Well, well, well…October already? It’s not even Halloween yet many retailers have begun displaying Christmas decor, much to my chagrin. Honestly…the trees in my ‘Hood haven’t changed colors yet but I’m supposed to get jazzed up about a holiday that’s 85 days away? Umm, that’d be a hard no.
Ok, I’m off my soapbox and now will join our PNW pals, Rosy, Sunny, Arty and Jakey from LLB in Our Backyard on their weekly blog hop. If you click on their the link you’ll see what others in Blogville have shared.
As I’ve noted before, there isn’t a whole lot of leaves changing color yet. Because summer has been so hot and dry in Denver, I suspect most leaves may simply turn brown and fall. From what I’ve seen on social media though, the nearby mountains are showing off beautiful swaths of gold aspens. Hopefully we can get up soon to see for ourselves.
Here is one of a few trees around that has begun its annual change but not a whole lot of change is apparent yet.
And this tree had only one spot that was changing colors deep in its interior and it was actually more brownish than orange. Most trees continue to show signs of drought stress throughout the city.
While walking along our usual route, we came upon this bright orange pumpkin planted between the sidewalk and the street. Seeing it made me mentally kick myself for not planting seeds in the garden this spring especially since canned pumpkin continues to be in short supply in stores. Probably crowded out by Christmas decor {grumble, grumble – I know, stop kvetching}. Between COVID disrupted supply chains on the simplest of products and persistent late season rainfall in states that provide the bulk of pumpkins, who knew there’d be a shortage of canned pumpkin? By the way, did you know that the state of Illinois produces nearly 80% of the nation’s pumpkins?
Thanks for nothing, Hurricane Ida.
Whatever you plan to do this weekend, we hope it includes some time outside enjoying October’s splendor. Have a good one.
Live, love, bark!🐾
I’m with you 100%! I love Christmas, but geez! I also love the memories from childhood of the season starting at the end of the Macy*s Thanksgiving Day Parade with Santa on the final float. For me, the parade will always signal the start of the season. Of course, without Andy Williams singing “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year”, the parade has lost most of its charm for me. I refuse to listen to Christmas music until then, except Andy Williams.
I enjoy the holidays…in moderation. And non-stop Christmas music is a hard no. I spent way too many years trapped in an elevator full of people humming along to Jingle Bells long before Thanksgiving. Argh!!!
That’s a beautiful pumpkin! The other day on the road home, I saw a truck with a trailer in the distance…slowly with its 4-way flashers on…making all behind it having to slow down. II wanted to see why, so when I caught up with it, there were two of the hugest pumpkins i have ever seen. Just like those you might see at a contest. I wonder how they got them onto that flatbed trailer??
I too hate all the Christmas hype when its just past labor day…sheesh. Everything has to be so commercialized. Phooey.
Our Aldi has loads of canned ;pumpkin on their shelves…and I always have some stashed away here…
I’ll buy a couple cans each week. Sometimes I need them to help with doggy issues…not to mention baking when the fancy hits me. I love to make pumpkin pie without the crust, its like a very thick custard, Mmmm!
Yum…just thinking about pumpkin pie makes my mouth water!
What a great reason to slow down and take in the pumpkin show-off! 🎃
We love this time of year!
We’re right there with you!
Always miss the fall colors, if not the cold weather, since moving away from CO.
Fall is the best season in Colorado IMHO. 😇
The fall colors are very slow in appearing here too. Maybe not enough rain or cool nights? It won’t be long now, but we hope they don’t all turn brown too quickly.
We like our pumpkin so there had better not be a shortage of the canned stuff.
Woos – Lightning, Misty, and Timber
Temps at night have been cool enough but we’ve definitely not had enough rain. We keep hoping the canned pumpkin shortage gets resolved soon 🤞🏻
Lulu: “Pssst … Don’t look know, but there’s a thing on the roof that wants to grab you.”
🎃🎃🎃
I am scared of pumpkins, even that cute one. But I am NOT scared of canned pumpkin. Mom and I like that stuff a lot, and yes – sometimes it’s out of stock on our Instacart order. Blerg. #notcool
Love and licks,
Cupcake
Sorry your scared of the teal deal, Cupcake. It’s so good for you. These food shortages are the pits, aren’t they?
So suddenly it is October! Thank pumpkin has great color. We still have fall, and no need for winter. Christmas is seen already in big shops, too early.
It seems October snuck up on a lot of us. We hope for a nice autumn but with some moisture. Have a great weekend.
Same to you. We have been talking about languages, and today opening your blog I thought “Norman kulta”. It means the same as Norman dear, but we use word kulta, which means gold. Interesting!
🥰 I love idioms-so fascinating!
What a glorius pumpkin! Such a deep colour. We had no idea pumpkin was no abundant. I wonder if this applies to squash too? Hubby went shopping for a squash today and the grocery store had none. ODD!
I suspect squash suffers from excess rain too.
Wasn’t that a smashing and cheerful orange color on that pumpkin? I had to stop and examine it up close. The dogs weren’t as impressed as I was. 🤣
I had no idea that Illinois was the pumpkin capitol of the nation. As for the loveliest captures of fall, your state is gonna be hard to beat.
Happy Friday Monika
I didn’t know before either but have been researching why this shortage has been going on since January. Until I found out excessive moisture has delayed harvesting, I had no idea. And I found it fascinating Illinois produces the most pumpkins. Go figure!
I woulda lost a bet on that one.
Nice selfie at the end! :…runs and hides…:
Trust me, I feel a lot like that whenever I see Christmas decorations in September. Hrmph-bah hum bug!
Costco has already started Xmas merchandising out here. Too soon! Too soon! I haven’t even started ignoring Halloween yet.
The Costco here too for nearly a month. Too soon indeed! Way too soon. 😬
Had no idea pumpkin is in short supply. We just picked up a can today for Riley, who had us up a few times last night. The open air market has lots on display, too, so at least we’ll have Jack o lanterns around the neighborhood. Have a good weekend.
The inexpensive brands are very scarce (which is what I use since I use so much of it for giving Elsa her meds). The pricey stuff seems to be sitting on shelves gloating. Enjoy a terrific weekend! 🎃
Colours are really starting here. I am so looking forward to going up north tomorrow. It (hopefully) is in its glory right now. Usually by our Thanksgiving (next week) , It’s almost too late.
I know there are recipes that call for canned pumpkin but I prefer roasting mine and freezing them in chunks or purées. Which reminds me, I better start soon because here? The day after Hallowe’en is impossible to get a pumpkin anywhere! It’s ridiculous.
Happy Friday!
The pumpkin puree is used to hide Elsa’s anti-seizure medication in and we go through multiple cans a week. I’ll be switching to sweet potatoes that will be roasted and pureed until the convenience of inexpensive pumpkin is back on the shelves.
Have a great time viewing the change of colors. 🍁
Oh my. I feel your pain, then. I guess making your own would take mountains and mountains of pumpkins!
I will and they will be featured in Robin’s annual “Walktober” 🙂
Wee are so-o happy it iss Octoburr now Miss Monika an sweet Norman an Elsa!! Nice warm dayss an kewl nitess!! An hopefully this month will bee bettur fore BellaSita…mee werkin on mee post an wait til you reed it!
***purrss*** BellaDharma an {{huggiess}} BellaSita
Looking forward to it! Yes, warm days, cool nights = paradise!
Mee furgot to meow how much wee like yore fotoss Miss Monika!! Speshelly Punkin foto!!
An Mistur Spooky iss purrty kewl 😉
You’re always so sweet, Thank you!
Naw mee just meowin THE truth Miss Monika!!! 😉
We have one tree here that is totally changed already…which is weird, because things don’t usually change around here until November or December….
Happy October!!
Nature is all mixed up. Have a great weekend!
We give the pups pumpkin and noticed the shortage. Have a great weekend, Momika and crew.
I think a lot of dog owners give their pooches pumpkin which has great fiber content and easy digestibility. I’ll have to switch to sweet potatoes which does the job of hiding Elsa’s anti-seizure meds till it gets back on the shelves.
That is a good idea. 😁
I’ll have to do some planting this weekend, before we go to the beach on Monday. The leaves, btw, are not turning (yet), at least not inot lovely colours. Some are simply becoming yellow and drying. We’re waiting for the maples, though.
Have a great weekend,
Pit
We’ll keep our paws crossed the maples turn. The ones around here show serious signs of drought stress.
I love the fall colors and our tree out front is turning to fall colors. No one else’s tree is turning though.
Have a fabulous day and weekend, my friend. Scritches to the pups and a smooch to Norman. ♥
One of the past qualities of autumn are the changing leaves. It seems to make us feel quite cozy and I love the smell of fallen leaves. Have a great weekend, Sandee!
at least the midwest seems to have gotten more rain and less heat than the western parts we’re in. Tomato production was down in AZ so look to shortages in sauces, Are you actually going into stores to see decorations… betcha you live in an area of CO that has better vax rates and lower infection rates than our part of Aurora. Our leaves are little clumps of pretty color in the green too. It rained two days this week which is welcomed.
There was a nice shower a couple of days ago and cooler temps since. I think the weekend is set to be mild and dry. For the record, I never enter any store without a mask and make any trips in-out as quick as possible.
Who is putting a politician up in the corner of their garden?
Ha! A pumpkin head might be preferable these days. 😉
Right there with ya on Christmas decorations up too early. As I am consciously trying to get rid of “stuff”, I am finding one of the keys is not to buy it in the first place! Sorry consumer-based economy, but I’m done with the whole model.
Amen, Amy! I’m all about being ready early but September? Puleez. It just makes me want to turn around and go home empty handed.
the retailers do the same thing every single year…….I hate it too……but what can you do?
True enough but I’ve never seen it in September before!