Changing colors, falling temps....
October 5th -- The first frost came early this year; about two weeks earlier than average. Last night's low was in the mid-20s following the first winter-like storm that also brought a snow-rain mix; intermittent snow flurries (the flakes melted on contact), and a dusting of white on the foothills. All this while the fall leaves are still changing their colors.
Looking to the southeast from an upper-level window, I can see the colors of fall.
The deep reds of New England that I loved during graduate school are rare around here, but I have a lovely 25-year-old Dogwood tree in my yard (shown in the photo below) that gets as close to the red colored-leaves of fall than most anything else in the neighborhood. Dogwoods are not supposed to grow here, but mine has beat the odds.
On the topic of colors....my contractor has told me that it is time to pick out the exterior paint colors for the house. I've always been partial to blues, and that is where I'm headed yet again. I've selected a "creamy blueberry" for the accent color (the darker blue below) and "steel blue" for the trim color (the lighter blue below), but I'm torn between two different colors for the base or body of the house -- a darker "granite grey" and a lighter "moonlight grey," that has a tint of blue. The guy at the paint store said that a lighter base/body color shows more dirt than the darker shade, but he thought the darker shade was more 'dreary.' The base or body color will cover the painted brick and the horizontal siding, and a few other features of the house (e.g., the ceiling of the front porch, some of the accent shingles). Here's where you can help me decide.
The following photos show the different base/body colors: below to the left, the "granite grey" is on top, while the "moonlight grey" is on the bottom
Again, below, the "granite grey" is on the top, while the "moonlight grey" is on the bottom.
Which base/body color do you like best? Vote now by sending your choice to me via e-mail, and I will be forever grateful to you for helping me to decide. I'll reveal the "audience" choice in a later blog post.
With the changing colors also comes the falling temperatures. As of a week ago yesterday, the heating system installation was complete. However, the thermostats for the four zones have not yet been installed. The system is currently running with a "temporary" thermostat that is not on the zone system, but is heating my living/temporary kitchen (main level) and my front office/temporary bedroom (upper level). The exposed heat duct in the upper level bathroom provides some warmth in the bathroom.
As the temps fell last night I was pleasantly surprised by how toasty my office/temporary bedroom was. I'm pretty sure that this may have been the first time in 110 years that there was heat in this room. other than from a portable electric heater. It was awesome! Although I'm now sleeping in my three-season down sleeping bag (it functions more like a down comforter than a sleeping bag), the coldest night of the year so far was amazingly comfortable. In fact, I was so toasty that I slept in this morning, which is a rare thing for me!
The falling temps also signal the need to change over my summer clothes for warmer clothes. Although this has always been a significant effort in an old house with only one true closet, this year the challenge is a bit different. When I had to "pack up" the contents of my house last spring, I tried the best I could to plan and anticipate what clothes I would need. Of course, with spring and summer mostly on my mind, I selected some fall/winter items, but in retrospect, probably not enough. So, last night I filled a box with summer sandals, shorts and t-shirts to take to the garage. This afternoon I attempted to locate a few pairs of fall/winter shoes, socks, a couple of sweaters and one of my most favorite clothing items of all time -- soft corduroy shirts.
There is literally a mountain of boxes in my garage, and I attempted to climb that mountain with mixed results. I did find a couple of pairs of winter shoes, but not exactly a specific pair I had in mind; nevertheless, my feet are now ready for the snow. Oh well...I did find a heavy cotton sweater (where is the box with the wool sweaters?), and I recovered several pairs of warm socks. I did find two soft corduroy shirts, but that heavier-weight jean jacket is probably in the only wardrobe box that was inaccessible. All was not lost because I did find a heavy-weight "Mad Men" hooded sweatshirt. When it comes time to unpack and move all the stuff that is boxed up in the garage back into the house, I'm sure there will be lots of wonderful surprises, as well as more trips to donate much of what I boxed up last spring.
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