I went for a bike ride on a section of Military Ridge State Trail near my house for the first time this Fall season. It was exhilarating to be out there, cruising through the woods, wetlands and prairies.
weekend
Take a Hike
I like to take different hikes on the weekends in fall, try a different trail, see different landscapes, collect treasures I find on the trails, mostly through photography. One of these weekends, I’m hoping to go on a hike by myself and try doing some botanical studies and odes to nature in my sketchbook.
This past weekend, I hiked at Lapham Peak, which is part of the Kettle Moraine State Forest Southern unit, formed 10,000 years ago by glaciers. The trails traverse through glacially-formed hills and around kettle lakes, prairies and state forest land.
It was also great fun to discover a beautiful butterfly garden in the middle of this state park, full of a huge variety of wildflowers that attract pollinators. Nice to still see bees, goldfinches and monarchs this late in the season. I lucked out with a warm and sunny fall day, so it was exhilarating to be out in the woods and hiking the trails again.
Notes From the Trail
We squeezed in a little free time this past weekend to hike a trail not far from our house. I love these woods because they are full of very tall pine trees which are fun to walk through.
It was great to be in the woods, soaking up fresh air, listening to the crunch under our hiking boots, and searching for treasures, from squirrel nests high up in the trees to lichen and moss on fallen tree trunks to pine cones and tracks on the trail.
Hope you found time to get some fresh air over the weekend too!
Terri
Notes From the Weekend: At the Greenhouse
I spent a couple days last week helping at the greenhouse where my mom works. They had 20,000 Easter lilies that needed to be planted in 2 days. Yes, 20,000!
Put a handful of soil into the container, place the lily bulb in the container with the tip facing up, fill with soil, place five containers into a flat and move to a palette. Repeat!
There were 10 of us planting non-stop, along with two other people helping replenish our supplies and moving the palettes of lilies into the coolers.
After we finished planting 20,000 Easter lilies, we planted spring tulips and daffodils for a few hours.
On breaks, I wandered around the greenhouse, admiring all they do, especially the fresh-cut room full of lovelies.
It was an exhausting couple days, so it took me a day to recover. And then I was ready to plant more bulbs in our own yard, this time daffodils and anemones.
We’ve enjoyed some beautiful fall days lately so we’ve been tending to our gardens and soaking up as much sunshine and fresh air as possible.
What a fulfilling weekend!
Terri
Notes From the Weekend: Big Waves and Fall Color
We took a road trip to spend the weekend at my parent’s cottage on the lake. The first couple days were super windy with cold winds from the North, producing big waves that were 4 to 6 feet.
The last day we were there the winds completely died down and the waters were calm.
We were lucky to go hiking a couple times since the fall colors were spectacular!
When you look closely in the woods, you find all sorts of cool things!
We were also celebrating my mom’s birthday, so it was a treat to get away for the weekend and spent lots of time in the woods!
Terri
Notes From the Weekend: Fall At the Botanical Gardens
I went to the local botanical gardens on Friday afternoon to soak up some fresh air and see what’s new for fall.
The sugar maple tree is always the one of the first to turn colors around here, and it offers quite a show with its vibrant yellows and oranges.
There’s such a wonderful variety of colors and textures in the planters throughout the botanical gardens.
I love this hanging basket that lives in a shady spot throughout the growing seasons. Definitely want to try this in spring on our front porch, which faces north and doesn’t get any direct sunlight.
I was happy to spot my first wooly bear caterpillar of the season!
I was also surprised to see a few butterflies still hanging around, like this red admiral. I saw a couple monarch butterflies and a variegated frittilary butterfly too.
It was such a treat to visit the botanical gardens in fall. My next visit probably won’t be until December to check out what their gardeners have done to the grounds for the holiday season.
Terri
Notes From the Weekend: Yellow Leaves
It was a great fall weekend full of cool weather, a fire in the fireplace, soup for lunch, football games and raking leaves. 
Many of the leaves on our trees that change to yellow in autumn are changing and falling.
Raking is always hard work but it’s a great excuse to get outside when the temps are cool.
Soon the oranges and reds will take over the landscapes.
Hope you were able to get out into the wild and enjoy this fall season!
Terri
Signs of Spring: Buds, Birds and More
Spring is my favorite season because everything comes back to life revealing so many cheerful pops of color. More and more signs of spring are popping up after our 6-day marathon of clouds, cold and rain finally moved on.
There are buds on the trees and birds gathering for their nests and combing the grass for bugs and seeds.
I was finally able to dig in the dirt, plant a few cool-weather annuals, and make our first trip to the garden center. Very relaxing and energizing!
Hope you are enjoying spring too!
Terri
Signs of Spring: Green
April showers bring May flowers. We are certainly having a lot of April showers lately, so I’m hoping we see lots of flowers in May. We are ever so slowly seeing signs of spring with bits of green here and there.
Most of our bulbs – tulips and crocus – have been eaten by the rabbits this spring, except for this lonely daffodil. We have some other daffodil clusters that are a bit behind so I’m looking forward to seeing their pops of yellow soon. It’s been a couple years since we planted new bulbs, so planting more will be high on my list for fall chores.
Last weekend I noticed some of the buds on our trees are starting to open and show some of that spring green color I love so much. Looking forward to find more signs of spring over the next week.
Terri's Notebook 
