The last ones

Update: our apple trees are finally producing, as are the grape vineyards around North East, so the deer are out in full. Saw both sets of twins tonight--I didn't even know we had two sets! One pair still has their spots, the other's are gone. All total, eight passed through our backyard about 7:30 pm.

The night-blooming evening primroses are still blooming at about 75 a night--but now at 8:30 instead of 9:00 pm. Hummingbirds are still passing through Erie but the black-eyed Susans that have been a staple the last couple of weeks are fading away.

Our beaches will be open for swimming through Labor Day, although they've closed about half of them because many of the college-attending lifeguards are leaving this week.

All of these signs mean mid-August is here, rushing quickly to September and the very last weeks of summertime and the very first weeks of autumn. How are things in "your neck of the woods"?

And now the grand finale: it's been great fun sharing this portrait of East Lake Road with you. How could I end with anything but this iconic quote and my two favorite mailboxes!

"Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night

stays these couriers from the swift completion

of their appointed rounds."

And this one is from a blog reader in California--it's right down her street, she said--a special Air Mail box!