Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Moving Forward into Fall

Happy Fall!

Well, I have spent the past month being stymied in my attempts to figure out the resizing and uploading from iphoto thing.  Something that should be straightforward is definitely not (at least it is not explained anywhere that I can find).  I did manage (finally!) to resize the above picture.  I did a batch of pictures, resized them and put them in a folder under the picture icon.  So far, so good.  But when I went to "choose" them, their little icons were about as big as the capital I that began the previous sentence.  Not very helpful.  I just accidentally happened to choose the right photo this time.  No way to actually browse a photo because I can barely even see it.  Sigh..........back to the drawing board.

Anyway, I have missed my online community and will be catching up with you all over the next little bit.

I made the above wreath from a thrifted grapevine wreath, some berries and grassy stuff from Hobby Lobby, and some "gifted" feathers that my visitors from earlier in the year left in my yard:)  This is my small attempt towards seasonal decorating that Cheryl recommended last October in her series "31 Days to Make a House a Home."  Very helpful stuff, and you can find the series here.

It is actually a little difficult to even conceive of fall right now.  Our temperatures are still in the nineties (yes, I said "nineties"), and it's been so long since it has rained I've almost forgotten what that is, too.  August and this year September as well are what I think are called the "dog days of summer."  In Texas it gets so hot and dry, every plant shrivels up and hunkers down, waiting for relief.  Thoughts of flowers are long gone.  My garden is all dried up, and I should be thinking of a fall garden, but it's too hot to even have the energy to plan it out right now.  On top of that, we have been in the midst of a West Nile virus outbreak this summer, so you can't even go outside in the evening without being slathered down in bug spray.

I did want to do a little recap of my garden.  Successes (meaning we got some produce to eat): lettuces, onions, zucchini, potatoes, corn, cucumbers, tomatoes (I'd give them a "C").  Failures:  sweet potatoes, peanuts, green beans, lima beans, peppers, melons, garlic.   We have now eaten all the potatoes, but I still have some onions left, and I have corn and zucchini in the freezer.

I really enjoyed working in the garden and putting up food these past few months.  I'm pretty confident I made enough jam to last us until next year:)  In fact, I am probably going to ask for a proper canner for Christmas.  My husband won't understand it, but maybe you will.

7 comments:

  1. Your wreath is gorgeous!! Truly! (And I humbly thank you for your kind words of encouragement about my series.) Happy fall!

    It is so good to see you back in Blogland...I missed you! Oh, those photo problems are so discouraging. I hate that there are no clear cut answers to be found. Where are the computer gurus when you need them?!

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  2. When you do have success, you really have success. This wreath for example. It's so elegant wearing those feathers.

    I'm not sure what's going on with your picture file. What program do you use for resizing the photos?

    Hot Texas...not fun. Hope that you all get some relief soon. I can understand why you're not feeling inspired to plant a fall garden or even be out in the evening. Would you believe we've had West Nile Virus way up here in the Northeast? Ackkk...

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  3. So lovely to see you back! Your Fall wreath is splendid - what a good idea. I love the hawk feathers in there! I can understand your missing the refreshment of rain after such a long period of heat and don't want to seem ungrateful for the rain here but I have to say I read your "temperatures in the nineties" and felt distinctly wistful for the summer we never properly got here! E x

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  4. Look at you get ready for fall...forget that around here!! It looks great and looks great on your red door. Your garden was a blessing to us as well...thanks for sharing.
    Now to go lower the A/C it is hot in here!!!

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  6. It sounds like you may have 'resized' your photos by changing the dimensions (inches x inches) rather than by changing the storage space they take up. Photos from a camera have a lot of pixels to give a great image quality when printed. However, a guy at work told me that the web/computers can only display a certain number of pixels so any more is wasted. One photo I had was 3.16MB but, after resizing, was only 111kb. By doing this for all the photos on my blog, I went from using up 60% of my Picasa allowance to just 0.01%! I used Microsoft Picture Manager but I think you have a Mac? There's a tutorial at http://www.wikihow.com/Resize-Pictures-(for-Macs) which looks simple. Hope this helps.

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  7. Your wreath is beautiful and so autumnal. I do love the way Americans decorate their houses inside and out for different celebrations and just to mark the changing of the seasons. Over here in the UK, we really only do that for Christmas and major national celebrations (like the Queen's Jubilee).

    I can't make up my mind whether to be envious or not of your hot weather. It's hardly stopped raining this week and some places had a months worth in a single day! Some of that heat would be very welcome right now but maybe not for too long - I like our lush greenery.

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