Fall Colors

Fall is finally here. I love the colored leaves and I enjoy raking them. I love this time of year, almost as good as spring.

Last Thursday morning as I was leaving Bible Study, I noticed how beautiful the trees looked. We just had a nice rain the night before and the leaves looked so bright and clean.

Even the crooked tree is pretty. I'm glad they let it grow.

The new Iris plants are coming along nicely. I hope they all bloom come April and May.
The lilac bush is confused though. Here is the "Sensation" Lilac, putting out some flowers. I guess the weather feels like spring. I hope to have some blooms next year.

Winton Old Timers

Reminding all Winton Old Timers that the reunion is always on the last Sunday in September. Reminder cards were mailed out, but you don't need to receive a card in order to attend.
No reservations are taken, just show up at the Winton Middle school around 10:00 a.m. or soon after and pay the $8.00 at the door for your lunch ticket. Lunch will consist of large chicken nuggets from Foster Farms, baked beans, KFC coleslaw, dinner roll, coffee, iced tea and dessert.
Come early and munch on snacks before lunch and visit with other Winton Old Timers. People from out-of-town always show up; usually some out-of-state and even Canadian people show up.

Don't consider yourself an Old Timer? The 1964 graduates from Winton Grammar School are being encouraged to attend, so there will be some younger ones there also.
So, come out and have a good time.

Is it a Hobby?

Isn't this a cute metal sculpture of a Praying Mantis? My daughter Jill gave it to me last Sunday. My yard needs a lot of praying!!
Three of the Iris plants on order should arrive any day now. No sign of them yet. They are coming from Oregon. Six more will arrive by the middle of August from Cathey's Valley.
I always thought Irises needed full sun, but just the other day I read that in the hottest areas, part shade would be best.
Oh. Mine have to have full sun. No other place to plant them. No wonder they go dormant earlier than most other Irises I see. They were all dug up recently and replanted. I sure hope they all survive. It's so hot out there and we are restricted about our watering days. Three days a week.

I had a couple of requests for tombstone photos at the Winton Cemetery, so I went there Wednesday morning. I always find other stones that interest me. This time I noticed Henry Loewen, 1919-1935. I didn't have a clue as to who he was, but was curious.
At home I looked him up on the "Grandma" file from the California Mennonite Historical Society and learned who his parents were and that he died in an accident where he ran into a car. He was just shy of 16 years old. Was he running?
The next step of course is to look for him at Find-A-Grave. There someone posted the newspaper article of the accident and the obituary. He was on his bicycle at a blind corner near the library in Winton on Winton Way. This must have been when the library was in someone's home near Hall Blvd. and Winton Way. Also found out his older sister was Margaret who married Dave Koehn, our beloved Winton School bus driver.
You never know what you will uncover when you are taking pictures at the cemetery.
Everybody has a story.

More Iris on Order

I found the two Iris plants that Superstition Iris Gardens were sold out of. The first one is Spice Lord, a brownish red with white. Very striking.

The other one I tried to order was Bowled Over. I don't have anything like it. Very special.

I was thrilled to find these two from the "Iris Sisters" in Oregon.
So then as I was browsing through ALL of their pretty Iris flowers, I found another one that I just had to have.
It's called "Fashionista." And that's what it is. Very beautiful. I guess it's a slow grower, because it says not many increases. It will be special. I'll be getting these in July. For sure I am not buying any more Iris plants. I am out of room!!

Iris Plants on Order

Last Friday, I drove 3 ladies to Cathey's Valley to the Superstition Iris Gardens. The flowers were early this year, so it looked like peak season was maybe last week, but still lots of pretty Iris plants to consider. Three of us had our cameras out and were taking pictures of our favorites. I had photos of 26 different flowers. Way more than I wanted to order. We all decided to go home and look at our pictures on our computers and decide which ones to order.
I had already looked at pictures of them online; Superstition Iris Gardens is on facebook. One I really wanted was sold out early, even before we went up there. That was "Spice Lord." I got my list of what to order down to 7, then found out another favorite, "Bowled Over" sold out yesterday.
So, these are the six that I have on order. All are very beautiful, but next year I am going to order a few VERY EARLY. This first one is Croft's Caress.



This one is Dusky Challenger


This black one is "Here Comes the Night."


This eye-catching flower is "Solar Fire."


This is "Wedding Night."


This last one is "Company of One."

Lunch in Turlock

Jane invited us to lunch today at her house. We were there to meet Linda, a professor from Washington who teaches at Washington State. It was a very enjoyable day; great food; see the beautiful salad below.

We also had some pasta which was very nice. Here are some of us sitting around the table.

Later we sat on the patio and had delicious dessert. Here is Jane by a rose bush. It's a little fuzzy. My battery was too low.

We had a wonderful afternoon.

Photos at Winton Cemetery District

After a couple of months of neglecting to take tombstone pictures at the Winton Cemetery, I finally went there again a week ago. More than 100 photos have been added, so now there are more than 1,800 to browse through. If you are looking for a name, it's much easier to go to the sets. If you just want to browse, click on this link.
Some of these have memorials at Find A Grave.
The above picture was taken around Memorial Day last year. The cemetery is especially pretty at that time.

Almost Spring

It's been a long time since I posted anything here and now it's almost spring.
I bought a new Stella Cherry tree to replace the one that died last year. When Joe and Keith were digging the hole to plant the tree, they discovered why the other tree died. I have hardpan!! So, they had to dig a really big hole and use the pick-axe to get below the hardpan. The picture shows Keith using the pick-axe. So, now the new tree is planted and I hope all is well.
It's been so dry here all winter. Lately we've had a couple of good rain storms, but not enough to make up for the rain we didn't get earlier or for the snow the mountains usually get.
We had some nice spring weather and so it's hard not to buy plants to dig in the ground. I've bought the tomato plants already and planted them in large pots that I bought last year. One variety is new to me, "Park's Whopper." My sister and brother-in-law had very good luck with them last year. They just kept producing while my tomato plants produced very little. I hope I get a lot of tomatoes this year, I have 5 plants, counting one cherry tomato.
The peach and nectarine trees are blooming and the apricot is close behind. The cherry trees are always the last to bloom. I haven't seen any bees yet. Sure hope they show up when the cherry trees are blooming. I don't know how to hand pollinate.