Last weekend we got a glimpse of summer. It was sunny and warm and we all went outside – without our sweaters. I expected to pull up all of the summer veggie plants, now that the sun is visibly arcing lower in the sky. Instead, my tiny garden surprised me with these.
Friends, that is the last gasp of one super-fruitful cherry tomato plant that has been going gangbusters all summer. I think it likes where I put it. So did the bees – they visited nearly every week, dutifully spreading the love. The tomatoes are now sitting in the windowsill soaking up the pitiful rays that manage to filter through the heavy rainclouds that are now gracing us with their presence. We are savoring their wonderful sweetness.
The other show going on in our backyard is between the squirrels and the apple trees. There are two apple trees in the yard – one matured in July and dropped green apples for the wild bunnies and squirrels to eat, the smaller one matured in September and the squirrels have really been all over it. The apple skins on this one seem to be too bitter for them though. I watched one hop along the fence, select an apple from one of the branches, sit there on the fence peeling the entire apple (spitting the yucky peel out all over the place), then eat about half of the flesh. The leftovers are lined up there along the top of the fence like little trophies until someone comes along later and knocks them off.
Now to gracefully swing into Fall. Fall means craft shows and fiber festivals. My favorite! We knit girls spent Sunday wandering through the stalls at Fiber Fusion Northwest, petting all the fiber. I won’t bore you with the details, but this year we were focused less on the yarny goodness and more on the fleeces and spinning fiber. We might need to add a spinning group to our weekly fiber gatherings. There were the usual alpaca, sheep, and goats to ooh and ah over. We also were able to catch the Angora rabbit shearing demonstration. I’m sure there are videos all over the ‘nets for this, but what struck us the most was how calmly the (5 month old!) bunny was just sitting there letting her human shave her. Amazing.
I leave you with a snapshot of the show to come. The trees are just getting started here. We should see a lot more varieties turning their leaves over the next few weeks.