Frost is only called Jack in the autumn

In the autumn, frost is fun, it is a herald and a wee bit exciting. In the Spring the frost can bring frozen tears to your eyes.  When I was writing to you yesterday morning I saw this through the window.And thought oh how pretty, look at the sun rising through those translucent leaves. But we had had a silent mean bad frost. The leaves were transparent not translucent. The Late Spring frost had breathed his wicked breath at them, frozen them, then silently left them to die.

This is one of  the Paw Paws. They are three years old this spring.  There are eight of them. All their leaves are dead.

A Fall frost is kind of romantic and photogenic,  a Late Spring frost … 

.. can kill your harvest. 

Least said the better. The whole crop is black green and falling.

We cannot always have beauty and we cannot always have right.  Fair is often a luxury.  This  a fundamental knowledge. This is why joy is so brilliant and so bright,  if we have the wit to see it.  Because joy comes in short sublime bursts. When things go wrong, when God says No and we have no choice in the matter, it is just a bugger. We must move quickly on. So I will not show  you the pears or the cherries.  Or the hydrangeas. Or my beautiful sunburst magnolia that has not one untouched leaf, every one is freeze dried. But I am sure the leaves will grow back.

All is not lost so I will show you the blue berries….

whose leaves are still lovely.

And the aquilegia are all still beautiful.  

The chicks  have a heat lamp so they are all warm and cosy.

When living the little farmy life,  you have to keep your head above water by Forcing it back above the water when something goes wrong or those frozen tears will freeze in your eyes and make you blind to the joy of the survivors. But that morning was very very cold.  And the frost that ruined our fruit harvest was not sweet at all.

This guy is though.

Someone is sneaking through my outdoor feed station. 

And looking pretty on the drive. Completely unaffected by the fact that all the tomatoes are black. John covered every one but they are all dead.  However he has more in pots that were all brought inside that night, and last night when it froze again. He knew the risks. So he will be replanting this weekend.

I have been trying for over two weeks to take a delicate shot showing why I keep saying Mama must have her lambs soon.  This is hardly delicate but you see what I mean!  Hard not to look isn’t it! Soon Mama, soon!

Good morning. Lots to do today.  The weather man tells me that last night’s second frost was the last one, so onwards and upwards now.  Let’s hit the ground running today!

I am so glad you have chosen to ride the roller coaster of farmy life with me!  Have a lovely day.

celi