Shadows

It's probably because I'm back to living in darkness. Dark when I get up. Dark when I get home. That's probably why I've been enjoying watching the shadows, sitting in the sun, feeling the warmth on my face. 

Goodness knows that I avoid being in the sun most of the time. I'm one of those fair skin, burns easily types. So when I'm put gardening or walking our pup, I'm usually covered from head to toe. 

But these past few days when I feel the light slipping away and the shadows and darkness start growing stronger - I just want to grab on and make it last as long as possible. 

Never gonna happen. But you can't blame a girl for trying!

Sunrises Softly

For 2 more days I will enjoy the sun. 2 more days will bring the most light for the year. 2 more days of hope. 

Then the darkness will return. Creeping slowly at first, then faster and faster - aided by the clouds and rains of fall. 

But today I still have 2 more days of light and I plan to enjoy them. Tonight when I get home, I'm taking our pup for a nice walk. 

I love the long days of summer. Even though they're so short!

End of Summer Mystery

The end of summer brought not only a traffic jam, but also ... a mystery!  Who were these men with their cameras and sound equipment filming at the intersection of the train station?

I was curious.  Curious enough to go back down to the street and take a closer look.

It was a small camera group.  One guy was operating the camera.  Another one the sound boom - which he kept sticking up in the tree.  (Maybe he was listening to see if it needed water?)  One guy pointing at various things.  One guy carrying whatever the pointing guy said to carry.  And one woman on a cellphone nodding and waving disinterestedly.

So maybe they were just getting stock footage for filler in some production of whatever?  Then I ask you, why were there also cameras on every corner?  And not professional crews, but people with DSLR cameras - not smartphones.  That's 7 other people taking pictures of the same space today.

That's just plain strange.  Which makes it a mystery.  Which is a perfect thing to end the summer with, because in my opinion, it just isn't summer unless you get to read a good mystery (preferably on the beach while soaking in the sun).

I'll bet the butler did it.

Last Blast

Today on the train I noticed that the trees in the Great Swamp are turning - it's too soon, I tell ya!  So when I got home tonight I took a look through my summer photos and made myself a little "painting" that tells the best part of my summer.

My DH and I were sitting on the porch at our friend's house sipping on a lovely glass of wine.  It's an historic home, perfectly restored, overlooking the valley.  Her daylilies were just coming into bloom.  The air was that wonderful summery scent.  Birds flitted about the bushes and shrubs.

The conversation was all about the gardens, the birds and the ever persistent threat of deer.  So relaxing - so calm.  It's what I like about summer all rolled up into one perfect evening.  No clocks or schedules, just living.

So one last look at this past summer.  Too soon for it to go, but then again, without summer's end the fall harvest would not begin (or continue...).

Berry Nice

I couldn't believe it, but it's apparently true.  The holly berries are starting to turn to red.

Somehow it doesn't seem fair.  It's still August - and today was as hot an humid of a day as summer could bring.  But I saw the first flock of geese heading south, and now with the berries...  Well, I'm just going to have to admit that Fall is on its' way.

(I won't say the "W" word yet - I just *won't*!!!)

Oh Hail

Another hot and humid day today, but we finally got a bit of a break with some quick thunderstorms.  Unfortunately they also brought us a bit of hail.

Normally I wouldn't bother a bit about some hail coming down (so long as there was no damage to the houses), but with less than 2 weeks until the garden tours I was a lot freaked out about the whole thing.

Maybe I should just take the view that we are getting the winter icy mix now instead of this past February.  Maybe that will make it all better.

Sure.  Right.

Not happening.

Start of the Summer Season

The first party of the summer season was tonight.  We had a lovely time with lots of friends, good food and, of course, a rousing game of cricket.

Having never been to a cricket match before, I am not sure of what the terminology is - but I can say that a "jolly good time" was had by all.

Fortunately, there were some folks who knew the game well and they volunteered to umpire and coach for both teams.  Hats were passed out - it was Red vs Blue - and the game was on!  It our game, we had 2 wickets - little sets of 3 sticks setup in a row with 2 tiny sticks resting on top of them.  The pitcher (bowler) tosses the ball towards the wicket and tries to knock the tiny sticks off of it - meanwhile, the batter (batsman) tries to hit the ball away from the wicket so he can then run like mad back and forth between the 2 wickets - all the while carrying his bat.  This was all explained in great detail - and we all promptly forgot everything except hit the ball and run back and forth.

Some of the players had the advantage of growing up in cricket playing towns - they hit the ball long and scored run after run.

 Each hit was cheered and the batters did their best while the outfield scrambled to get the ball back to the closest wicket.

But of course, you had to carry the bat for it to count as a run - Blue lost a few points over this little detail.

Of course the dogs had to get into the game - there was a ball being tossed around!  It was a challenge to keep the play going on when the 4-legged outfielders would "fetch" the ball back to the wicket.

But there were distractions enough to keep them busy so the 2-legged players could keep the action going.

By the end of the game (and I still am not sure how it was determined that the game was over), the Blues won the day, the dogs took to the field to play and the humans took to the tables to eat.

We had a simply wonderful time.  It was a great start to the summer season!

Night & Day

After 3 days of high heat and humidity, it's nice to get back to some cooler weather - you know, in the 80s.

When the front came through yesterday it was like a mini tornado - high winds, quarter-sized hail, torrential downpour (almost 2-inches of rain in 30 minutes!).  I thought that the gardens would be trashed beyond repair.

After walking around, though, I found most everything was just fine.  Even though the clover field got knocked down, I'm hoping it will perk up over the next couple of days.  And quite frankly, I was just happy that none of the trees came down on the house.  There were a few small branches here and there, but overall, it was all fine.

I'm glad we took the time to put in all the plants before the heat hit.  I think they would not have done so well if they were still in pots out on the back patio.  Being in a cool garden bed really let them do well with the heat and the heavy rain.  Now all they need to do is grow - a lot - before the tours start.

And today was all about the tours.  Not the fun outside things, pruning and primping, but the million details of paperwork, flyers, brochures and phone calls.  So I didn't get to go outside much at all today.

Because even though I kept looking out the window and thinking that I would be done any minute, the next thing I knew, it was night.  Apparently even though it's lighter longer in the summer, they didn't add any extra hours to go along with the extra light.

I'll try again tomorrow...

Hot Dog - Cool Treat

Okay - so this has nothing to do with peas, but it was way too hot today to take pictures of anything having to do with cooking - even if it was just making cool pops for my hot pup - so here's the latest (and probably last) of the spring peas.

I don't give my pup ice cubes to cool her down.  They are just too cold for her to eat and they shock her digestive system.  Also, the thought of her breaking a tooth on an ice cube always makes me nervous.  So - no ice for the pup.

But what to do when it is hot hot hot outside and I know she just wants a little something that is cool and refreshing?  Peanut butter yogurt cubes to the rescue!

It takes less than 5 minutes to make these and toss them in the freezer.  I take a large container of plain yogurt, add about a cup and a half of (natural no sugar added) peanut butter and mix it all up.  Then I spread it out on a sheet pan and pop it in the freezer until it's frozen solid.  Once it's ready, I cut it up into squares and toss them into a zip bag, storing them in the freezer.  

Our pup can have a couple of these cool treats anytime she needs it - and I don't worry about her tummy or her teeth because they're cold - but not as cold or hard as an ice cube.

Now I'm off to think about the rain we are going to get when this little heat front moves on out of here and things cool down again.