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"

Midsummer Musings

As always, summer is passing too quickly. Already the stores are flogging fall clothes and winter catalogues appear in the mail. I refuse to look at them for now. Why would anyone want to dwell on winter coats when the sun is high and the breeze is from the south?

I've been blessed with the first opportunity to meet my niece's new baby girl, Grace. One forgets how very tiny and delicate a newborn can be. Poor dear is minding the humidity and heat we've been having and was a bit fussy with heat rash. She did me the honour of falling asleep while I held her in the rocking chair. Little ones are so very precious it makes the heart ache. She has a full head of golden hair, softer than chicken down.

My son is off to summer camp, and decided that long hair was too much bother - so he shaved his head!!! A bit of a shock - he's lucky to have a dimpled smile and gorgeous brown eyes that keep him from looking like a neo-Nazi. Just had his 17th birthday, they grow up so fast.

In the garden, the scarlet runner blooms are beginning to develop beans, tiny summer squash are growing behind big yellow blossoms, the peas are done, swiss chard is producing a small second crop and the garlic chives are in bud. Bee balm has just begun blooming and the milkweed is almost open. I've seen a few monarch butterflies, but have no caterpillars on the plant. They are supposed to thrive on milkweed so I'm hoping. At least I'll get to enjoy the vanilla-scented pink flowers soon. Gold and peach daylilies are among the plants passed along from my sister's divisions, as well as several leftovers from the plant sales. I have pansies and violas here and there in both raised beds and in containers. Tomatoes are lagging this year. I have a few on each plant but they are far from prolific.

I've been making homemade iced tea from pineapple mint, lemon balm and lemon verbena and it's good, citrusy & sweetened a bit with honey. Borage leaf is good in tea too, but I discovered last year it has to be used very lightly. Has a pronounced laxative effect in larger amounts about which I will say no more.

At the edge of the yard, wild raspberries are ripening and blueberries are almost ready to pick as well. In back of the shed, masses of green berries promise a good blackberry crop later. Just up the road, an old woods path is a great spot for picking blueberries. If only the mosquitoes would stay away, being outside would be wonderful.

When I'm not busy, I love to sit by the window with a good book, pausing now & then to look out at the garden. The hummingbird whizzes by to hit the feeder again or to perch at the fuchsias. Butterflies drift around, birds call, and I bask in the peace and quiet. I've been enjoying Miss Read's stories lately. Her tales of life in an English country village are just the thing if you like stories about the everyday dramas of ordinary people. She has a keen appreciation of nature and the countryside and the seasons feature in the stories. I don't much enjoy writers who seem not to see nature around them, though I do like different types of literature. Also reading "The Proud Tower",Barbara Tuchman's history of pre-WWI Europe, heavy going at times but full of insight and fascinating anecdotes.

We've had some (much needed) rain & thunder showers the last few days, and on July 19th I watched a fantastic sunset after a storm. The eastern sky was blotted out by a mountain of clouds, shaped and layered with shades of lavender, rose and at the very peak backlit to almost gold, wonderfully dramatic. As I watched, jagged streaks of lightning flashed out from the darkest centre of the lower cloud formation. At the same time, the sky to the west was clearing to the bright blue of a sunny day, turning to gold and pink as the sun lowered on the horizon. A sunset to remember.

Watched an interview with Nelson Mandela and the celebration of his 90th birthday. My son is proud that he has the same birthdate as such a true hero (an overused word but true in his case I think). We could use a few more like him in this world. Makes me proud to have supported the Free Mandela movement in my student days, in a small way. Think globally, act locally & all that, not a bad way to carry on everyday life at all.