Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Late Summer Notes


Much as I want to deny it, summer is on the wane. This August has been hot and humid when not rainy and humid, with frequent thunder showers. There are still glorious mornings when the sky is cloudless and a southerly breeze is as close to heaven as you'd want, but that late summer feeling is coming on.

In the garden, I have Early Girl tomatoes ripening fast, unlike the Patio and Tumbler in containers, still stubbornly green though plentiful. The Scarlet Runner beans are producing well, with a small crop every few days now. The hummingbirds love them and often buzz me while I'm picking, hoping I'll go away. I've had a few pattypan squash - for some reason a lot of blossoms dropped off before they could produce. It looks lovely anyway, with the scarlet runner flowers twining with sweet peas and a row of gem marigolds in front of the veg garden.

In the flower bed, the pink milkweed is done blossoming - found a monarch caterpillar on it just yesterday and it's still there today, has the whole plant to itself. Seems late in the season so I hope it survives. The Autumn Joy sedum is filling out to a shrub size, love the way the leaves hold dewdrops in the morning or after a rain. The china asters are just budding now so should add some nice colour to that bed. Every evening I like to go down the driveway just to catch the fragrance of the nicotiana - it's self-sown and comes back every year, striking with the tall white trumpets.

It's been a good summer for berries, partly because of the frequent rain. My mum says blueberries are always better in a wet year, get bigger. A five minute walk up the road takes me to a lush berry field, had a great time there with my mum, sister and her two grandsons. We had enough to make blueberry muffins and I tried a recipe for "summer pudding", new to me this year. It's very simple, just white bread, a bit of sugar and mixed berries topped with ice cream or whipped cream. My son enjoyed it very much! Raspberries are about done now, but the blackberries are just beginning to ripen and the canes out back of the shed are full of them. I'm looking forward to them a lot, enjoy walking out on a sunny morning and picking a dish to toss in with cereal for breakfast.

On August 12th, the Perseid meteor shower was visible so I stayed up very late hoping to catch the show. My son was watching the live Olympic coverage anyway so we had a late, late night. Best time for meteors was said to be about 4 a.m. and I was out on the doorstep watching the sky, which was a bit cloudy but with stars visible. Saw three or four out there, then watching form a west facing window inside saw a few more before I gave it up to get some sleep. Jupiter is very bright in the southwest now too, with good binoculars you can see the moons.

Though I'm not a big sports fan, the Olympics is pretty spectacular and you can't help but be impressed with some of the achievements and struggles the athletes go through. I watched the end of the triathlon & couldn't believe the effort Simon (Whitfield)? made right at the race end, amazing. Love the equestrian events too, glad to see Eric LaMaze make a comeback from the drug problems of the past.

As I write this, the skies have opened up and rain is splashing and pouring down the windows. It's so dark, at 4 p.m. that you need the lights on to read (or type). Since thunder is likely to follow, I'm going to wrap this up and shut down. Hope we all enjoy what's left of the season.
(For a good summer read, try "Harvest of Bittersweet" by Patricia Penton Leimbach, a book of the joy and sorrow of life on an Ohio farm in the 1980s.)
I want to capture summer
In the middle of a dawn,
Press it fast between two pages
now,

Before the magic's gone.

-Eileen Black "August"