Fall Colors

The leaves on my little fruit trees turned yellow. They were so pretty, I had to take their picture. Good thing. Because the next day, Joe and Keith were here mowing lawns.

This was going to be the last mowing of the season, so first Keith blew the yellow leaves off the trees before they were picked up by the mower. Most of the leaves on the cherry trees are still green so he left those alone.
I learned something new the other day. I asked John Esau when I should fertilize the little fruit trees. He said after all the leaves fall off. Otherwise the leaves suck up the fertilizer and and then they fall off and there goes your fertilizer.
He uses the "Tree and Vine" fertilizer that he buys in Ballico. I still have a lot of 16-16-16 that I bought in Merced, so I will use that up before buying the "Tree and Vine." John puts a gallon of that fertilizer around his full-grown trees, but he said to put about a pint around my small trees. So, that's the plan. He will come prune my little trees again this January to be sure they get off to a good start. They need to be shaped properly.

Here is a pretty flower I found at The Greenery in Turlock. It's a Echnacea, commonly known as a Coneflower. This red one is named "Sombrero Salsa Red." It reminds me of a Poinsettia. So much prettier than the more common purple Coneflower. I replanted it in a larger pot. Someday when I get rid of all the Burmuda grass I will plant it in the ground.
Another thing I'll have to do is dig up the flower plants around the fruit trees. Think of how much fertilizer they suck up. I like having flowers around the trees, but I guess they'll have to go.

Fall Time

This is what my Fuyu Persimmon tree looked like in Merced. Every year it was loaded with fruit. I miss that tree. Not to mention the cherry trees and the peach trees and the nectarine. I have the same varieties planted here in Atwater, but the trees are still small.
My sister and I got some persimmons the other day and we were very happy to get them. Carolyn made a Fuyu Bundt Cake today and she said it was really delicious. I'll have to try it too sometime. You can find the recipe here.Carolyn said it's easy to make.
She also made some cookies from the soft (Hachiyas)persimmons.

We enjoyed the fund raiser at the Winton Mennonite School last Saturday. We thought about bidding on items in the auction, but everything went too high for us. We did enjoy our lunch and some candy. It got really cold before the auction was over, so we left a little early. Very interesting afternoon. I did take a few pictures, you can see them at flickr.

Winton Mennonite School

Fund Raiser for the Winton Mennonite School on Central Avenue in Winton.
This Saturday, November 10, 2012. Several Food Booths will be set up where you can choose what you want to eat. Starts at 1:00 p.m. The auction starts at 3:00 p.m.
Come out and support the local Mennonite School in Winton.

Dorothy's Dolls

This is Dorothy, she attends the Atwater United Methodist Church and has donated hand-made dolls for the church bazaar every year since she moved to Atwater. I asked her to pose with the cute clown doll that I bought at the bazaar.
Dorothy celebrated her 103rd birthday this year. She was born in Ohio to Frank and Maude Brown on September 20, 1909. In 1929, she married Fred Buckingham. From Ohio, they moved to Porterville, CA where Dorothy worked in the State Mental Hospital for 17 years.
After retirement, Dorothy and her husband moved to Hawaii. They lived there for 12 years. Fred died in Hawaii in 1981. A couple years after that Dorothy moved to Sacramento to be near her daughter. She lived there for 20 years. The daughter moved to Texas later to be near her daughter and that's when Dorothy moved to Atwater to be near her son.
Both Dorothy's son and daughter were born in Ohio. Dorothy has sewn all her life, making her own clothes and sewed for others. She doesn't do that anymore. Dorothy has been in Atwater for 3 1/2 years. This was her last year of sewing dolls for the church bazaar. She is going to retire. I am so happy to have one of her dolls.

Bazaar Items

Here are some of the Iris plants I took to the Atwater Methodist Church today for Saturday's Bazaar. I decided to tape the picture directly on the container.

More of the Iris plants at the Bazaar.
Dorothy, our 104-year-old church member made these dolls and I think the monkeys also.

I hope we have a lot of people come by tomorrow. Sounds like fun. There are a lot of other items for sale. They were just starting to set up when I was there today. There will be baked goods also and a lunch available starting at around 10:00 a.m.