Many of Ale’s plants came from our old and very
large Athlone garden in Kerrisdale. I thought that Gallica roses and rugosas
would do well in the extreme heat and cold of Lillooet and that was the case.
They are happy campers except for the fact that Ale has visiting bears and deer
that like roses, too.
The days were cool, windy but the sun was out. They were
classic fall days.
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| Rosemary & Ale with Lloyd McNary |
If we manage to buy some snow tires we might return before
spring. We have no room in our small house to store summer tires but I might
find a place (where I would buy my winter tires) to store them for us.
The temperature in Lillooet was around 20. By the time we
drove back by Seton Lake the temperature went down to 3 Celsius. We will have a
few more good fall days I am sure. To celebrate them, you will find here
flowers from Ale’s garden. There are some zinnias, her extraordinary sunflowers
(on the wane) and one Rosa rugosa from a bush that was blooming very nicely.
Ale included some onions in the mix. They look like
shallots. She also put in a couple of nasturtiums. I have never told her that I
get an itch in the nose when I approach them. And yet I love that first cousin
of the nasturtiums, watercress.
October
By Robert Frost
O hushed October morning mild,
Thy leaves have ripened to the fall;
Tomorrow’s wind, if it be wild,
Should waste them all.
The crows above the forest call;
Tomorrow they may form and go.
O hushed October morning mild,
Begin the hours of this day slow.
Make the day seem to us less brief.
Hearts not averse to being beguiled,
Beguile us in the way you know.
Release one leaf at break of day;
At noon release another leaf;
One from our trees, one far away.
Retard the sun with gentle mist;
Enchant the land with amethyst.
Slow, slow!
For the grapes’ sake, if they were all,
Whose leaves already are burnt with frost,
Whose clustered fruit must else be lost—
For the grapes’ sake along the wall.
