Garden Bloggers Bloom Day October 2026

Welcome to the 15th of the month and Garden Bloggers Bloom Day. 

In my zone 6a garden in the Southern Tier New York, we are on the verge of our first frost, which may also be our first freeze.  

We've had warmer than usual weather, but that is going to come to an end.  We will probably have our killing frost early Sunday morning. 

This will be the last Bloom Day with outdoor flowers.  So let's get to it.

In my shady back yard:

Japanese Anemone.

Heuchera.

Cuphea "Torpedo"  I bought it from Select Seeds due to its unusual shape but I think next year, I will stick to the tubular varieties sold locally.

Finally, a sunpatien.  I love these plants more and more each year.  So versatile.

Now for the front yard.

Sedum.

A garden victory-pansy. This is the first time I've brought pansies through an entire summer to have several plants still alive and reblooming.

Million bells.

Last, but far from least, Geranium Apple Blossom Variegata, a plant with variegated leaves, also from Select Seeds.

I finally broke down and hired someone to weed and do some thinning out of my front and back flower beds.  It was way overdue.   Now, it's time to put the gardens to bed until spring.  I may or may not have indoor flowers to show for November and December.

Thanks go once again to Carol at May Dream Gardens for Garden Bloggers Bloom Day, a monthly meme that she has hosted for years.  She is retiring her meme at the end of this year.  If you click on this link you will be taken to her blog post, where others will post their links.  Why not spend part of today in beauty?

Anything blooming for you?

Scarecrows in the Park 2026 #WordlessWednesday

Welcome to the 2026 Scarecrow Contest at a local park.  Many of these entries were made by nonprofit organizations.  Some are spooky.  Some are just plain fun.  Best of all, admission is free.

Let's take a walk along the path where the contestants have staked (no pun intended) out their entries.

The best fortune is early detection (breast cancer). 

If you are wondering why the stylized dinosaur in "Fish BC Parks" it's because the late Johnny Hart, creator of the comic strip BC, grew up in this area.   Some of his artwork is used by our county's parks department, and also our transit system. 

The Statue of Liberty.  

Last one for today - skeletons.

I post on Wednesdays, Fridays, Sundays and Mondays, if you want to see more of the entries. 

 

Joining Sandee at Comedy Plus for her #WordlessWednesday.

Oktoberfest #MusicMovesMe

It's Monday and it's time for music!

Who are the Music Moves Me bloggers?  We are a group of music loving bloggers who blog about music each Sunday or Monday (or even later in the week). If you have music to share with us, you are most welcome to join!  We are brought to you by Cathy of Curious as a Cathy, Stacy of Stacy's Random Thoughts, Marie (Xmas Dolly), and myself, plus other music loving bloggers.  

Today's prompt is:  This week’s prompt is Oktoberfest. Traditionally, it begins mid-September running through to early October. It was interesting to learn the first festival was in 1810 with Prince Ludwin of Barvaria and Therese, the princess of Saxony-Hildburghausen celebrated their marriage.  You may find inspiration on your song picks by reading about Oktoberfest traditions or simply wing it by doing your own thing.

When I read through the 10 traditions the below link educates us on, I was surprised to learn that a favorite song at German Oktoberfests is...

...John Denver's Country Roads.  So I will start off with that song.  What I learned in researching is that this American song is very popular in Europe. After all, the yearning for home spans all nationalities. There are videos of crowds singing it in Germany on You Tube but I will post the John Denver original.

Another tradition is the Chicken Dance. Yup, it's the same chicken dance we have in the United States.  And here it is at Cincinnati's Oktoberfest.  You can skip the first two and a half minutes or so of the video to get straight to the music.  

Oktoberfest is all about the beer, and here's the song that is sung several times an hour in the German tents.

Ein Prosit, here sung by the Polka Brothers.  Short and sweet.

Let's end with a celebration of beer in music.  Here are two songs featuring beer.

In Heaven There is No Beer covered by Frank Yankovic (no relation to Weird Al).

ZZ Top and Beer Drinkers & Hell Raisers.

Finally, an advertising song from the 1960's from Schaefer Beer.  I don't know if this beer was sold countrywide, but it dates from 1842 and was popular in New York City, where I grew up.  The license was eventually sold to Pabst (a major American beer corporation).  I understand Schaefer is still sold in parts of New York State, although I've never seen it in the part of New York State where I live.

And that's a wrap!

Join me again next week for another episode of Music Moves Me.

Scarecrows in the Shadows #ShadowshotSunday

Last week, we visited our annual Scarecrow contest in a local park.  Many of these entries are created by various nonprofits.  I haven't been able to find a list of the names of the entries so your guesses are as good as mine.  I especially enjoy the more creative ones and found it hard this year to pick a favorite to vote on.

I assume this is Audrey II from Little Shop of Horrors.  

It was a good day for shadows.

An Italian chef? 

From our extension service, so either a farmer or a gardener.

A nice shadow display.

Today, we are getting the fringes of the former Hurricane Isaisi and no shadows will be seen. 

Voting (in person only) ends October 24 and the winners will be announced October 26.  

I'll upload some more pictures before voting ends on my Wednesday, Friday and Sunday posts.  I won't be able to do all of them - there were over 50 entries this year. 

Joining Lisa at This and That:  A Blog, for her #ShadowshotSunday. 

The Start of Color #SkywatchFriday

I visited a local park on Wednesday to see the entries in the annual Halloween Scarecrow contest.  On the way there, I saw some trees that were turning, but the best is yet to come. 

These skies with puffy clouds and blue will be increasingly uncommon as the month progresses.  We've already had some gloomy days recently.  Gloom is the color of winter and late fall skies here.

In the meantime, I'm enjoying the color as I see it here and there.

It will be a while longer until we hit peak color.

As we walked along this pond, I viewed what I think is the Hickory Tussock Moth caterpillar (Lophocampa caryae).  They are common in the fall where I live in the Southern Tier of New York. 

Speaking of the scarecrows, I'll be featuring some of them from time to time on my blog.  I normally post on Sundays, Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.   

Joining Yogi and other skywatchers on Fridays for #SkywatchFriday.
 

Wooly Bear #WordlessWednesday

Yesterday, I took a picture of what we call a woolly bear caterpillar in my back yard.  It's the second one I've seen locally this fall and both looked about the same. 

These larvae of the Isabella Tiger Moth (Pyrrharctia isabella) are held by folklore to be predictors of the coming winter.  

Unlike those of previous years, this one has a larger brown band. That's supposed to mean a milder winter, although science would disagree.

Joining Sandee at Comedy Plus for her #WordlessWednesday. 

Sass Jordan and #1 Hits of October 1976 #MusicMovesMe

It's Monday and it's time for music!

Who are the Music Moves Me bloggers?  We are a group of music loving bloggers who blog about music each Sunday or Monday (or even later in the week). If you have music to share with us, you are most welcome to join!  We are brought to you by Cathy of Curious as a Cathy, Stacy of Stacy's Random Thoughts, Marie (Xmas Dolly), and myself, plus other music loving bloggers.  

Our theme this week is: You Pick.

Before I want to dig into my theme for today I want to pay two tributes.  The first one isn't music related, but honors Italian actor Peppino Mazzullo, the voice behind the mouse puppet Topo Gigio, who died on September 30 at age 100.

I remember these skits on the Ed Sullivan show from back in my childhood.  A number of them are on YouTube.  Hope you enjoy this one.

Now, it's time for an induction into Rock and Roll Heaven.

A Canadian blogger I read, Debbie Doglady, reported the death of singer, songwriter, and former Canadian Idol judge Sass Jordan. Jordan passed away October 2 at the age of 63, surrounded by her family.  As of this writing the cause of death hadn't been revealed.

 

The name didn't sound familiar and, listening to her music, I was saddened I had not discovered her before her death because she had quite a voice.

Here are two of her hits. First, from 1992, Make You a Believer.

 

And, Tell Somebody.

 

I had preplanned the rest of this post, which features songs that hit number one on the Billboard charts in October, 1976.  Each week had a different number one song.  I'm still going to go with it.

 The first one, Play that Funky Music by Wild Cherry, I had on my blog recently but it brings back a number of memories and I'm going to play it again.  This was the #1 record of the first week of October, 1976.

Here are the others:

Week two:  A Fifth of Beethoven by Walter Murphy and the Big Apple Band.  This is part of the first movement of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, disco style.

Week three, a novelty song:  Disco Duck by Rick Dees and His Cast of Idiots

The final week of October: If You Leave Me Now by Chicago

And that's a wrap!

Join me again next week for another episode of Music Moves Me.