A visit to our farm

Ellen, Alex and Luke came to Underhill this time. We went just for the day and had a 'long' picnic with long food because we'd driven such a long way.

We had time for a tour and to look at interesting little things...

Lots of butterflies (probably a Common Brown).

Pears we planted for our granchildren before they were even thought of.

A skink (probably a Grass Sun Skink)

We washed the car together and the boys were such a help.

And had lots of time to just talk together ...

and play games.

The boys loved climbing the termite mounds.

On our walk to the Far Dam we found sticks to throw in the water...

Some tiny flowers

and some footprints ... wombat ...

and kangaroo.

I found my next Christmas tree is now as tall as the berry yard fence.

We had lots of fun together.

Today's harvest

Wow! Has my garden grown while I was away. I have spent some time weeding the front but the surprise was out the back where the vege garden has gone berserk both with weeds and veges and the flowers are blooming profusely.

I picked over 1 kg of beans as well as a 4 vases of flowers. Now various rooms in the house smell beautiful, each with it's own perfume.

What a joy it is to get back to the garden.

Fall finishes and so does my holiday

Thursday 27 October

Today was Mary's long teaching day so soon after breakfast she headed off to work. My chores for the day included cooking up more pears and apples, catching up with watching some online lectures (TED Talks) and updating my blog. Then there is also the novel I am reading and trying to finish before I leave. Everything I can leave behind makes a slightly lighter bag. This might be important! I was also on dinner duty so as soon as Mary came home at 5:30 I was able to start dinner while she poured the wine.

Unfortunately we were then both ready for sleep by 7:30 and there was nothing worth watching on TV. We forced ourselves to stay up reading till a reasonable hour.

Friday 28 October

Today I slept in till about 6:30 am! After breakfast we did some washing but then started sorting Mary's study so that when she retires she'll have a working office at home.

When Lareen, the cleaner, arrived we headed into town to do a bit of shopping, starting with morning tea at Einstein's Bagels then finishing with lunch at Crumb Bros Bakery.

Then we headed back up to the Limber Pine Trail to retake some photos for Mary because the ones she took on Monday did not work. We had a fantastic surprise when we got there – there were patches of snow on the ground! It was amazing to see the difference in fall colours after a few nights below freezing. Fall has basically finished in the Canyon, most leaves have dropped. The deciduous trees are bare and ready for winter. The colours have gone.

before - after  

before

after

The trees are ready for winter.

Back home then for a nap for Mary then it was back to the shops after we'd done some important measurements. Mary now has 5 cushion covers made for her by various people with cushions in them for her lounge room. They look really nice.

The weather today was cool and very dry – I had to buy some hand cream. Temperatures today were 24-52 F and the same is forecast till next Tuesday.

After a quick dinner of leftovers Mary and I went up to a concert by the USU Symphony Orchestra. It was a great concert and a lovely venue, only $10 a ticket (Mary's was $5) and 5 minutes from home! Fabulous.

Saturday 29 October

Well today was my last whole day in the USA. Mary and I spent most of the day sorting her study, mostly shredding old tax papers for me. We now have 6 huge garbags of shredded paper for Mary to dispose of. It really looks great for a beginning and she will be able to work in there.

Then there was cooking for dinner. Brad and Michelle with children Amy and Chris came to dinner. Lots of time chatting together.

Thus ends my grand holiday in North America!

Logan, Utah

Monday 24 October

Mary was up really early as usual but I was able to 'sleep in' till almost 6am.

After breakfast Mary started her marking and I started my two tasks: cooking up the windfall apples and pears and beginning the design of an assignment on designing experiments (for first year students).

After lunch and Mary's conference call we stopped off at the herbarium then drove to the Limber Pine Trail at the top of the pass over Logan Canyon. It was at about 8000 ft (higher than anywhere in Australia – Logan is at about 4500 ft) so we walked slowly taking lots of photos of beautiful Quaking Aspen, Douglas Fir and ancient Limber Pines. We also had a view over Bear Lake and stood watching a little chipmunk who stood watching us.

The colours of Logan fall are quite different to the New England area. Here there are still the dark greens of the evergreens but only the bright yellows of the poplars and willows. There is one reddish maple but lots of short shrubs and more arid plants. The road down from the trail drops very quickly through the canyon offering glimpses of changing colours at every turn.

Back in Logan we did a bit of shopping and visited the library before returning home to cook another experimental recipe – savoury baked apples. They were spicy but delicious. Dinner was followed by a bit of a laze then bed by about 9pm as usual.

Tuesday 25 October

This morning Mary went to work soon after breakfast leaving me in my pjs and enjoying a slow morning. First job was to clear the lawn of windfall fruit and pick more raspberries. Most of the morning was busy cutting up pears, plums and apples and making lots of future desserts for Mary's freezer. Then I finalised the student assignment we'd been working on. Mary's garden and odd jobs man arrived to mow the lawn and continue with some painting on the front porch.

Mary came home for lunch then we spent an hour or so picking all the apples and pears we could reach that were still on the trees. However, the apple tree is so high that there are still more we can't get. We'll have to leave those to fall.

We drove up to the herbarium to collect a camera then went on another drive a short way up Logan Canyon to have a walk along the Riverside Nature Trail. Again Mary was able to get some plant photos she needed and of course I got some photos too.

Home again for me to prepare dinner – chicken stir fry and pears in red wine. They were both delicious. Then there was NCIS and Mary continued her marking that has taken up a lot of her time this week.

Wednesday 26 October

This morning I was up by 5:30am and after breakfast Mary and I headed to work at USU Intermountain Herbarium. I was kept busy by searching through a plant atlas of Utah to find any plants endemic to one particular county. My next job was to check the Hedera helix (Ivy) specimens to make sure they were not actually Hedera hibernica (a very similar species). This meant checking the specimens under the microscope and looking at the leaf hairs. Finally I was detailed onto mounting specimens and totalled 44 which was the largest number done in one day in the last 6 months. I resigned at about 3pm feeling very tired and not realising that I had not had any lunch. I could have done more with a bit of energy!

I was then able to get onto internet and email and realised I was extremely hungry and weak. Luckily Mary decided to leave for home at that point so we had a late lunch at about 4pm.

I picked a few more raspberries but as the temperature last night was below 0 C and a frost there probably won't be much more ripening happening.

The evening was spent trying out another recipe for dinner then fresh raspberries for dessert.

Mary and I then drove down to Best Buys to investigate flat screen TVs having first emailed Geoff for his advice. On our return home we started watching Sherlock Holmes. However, Mary's cold seems to have freshened so she went to bed leaving me to watch it to the end.

We can even see snow on the mountains from Mary's dining room window.

Wisconsin visit

Friday 21 October – Albany to Whitewater

After an awful night waking many times for no reason other than my brain, I went to breakfast at the hotel at 5:30 am. I was at the airport before 7 am and my big bag only weighed 49.5 lbs (allowance is 50 lbs or 23 kg). Hooray! I logged on to the airport wifi and updated my blog and email as I had difficulties with the hotel wifi last night.

The flight was uneventful with cloud cover most of the way. One fascinating thing I watched was a small double completely circular rainbow that stayed on the northern side of the plane for almost the whole trip. We were travelling through misty fog above the thicker cloud layer.

Nic and Megan met me at the luggage carousel as arranged soon after I had collected my bags. Our first stop was the Chicago Botanic Gardens where we spent 4 hours or so.

It is a beautiful garden and the large lake in which it is set gave it a wonderful feeling of spaciousness. Nic knew one of the botanists there so he (Norm) gave us a guided tour of the science building including the green roof garden where they test all sorts of plants for green roof suitability.

  

There were some magnificent displays of bonsais and insectivorous plants.

 

After we had walked enough we drove north towards home. We had a stop at the Mars Cheese Castle (cheese and other dairy is big in Wisconsin) where we were amazed by the variety of cheeses and of course tasted and bought a selection. On then to Elkhorn where Nic needed to buy an ingredient for his home brewing. We walked to the shop passing a quilting shop so I decided to browse in there instead.

Home then to Whitewater where we started the evening with cheese, crackers and apple and of course a glass of wine. This was later followed by steak, salad and Boston beans (Nic remembered that they were a favourite of ours). Nic had also been praising our rice pudding which he remembered fondly so we were able to make a 3-2-1 rice pudding for dessert and it was delicious. Amazing how some tiny things make such an impact.

By bed time I was quite exhausted having had little sleep the night before and an extra hour in the day with time zone change.

Saturday 22 October

Today started slowly with coffee and home made pumpkin muffins for breakfast. Then it was time to head out for a day of Wisconsin adventure. First stop was the Whitewater farmers market then a tour of Nic's building, lab and greenhouses at the University of Wisconsin Whitewater campus. We then drove to Cambridge to have another look for Megan and Nic at a house that is for sale. We then headed on into Madison to the farmers market there. This one was impressively huge and went right around the capitol building block with thousands of people moving in one direction around the stalls. There were lots of things to taste – cheeses and dips, turnips, breads and all sorts of vegetables and fruits. Nic bought some huckleberries to experiment with at home.

We walked two blocks of the market then headed down State St which is full of eating places and costume shops. We had lunch at the Kabul restaurant which served Afghan food. We had an absolutely delicious meal. We walked slowly back to the car passing a printing exhibition where Megan saw someone she knew. There we found out about a local book sale. So our next stop was the Fitchburg Public Library where Nic and Megan filled a large bag with books and paid just $3 for the lot.

By then we all wanted afternoon tea so Megan found Charming B's cafe, one of a few shops built into an old church at Milton. It certainly was charming and served excellent coffee. 

 

Another shop in the complex was a plant shop where Nic bought a Rubber Tree and got some information on worm farming.

Nic had questioned why some barns had quilt blocks painted on them then in one of the tourist booklets we found a whole list of Barn Quilts in the area (and more sites). I will have to investigate this.

As a result of our afternoon tea stop Megan found reference to Goodrich Hall antique shop nearby in one of the old buildings of Milton College. We spent some time browsing but I can't fit much more into my luggage, especially not one of their lovely assortment of footstools or old quilts. However, Megan did buy a lovely yellow bowl.

Time then to return home. The weather has been perfect with the temperature in the mid 20s at least, clear and sunny.

Sunday 23 October – Wisconsin to Utah

Breakfast today was huckleberry crepes cooked by Nic. The huckleberries worked out quite well. It is amazing how much one can fit into a day. It seems an age ago that I left Nic and Megan at Chicago airport after our 2 hour drive from Whitewater.

I was picked on by security at the airport. The cheese I bought Mary was swabbed 4 times for drugs or explosives as were my hands and my checked-in bag was opened by security after it left me. However, all was well and the flight across was very smooth. Saw a huge windfarm in Wyoming. The mountains on the Wyoming-Utah border had a little snow on them but when I landed in Salt Lake City the temperature was still in the mid 20s. C.

I met Mary easily the airport. Unfortunately she has a cold so I hope she gets over it quickly and I don't catch it from her.

We drove straight to Logan, dumped my bags, then drove up Green Canyon for a quick walk while the weather is so good. Home again to sample the cheese with some wine and olives before cooking our dinner. A few skypes and a bit of sorting ended a very long day. Another hour of time zone change to cope with.

Back to Adams

Monday 17 October

Well this is my last few days in Adams so I need to spend time checking flights and baggage allowances and posting things.

Overnight the temperature was down to about 1 C so an extra blanket was needed, especially as I do like my window open just a little.

I went online to check flights and hit my first two issues. Firstly, the flight out of Salt Lake City has been moved later by half an hour so I might have to change that one. I'll either check it when I get there or by phone from here. Secondly, the Air Canada flights to get home do not show up online. I rang to check those to find that unless you book them online they don't show online – seems strange!

Marion and I drove down to the PO and I asked the lady there to calculate all sorts of options. Once we had done banking and grocery shopping I returned home to pack and weigh my postal box. Am now posting things through to Mary as the cheapest option for getting them home.

After we'd finished with the packing and postal activities Marion and I did some more sewing. She has now finished her block for our next group quilt. I have almost finished another 'twister' table mat with 2 matching coasters. I'll try to finish those tomorrow as I'd like to give them to Marion and Barre before I go. We had a bit of an issue when the sewing machine jammed but Marion was able to fix it.

The day finished with dinner and TV and a bit of botany for Barre and I trying to identify on of the waterplants Surrey had planted in our back yard.

Tuesday 18 October

This morning I was able to finish the little gift for Barre and Marion after a bit of unpicking. I am quite pleased with the result.

I then spent the day reading, typing up various bits and pieces and catching up on all the other blogs and websites I like to follow. I even spent time cleaning up my computer.

I needed to get a bit closer to Surrey today feeling quite lonely so I spent a bit of time browsing our old blog and reading all the lovely comments again that others have added.

After dinner Harold (who had driven Surrey and I to the airport last time) came to visit and brought me some maple sugar sweets.

Wednesday 19 October

My first task today, even before breakfast was to change my Delta flight from Salt Lake City to Seattle. The lady on the phone wanted to charge me $800 so I yelled and ranted that as they had changed the flight time so I missed my connecting flights to Australia I did not feel that expense was appropriate. Hopefully I am now booked on an earlier flight at no extra charge except bags. I'll even try to pay my bags with my accumulated frequent flyer miles.

Next there was washing to be done. I have decorated the lounge room with that because that is the warmest room.

The rest of the day was spent with Barre writing a plant identification key and Marion and I finishing two more of her charity quilts. I was great to sew watching the fall happen right outside the window with leaves blowing down and scattering across the lawn (much to Barre's annoyance).

We went out for Chinese for dinner and it was delicious.

Thursday 20 October – Adams to Albany

I was well awake by 6:30 this morning and went downstairs to finalise folding washing and packing. Once everything was downstairs and in suitcases (I hope I am not overweight) Marion got out her civil war quilt blocks that she had left unfinished because she was having problems with what to do next. By lunch time we had worked it all out and the blocks all now have sashing and are ready to be joined together to form the quilt top. It is a beautiful quilt and will look fantastic when finished.

As we left the house and Adams it was obvious that the fall colours were at an end. Many of the trees had lost their leaves while others were just dull yellow-browns. Fall does not last very long.

At about 2 pm we left for Albany where Barre had booked me into the Best Western Airport Hotel. We dumped my bags then enjoyed dinner together (albeit only 4:30 pm) at the Olive Garden. Surrey and I had stayed and eaten at the same places last visit.

After dinner I bid farewell to Barre and Marion hoping to see them back in Australia some time soon. I then walked back to the motel and settled in for the evening. It is very lonely in a motel room all on my own but I'll update the blog and get some reading done.