It was a gloomy day yesterday, the sun fitfully peeking through gray clouds reluctant to yield their rain. The sunlight is noticeably weaker as the Earth tilts away from its source, yielding ever more readily to the greedy grasp of nightfall and only slowly regaining strength at a dawdling dawn. The outdoor plants are taking on weary hues, finishing another growing season whether ready or not.

The local weatherman has already somberly intoned a warning of soon coming frosts and advised caution for tender houseplants set out to summer in airy nooks. The nights aren't cold enough to cause damage for most of them, but they'll need to make the transition to sheltered indoor spots soon. The seedling geraniums are doing well and should provide some bright color over the winter months while growing large enough to set out in the yard next year. They're about three inches tall but well-leafed.

The vegetable garden yielded a genuine touch of fall, three ripe butternut squashes. There are two more not quite ready to pick, their green streaks at the neck still too bright against their tan skins. The tomatoes are yielding about two dozen Roma tomatoes each week, with several dozen more ripening on the plants and more being set. The Delicious tomatoes are taking their time, with only one fruit now turning red but other nice big ones losing their green color.

The tumblers are full of nearly finished compost again. The cooler weather may be slowing them somewhat, but my increasing skills at feeding them properly is helping to compensate for that. The weather has cooled enough for me to get out and work on weeding and pruning again, and I usually try to keep going until I've topped off the tumbler loads again.

That has added to the usual time conflicts among my activities. It is pretty sure that diva night is off for this month, and possibly for longer than that. I just can't work in the painting lessons. I like the beauty of painting, but somehow the technique does not really appeal to me. I read the painting books with an eye more to how the information might apply to quilting or other needlecrafts, instead.

I got back to work on the older quilt waiting to be quilted instead of the flannel quilt top that is still not finished as I could drape the sandwiched quilt over my lap while in bed at the end of the day. It is hard to work on the sewing machine during the day because of the interruptions for housework and gardening, and I'm too tired to sit at the machine and ironing board with two cats alertly attacking anything that moves in the evening. They still get on the quilt, but it is nearly quilted together so that limits what they can do to it.

Ironically enough, that quilt has been serving the basic functions of a quilt even while still waiting for the running stitches that will bind it together into a whole. It usually rests on a stack of books and fabric beside my bed, its colors both brightening and hiding an otherwise chaotic jumble of items. I sometimes find a comfortably curled ball of black fur tucked into its folds when I go to retrieve a sewing case or book from under its cozy shelter.

The cats don't care that it is still a project in the making. To them, it is a warm bed, and in fact that is what it is meant to be. It is the quilt meant to replace an old bedspread on my bed that finally became too worn and needed to be replaced. It simply sits beside the bed instead of being spread over it unless I have it on my lap quilting a section of it.

I've gotten to the point that most of the basic outlining in the blocks is done, and the outlining of the motif on one side of the border is done. I'm still debating about adding more motifs to the blocks to fill in the empty spaces, but that decision will wait until I finish this part. I can't seem to come to a final decision on the quilting pattern as a whole when I work on a quilt. I need to see how each step changes the look of the quilt before I decide what to do next. This slows down the work considerably, but then I didn't try making quilts to see how many I could rush through.

Such thoughts gently wandered through my mind as I emptied Rapunzel's load into the flower bed this morning. Baby's load is a bit wet and draining again as it got the kitchen scraps while I was letting Rapunzel's load dry a bit before unloading it. It doesn't take much to overwater Baby's load, given its size and how much water is in kitchen scraps. I'm loathe to add paper to sop it up, given how close it is to being ready to empty as well.

Rapunzel got a hearty meal of paper scraps and yard waste to fill it up again, surprisingly quickly given how much time it usually takes to fill it up. The weeds took advantage of the sweltering weeks when I couldn't get out in the garden for long and grew into quite a healthy crop. I hoed enough to top off Rapunzel and still have plenty left to add once that load starts shrinking.

The spring-like temperatures are a welcome relief for finishing up the outdoor gardening for the year. The fireflies appear to be gone for the season and the mosquitoes are much reduced as well. We've had a few nights in the 40's but that isn't nearly enough to send the mosquitoes into hiding yet.

The cats are enthusiastic about my return to the yard and follow me around playing with each other in lively pounces and tumbles. They're keeping a sharp eye out for migrating birds invading their yard, as the first flocks have been visiting for about a week now. Our mighty hunters are gathering more memories of exciting stalks to dream about when the weather has finally driven their wild playmates to warmer climates.