Harvest time is upon us.

All of a sudden, it seems, we have leapt into autumn and harvest time. There are end of the summer/beginning of autumn events everywhere: county fairs, small town fairs, wine festivals, grape festivals, a jazz and blues music event at Frontier Park, a huge full moon this past week and the last pickings of pears, apples, corn and countless other produce from area gardens.

I noticed that we have 3-4 lovely looking squash and a large and perfectly shaped pumpkin in the area beside our compost containers out back. Just like last year!

Personally, I'm beginning to cut back lots of our bushes, climatis and the withering leaves of the larger bushes and grasses  in our flower gardens so that next spring I'll be happy I did it now.

As far as the little trees go, I am amazed at their growth, in this their second summer. I've decided to leave them uncovered for the winter, but I will connect a support stick to each so that they don't get broken or damaged if pushed over by the winds or an unusually ferocious snowstorm. And then, next spring/summer, into the yard they will go. 

Here they are today:

                                         This is a tulip tree, on the left, and a bald cypress on the right.                                                They have each grown tremendously this summer and look healthy and strong.

This is a river birch, according to the Arbor Day literature that came with it.

I don't think that this is a tree I planted.

I'm not sure how it got here or what it is...the best I can guess is some sort of locust.

It's very hardy looking, so it can go out with the others!

And this last one, I believe, is a Washington hawthorn.

It's small but is looking good.

Many of our sisters go around proclaiming that fall is their favorite season of the year, so they are very, very "happy campers" right now! The oppressive heat of summer is gone and the colds of winter aren't here yet. Yeh!

One in a thousand

 

I read once that there are a lot of great books out there, but there are very few really outstanding books--maybe one in every thousand. I guess I would kinda' agree. I read many good books, but do any of these really stand out from all the others: a greatest one among all great ones?

This might be one. Its author has won a Pulitzer, numerous other recognitions including a 2014 National Humanities Medal by then President Obama, and has twice been a finalist for the National Book Award.

The book flap reads, "Whereabouts celebrates ordinary life and community...the city the narrator calls home acts as her companion and interlocutor: traversing the streets around her house and in parks, piazzas, museums, stores and coffee bars..."

Chapters are short, 2-3 pages, and include titles such as, In the bookstore, By the sea, Upon waking, In August, and On the street.

Her observations, the phrasing, the images give new meaning to the search and finding of the extraordinary in the ordinary

This is a novel, but it is unlike any I've read. I've read journals, diaries, poems, etc....all of them great. Whereabouts tops them all.

Great to go away and great to come home again!

My 2021 vacation is over and it's back to the rest of the year starting tomorrow. But, one more memorable sight from the time away. 

I think it's part Norman Rockwell, part rural America and part back-to-school.

The Mid-County Trail we walked daily is sometimes totally bordered by trees, bushes and vegetation and sometimes a few houses are quite near the trail. I'm guessing that the houses were there first and when they put in the power lines and the trail under them, they wove as best they could around the suburban-rural parts of the towns they needed to get through. 

Here is a scene I walked past on the first day of school this week. New clothes, new backpacks, new sneakers and eagerness that showed itself by the constant looking down the lane for the big school bus that I also passed later on. 

A great scene...but don't miss their house and environs behind the kids!

  

  

Sitting in a little bit of heaven

 

Do you have favorite chairs? No, not a special type of furniture, a chair or chairs that's become a special place to sit! Like your Dad's old recliner or Mom's TV chair with the side table of all her projects or readings. I've reached the "favorite chairs" stage of my life and here's one that I have even on vacation. This photo was taken from my favorite outdoor chair here, a very comfortable tall back lawn chair. Its place is on the patio facing west, which shows a small flower garden, a little lawn area that borders the complex, with Rte 9 on the other side of the fencing. You can even see the homes across the street.

This is where I read Give Us This Day every morning, check my emails and read the Erie Times News  online with a Diet Coke beside me, and where I am swallowing great mystery novels day after day after day.

Nothing "too exiting," certainly nothing "earth shattering" but oh, so wonderful.

A Great Nature/Walking Trail

 

Hope you have one near your home...this one is a beauty: 4-5 miles long, diversity of nature, private and even somewhat hidden, well taken care of but not groomed, and a real haven for bikers and walkers.  

Welcome to New Jersey

 

We have arrived in New Jersey---welcomed by three of my favorite Jersey sites:

Here is "our" Wawa.

And, again, "our" library...which was our salvation last year in the beginning months 

of the COVID stay-at-home time.

And here is a very un-Erie sight from those of us

in small town USA--toll booths: E-ZPass, cash 

or a picture of your license plate for billing.

Big city ways

I had an experience this week that I hadn't had in 25-30 years: I went out to "the beach" on a busy August weekend. What  a rockin' place, as they say. There were people everywhere: on bikes, in boats, in cars, in the water, on foot and coming down water slide after water slide and then climbing up the walkways to try it again. Here are four scenes that I caught from my place: reading and walking around at Perry Monument, at the furthest point on the peninsula.

You can rent kayaks, canoes and individual pontoons and travel throughout the lagoons or the bay. 

The Lady Kate was busy, busy, with long lines waiting for the next trip--every hour on the hour.

 

This shot is taken across the bay to the city side. There were many, many sailboats out, as the warm summer days will be ending soon.

And my favorite new travel experience. A bicycle built for four peddlers...and don't miss the two younger ones in the very front seats. Many of these were along the sidewalks all the way from Waterworks to Perry Monument--a couple miles for sure.

But, the greatest surprise was as we were leaving. I have always wondered why our Waldemeer amusement park added on a huge parking lot, expanding its original one all the way up to W. 6th Street. Well, I found out Sunday--the entire parking lot was full--packed with cars. As was the "overflow" parking lot across the street at the Tom Ridge Environmental Center. I had never seen cars in the expansion area at all, let alone filled to the very edges. Just like amusement parks everywhere I guess--especially on summer weekends. So glad to see Waldemeer doing a good business.