Waning Daylight

 


My small book club is reading Barbara Kingsolver's Flight Behavior which features Monarch butterflies in the plot. I've been taking so many photos of my little charges that I thought I'd make notecards and bookmarks as little gifts for the group. I really liked this one and have been playing around with my camera settings to get a good image.

I’m really starting to notice the shortening of daylight hours. The nights are cooling rather quickly once the sun sets and I have to start considering sunset when I head off on a late afternoon bike ride. I hate to see the end of summer, but there is beauty in all the seasons so I’m not too disappointed.

I got a nice bike ride in Tuesday afternoon and we managed to avoid the rain. It only rained for 5 minutes an hour before we went. Janice picked me up and we did a quick 18 miles over in Albany. I gave her two jars of pesto that I made this morning. My basil plants are so big that I'll have to make more tomorrow. I also dug up the last of the potato plants and got about 5 lbs of harvest. 

It seems planting them in a pot produced a bigger yield than ones planted in the ground. They aren’t as pretty but there are more and bigger potatoes.

I picked so many green beans this week, that I had to freeze them. I'm ready to plant a fall crop of lettuce and arugula which seems prudent based on the dubious nature of grocery store produce these days. 

Garden bounty.

My large book club started back up with a “Books I Read This Summer “ discussion. A book report with no pressure and no written report - it was lots of fun. Then Sue Ellen and I went to a ski club happy hour so I could join the club and sign up for a Sharpen Your Skills ski trip in December. I have never taken a skiing lesson in my life. My Dad taught all of his kids to ski even though he had never taken a lesson either!  I’m looking forward to learning how it’s supposed to be done.

My sister cancelled her plan to visit me this weekend, so I decided to start the day with a solo bike ride. Another gorgeous day on the trail and then a trip to the bike shop to buy a helmet at an end of season sale. 

This was my lunch spot on a bench by the Kinderhook Creek.

I heard sirens while riding and figured there was a car accident. Just a mile up the trail I was met with this scene. I passed the woman who was injured as she was telling the EMT that her tire went off the edge of the pavement and she ran into the fence at speed. I think her leg was broken. Yikes!

Now I’m enjoying a coffee on the patio amidst my tomato, basil, and bean plants. I need to make more pesto.

I love looking at my beautiful back yard and planning improvements. Maybe some fruit trees and always more flowers.



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