FALL

Someone told me that today is the first day of Fall. Here in my hometown it came in just right . . . all cloudy and wet after a good night's rain. In fact, today was preceded by a day and a night of cool air devoid of humidity. It made me feel like pumpkins should be sprouting out into sparkling carriages and little goblins should soon be at my doorstep with trick or treat bags in hand.

Weeding the vegetable garden seemed like a good idea, so I pulled up the huge (and I do mean huge) watermelon vine, which filled up two garbage cans, that I hauled out to the curb. It was a treat because it yielded three taste-worthy melons ready to cleanse the body. I cracked one open and took all the 'meat' out of it and put the chunks in a big Ziploc bag to rest and think about its short life before it found its way into my stomach. There's still some okra and some cherry tomatoes as well as some eggplant hanging out for my consumption. Lots of fresh basil of the sweet and lemon variety, some fennel, bay, lavender, rosemary, and thymes to make dishes more savory. Autumn clematis, which looks like it should adorn a wedding veil, hangs instead from a tree like a white waterfall off a cliff. Some beautiful pink and orange concoctions from a Heart's Bursting plant survived the dear deer that like to eat it before it can flower in all its glory. The butterflies and fat hummingbirds still hover over the deep purple Buddleia and the huge cannas that one of my daughters dug up from her yard and passed on to me. When she comes over, she marvels at how big they have gotten and I marvel as well. I think I must have double green thumbs and the luck of the Irish ta boot (being 1/4 Scot/Irish as my mom is proud to admit).

In fact, I picked up my precious 91 year old mother today, and we took a ride down one of the widest streets here in Raleigh to see if the leaves were changing. We noticed that the dogwoods were cooperating. Soon the crape myrtles will follow and all the rest. We are hoping to have a really good show because we have had a summer not like last summer's drought. Lots of rain. Yum yum.

Not looking forward to all the leaves, though, especially since I have three gigantic oaks out front. I affectionately call them my Guardians as they stand majestically out my front windows as if to ward off evil. They lasted through Hurricane Fran, so I know they will be with me for as long as I get to stay in this house. I am hoping it will be a very long time.


ta ta summer


© nancy 9.22.2009