The blissfully warm weather of the last two days was too good to believe, and now that cooler seasonal weather has taken its place, it will join weather annals of whacky unusual records for time-of-year. We're back to putting little jackets on Jackie and Jillie and good heavy warm ones on ourselves. Last night's thunderstorms on Hallowe'en Eve, together with a whomping wind sent the unseasonable warm weather packing. It felt so good yesterday afternoon raking up the piles of leaves that had accumulated on the driveway and front walk. Although it was a trial filling compost bags with wind gusts blasting the leaf piles back to their original, unraked positions.

 

Earlier in the day today, I decided to bake a plum pie. Santa Rose plums, big, red and juicy were on sale when we did our Tuesday food shopping, so I took half of the ones packed into the plastic container, sliced them into a pot with sugar, cornstarch and a small amount of water and let them simmer while we had our breakfast. When I put the pie together and arranged a lattice top crust, I washed the crust with beaten egg and sprinkled sugar lightly over it for a nice, finished appearance before popping it into the oven. 

 

I also prepared a bread dough, which is becoming a ritual for Friday, although the dough won't be used until Saturday to form croissants, to serve with a vegetable soup. Routine that reflects these Autumn months of cooler weather and comfort foods. I used honey, grated sharp cheddar cheese, olive oil, sesame seeds and dehydrated milk, along with the egg left over from the pastry crust wash. And the croissants will be whole wheat-inspired. The dough will sit in a covered bowl in the refrigerator until it comes time to roll it out, shape and bake it tomorrow.

 

When we exit the house with the puppies now, our eyes linger regretfully on what was the garden, our summer pride. It's all prepared for winter onset. Perennials cut back, annuals yanked out to compost, soil emptied from the garden pots and urns. What had been the garden looks dull, wan, abandoned. But for several still-perky little rose shrubs, still putting out exquisite roses. Cutting them back will be the penultimate task to complete the garden tidying-up. After which I still have tulips to plant. Which will bring us lovely surprises come spring of 2025.

 

Our  hike through the forest was beyond pleasant, despite the cold and the wind whipping through our jackets. Water in the creek was surprisingly low, given the amount of rain that fell last evening and overnight. But the forest floor was good and wet. The dry conditions of the past week left the forest in fine shape to absorb the heavy rain that came pounding down last night.

 

We had some visitors during our trek through the trails. Old pals that make a streak directly for us to confront Irving, the Cookie Man. They approach hurriedly, then plunk themselves down quietly and expectantly before him to the great excitement of Jackie and Jillie. They score big when there's an occasional fumble from hand-to-mouth. They're so excited about  the cookies, they sometimes bite them in half as they hurriedly take possession, and the half that falls can't be retrieved by them; Jillie will have beaten them to it. 

We noted that where we had seen a pair of Pileated woodpeckers several days back, the big old poplar that had hosted them now boasts a large cavity. The much larger and older willow standing right beside the poplar evidently holds out no promise for the appetite of the woodpeckers looking for insect and grub infestations.