The weather has taken a decided turn toward the chilly and I fear that Autumn’s days are numbered up here in the Great White North. It’s getting dark around six o’clock in the evening now, and we haven’t even set our clocks back yet. It won’t be long until Lydia’s going to school before it’s gotten light and coming home after it’s gotten dark. As Olof likes to remind me, though, at least we’ll have plenty of snow to lighten things up a bit.

I finally got my bulbs planted in the yard yesterday, so that’s one less task to worry about. That’s harder work than you’d think, especially with a short-handled shovel and cold, cold ground. When I have seventy-five or so tulips and narcissus blooming in the spring, though, I’ll be so busy reveling in the bright bursts of color that I won’t even remember the work that went into getting them there. I have many “favorite” flowers, but tulips are my absolute, overall, no-doubt-about-it first pick. Their only shortcoming is that they don’t last very long. If only there were a way to make them stay pretty all through the summer, they’d be perfect.