But we just got here.

Carly Simon once sang a song about the end of summer, called "We Just Got Here".  It's how I'm feeling lately.  I'm not sad to see the end of the heat- or the end of the weed pulling season!  But the rest of what summer brings- long hours of daylight, eating on the deck, naps in the hammock.  It seems like it just got here.

Rather than lament the end of all of that, I have found something to look forward.  The "wild" part of the field turns gold and purple this time of year with the goldenrod and purple asters in bloom (those same flowers which are unwanted guests to my gardens, I might add!)  Someday I will find the right way to interpret this in a quilt- or a series of quilts! (maybe that will be the theme for my work in 2014!)

 I have found some other interesting things in the garden.  The seed pods on the wisteria are velvety, and make an interesting visual statement the way they hang among the leaves.

 I have always loved the visual texture of the Obedient Plant.  The blossom stalks stand so straight at the top.  I have never tried bending  them as I have read you can.  The plant is not obedient, though- it is quite invasive. ( I have plenty if you want some!)

On Monday I visited the Bully Hill Vineyards in Hammondsport, NY.   I stopped at the beach on my way up since I had never visited Keuka Lake before. 

 You go straight up a hill to get to the vineyards.  The view of the lake from above is very pretty, but I bet it will be stunning in a few weeks when the leaves are in full color!

The gardens at Bully Hill are lovely, and well tended!  I was glad I had a few extra minutes to walk around and enjoy them.










Outside the gift shop was this plant, which looks like Angel's Trumpet.  I had never seen one this big, or with yellow flowers before.








I picked up two new litters of kittens to foster a week ago.  They were living in a barn and some were pretty sick.  I have carefully nursed them and they are improving.  Some of them are beautiful babies and will make some lucky person a wonderful pet.  But the sad fact is that without care, some of them would have died from simple respiratory infections. 



We hear all the time at the shelter "It's not my cat.  It lives in my barn so I feed it"  If you feed it, you are accepting responsibility. So PLEASE spay and neuter them!  Stop the cycle of disease and overpopulation!  Please!

I am grateful for:
The time of year when I can enjoy the warmth of the sunshine rather than hiding from it.
Nights cool enough to throw a quilt on the bed again
Not having to scrape the frost off the car window the other morning!
A visit with a good friend!
The kittens purring as soon as I walk in the door of the "nursery"