Thursday, despite the forecast for a widespread freeze, not frost, we managed to dodge that bullet.  Maybe it was all the preparation, read that as gathering all of the vegetables, fruits and flowers that you can in one day, that jinxed the frost.  Whatever, count me lucky.  I woke around 5 am and checked the thermometer.  Not that I could DO anything, but you know, I had to know.  It read 33.8F.  Okay.  Still, the temperature often drops, just about dawn.  Would it, or wouldn't it.. I went back to bed. When the coffee machine beeped its "coffee's ready" noise at 6:15, the temps were holding steady.  By now, the cats were yowling to go out and I had a cup of the strong, hot elixir of life in my hands so I grabbed my camera, wrapped a shawl around my bathrobe, stuck my feet into my rubber clogs, and walked out the door.  You can't do that in the city.  Well.. you'd get a reputation.

The mist was rolling across the pond.  It is a magical way to start the day.  Cold though, with my bare legs hanging out below my robe.  The grass looked wet.  It was.  But here and there, why I wonder, were small, really small, patches of frost.  Probably Mother Nature letting me know just how kind she had been. 

There's no way to ignore the inevitable.  This year, even the plants seem confused.  The clematis is in bloom with more buds coming along.  There was still a hummer at the feeder this morning when the sun finally showed.

Go by the calendar and it says September.  I put the string beans I'd picked into the freezer along with more bags of blackberries.  I took the elderberrys off the stems with a fork and froze a couple gallons of the liberated fruit.  I grilled squash.  I uncovered and put out the plants that had gone into hiding the night before.  I picked more apples.  I ate cooked apples for breakfast and had apples with chunks of cheddar cheese for my dinner.  It is a good year for apples.  I hear they are fattening.  Does it matter when you're running a race?  I'll win some and lose some and run like crazy until Mother Nature freezes it out. 

hmm… for those of you that asked if that was bear scat.. I was trying to ignore it, but, it looked like it to me and upon checking it out in my handy "scats and tracks of the northeast" book, I'd say, that it says, bear.  Okay then, I'll sing louder. 

No mistaking it.. autumn is pushing her way in, compressing time and sapping my energy.  Days grow shorter as the work load grows larger and with it an increasing urgency.  The hunter / gatherers are hard at work.  I looked out my window at the elderberry bushes by the pond.  The birds, in increased numbers this year, had been hard on them already.  I wonder what that says about the coming winter.. will it be harder than usual?  If I were to have any elderberries this year, I'd best get out there in between the storms.  By tomorrow it might be too late. 

Already there were mighty few. 

It is hard.  I want the berries to be ripe, dark and full.  The birds aren't so picky and take them as they turn from red to purple.

I cut as many clusters as I could find ripe and headed to the blackberries.  These, I've kept up on.  Gallons are already in the freezer.  It had been four days between the last picking.  Last weekend's VT Sheep & Wool had kept me away.  Oh, the berries were sweet.

Cold from the rain and plumped full.  I ate handfuls as I assessed the job ahead.  It would have to wait, thunder was rumbling closer and I could see the lightening in the distance.  Oh no.. a thief has been here as well. 

 

I'd be back first thing in the morning to pick, singing my way across the field of trees, announcing myself in advance.

It's hard to believe that Labor Day and the start of the fall season is only a week away.  When I was a kid, this meant that school started the following day and that it was time to put our white shoes and purses back in the closet for another year.  Now it means one more thing, that the fall fiber festivals are gearing up.  If any of you are planning on visiting the Vermont Sheep & Wool Festival, there is a coupon for $1.00 off the admission price at the festival website.  Nothing big but it is the only show I know that gives you anything off.  Vermont's show is held just outside Burlington at the Champlain Valley Exposition in Essex Junction.  Though still a small regional show, like so many other Sheep & Wool Festivals,it has grown considerably in the past few years. Ball and Skein will be there, in the "State" building, booth S-20 (I think). 

Last night at dinner, Dave Paul told me that his new jumbo flyers for the Hitchhiker are ready to go. With all the last minute shop stuff to finish and preparation for the first day of school (today) he had left behind the one he'd set aside for me.  I'll blog about it after I see him tomorrow. Tuesday night is pizza night around here.  Check it out for yourself, The Merlin Tree will also be at the VT S&W, same building.   

Books..  I'm re-reading "Rebecca".  Last week, while doing a speed run through one of the wholesale clubs, I found a new book "Rebecca's Tale" by Sally Beauman.  Instead of jumping right into it, "Rebecca" is coming first.  It has been a long time since the last time I read du Maurier.  I'm looking forward to this in the way you would a large bar of good chocolate,  wanting to devour and savor it at the same time.  Have any of you read it yet?