12 Things to Do This Autumn and Day 28's Painting

Our weather has been so beautiful here. I'm savoring every minute of open windows, bare feet, blue skies, flower cutting, garden eating... 

pumpkins, nasturtiums, autumn, Anne Butera, My Giant Strawberry

On Saturday my parents came over for a birthday dinner for my mom and I filled the house with nasturtiums. Just about every room had a little arrangement of them. In the kitchen I combined them with little white pumpkins from the farm and my cute orange surprise pumpkin (there are two more still on the vine waiting to get a little more orange). I'm not really into seasonal decorating, but this grouping makes me so happy.

The other day I read a list of 12 Things to Do This Autumn on the Blog A Beautiful Mess and thought I should come up with my own list. Of course, some of the things on their list are things I'd want to include on my list, too (use the crock pot, bake cookies, make chili, sew something, eat sweet potatoes, make soup), so I guess my list is technically longer than 12 things.

  1. bake muffins (I made apple cinnamon muffins the other day adapting this recipe to have more apples, more cinnamon and adding vanilla. They were yummy).
  2. make apple cider
  3. collect seeds from the garden for next year
  4. take cuttings of plants to bring inside (geraniums, fuchsia, impatiens)
  5. plant garlic
  6. finish some crochet projects that are still in progress
  7. harvest and preserve the last of the herbs from the garden
  8. use up, harvest and preserve the last of the garden produce
  9. plant spinach to overwinter & eat in the spring
  10. go for walks in the woods
  11. collect leaves and acorns
  12. burn candles
What about you? What would be on your list of things to do this autumn?

And as for today's painting? Well, this wasn't one of my better painting days. The paint didn't seem to do what I wanted it to. I fought with it and fought with it and actually thought about giving up.

watercolor, watercolor flowers, floral watercolor, watercolor cosmos, cosmos, Anne Butera, My Giant Strawberry


All the while I had U2's "Some Days are Better Than Others" in my head. It's been in my head a lot lately. Strange. I haven't heard it in years, but I guess there's something appropriate about it. It certainly is true that some days are better than others.

Hope you are having a good one.

Comments

  1. Every morning as I turn the corner in my alley on the way to work I pass a lovely garden bed of cosmos and calendula. Your cosmos is just beautiful. But I know what you mean about the paint not going where you want it to.

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    1. Thank you, Madeline. The cosmos in my garden took so long to get going this year. Calendula would be a nice companion. Good idea for next year!

      I think the real problem was that the paint mix was too wet to work the way I wanted it to and I was too impatient to wait till it dried up a bit before working on the painting. One of the problems with this painting-a-day way of working. Ah well, it was a good learning experience!

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  2. That is a wonderful grouping in the photo Anne. I love the contrasting of the orange and white against the blue. You have a fantastic eye for colour combinations. Well done for completing the painting. I give up all too easily. I don't have a list of things to do this autumn. Maybe I should make one! :-)

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    1. Thanks so much, Simone!

      I can give up on things, too, but for some reason with painting I am too stubborn to!

      I hope you do come up with an autumn list!

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  3. Hi Anne,
    First, I am a huge U2 fan. LOVE them!! So that is fun you have one of their songs stuck in your head. :-)

    I am trying to find places for a few plants I want to try and winter over. Tonight is forecast for our first frost.
    Carla

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    1. Glad to know you're a U2 fan, too, Carla. :) I spent so many hours listening to them when I was younger, even their not so good stuff. I guess that's why I get random songs of theirs stuck in my head.

      Hope the frost passed you over. We were supposed to have patchy frost this early morning, but it looks like we didn't get it. I took cuttings yesterday just in case and started bringing in my houseplants. Always makes the house that much cozier!

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