One year ago today my blog went private. At the present time I have no plans to open it back up to the public. I am enjoying my own little space!

I want to take a moment to thank all of you that joined for caring enough to register. Initially I had sent out an email invite to join the private blog to all of the people who were frequent commenters or who I knew read the blog. As time went on I got emails from people wanting to join that I didn’t even know were reading. Always a pleasant surprise!

So, thank you all for reading my humble little blog!

These beauties were growing in amongst the water lilies but I don’t know what they are! The petals look like peacock feathers, don’t they?

P.S. The water lilies are done now at Skylands (these were taken a month or so ago) so no more photos of them until next year. Aren’t you glad? Enough water lilies, Lynne!

And, oh,
Just in case anyone was wondering about the status of Mr. Craigslist, he did not show last night. Nor did he call. Surprising? No.

How quickly time goes by these days. It seems like just yesterday the whole summer was before us. Now it’s behind us.

Our trees are changing at a rapid pace. Just over the weekend there are more and more trees turning everywhere you look. A little earlier than normal this year. And I don’t think it’s stress, it hasn’t been that dry. Everything this year has happened a little early.

I have a feeling we’d better get busy transferring our wood stash from outside under the tarp to its winter spot under the deck.

Right now the weather is what I call in its in-between stage. It’s still warm outside (and humid), so it’s not pleasant opening up the windows. Yet it’s not hot enough for the air conditioning to run and the house gets stuffy as a result. I find myself turning down the thermostat a notch just so the air will run. Annoying.

I am sort of in-between too. I feel lazy. No energy to do anything. I need a kick in the you-know-where.

The grass needs mowing, yet with the almost two inches of rain we’ve had over the past couple of days it’s too wet to mow. The ground is too soggy.

I could pull weeds or start moving the wood. But …

Well, like I said. Too lazy.

Yesterday I did sort out books from our bookshelves and filled three boxes worth to be given to the Friends of the Library. Now I just have to get them out of the house. I’m in kind of a purging mood. Out with all the junk sitting around! Be gone! Yet there aren’t many places to get rid of things around here. I’d be more motivated to go down in the basement and start getting rid of things we don’t need/want/use if it were easy to just take it somewhere or have it picked up. But the nearest Goodwill is way down in Wayne. Excuses, excuses!

This morning I rescued a frog from the pool cover. Within two minutes he had hopped right back in again, this time in the water. I scooped him out but this time instead of sitting him down on the concrete that surrounds the pool I dumped him out over into the yard. Stupid frog.

After the frog rescue I happened to look over at the front yard and caught a glimpse of a small animal running down the driveway. It looked like a fox or maybe that ugly little coyote I saw a few months back.

We’ve had lots of visitors. Like this deer family that came last week. A doe with two spotted fawns. Sorry the photo isn’t better, they were on the run and this was taken through the screen.

The turkeys come every day. Yesterday in the middle of a heavy rain I looked out to see one turkey huddled under the protection of our burning bush hedge. It just stood there waiting for the rain to let up. Silly birds.

I haven’t seen any bears recently although our neighbors had one in their garage last week. They had left the doors to the garage open and the bear found the dog food that they keep in a garbage can. Maybe I don’t see him because I always keep our garage doors closed!

Well, that’s all I have today. Now back to my super exciting life!

P.S. The craigslist person called again. He wants to pick up the solar cover and reel tonight. Want to bet he doesn’t show up?

Asia looks out over her domain.

At the end of half-mile long Crab Apple Allée at Skylands, the statues of the four continents (Asia, Africa, America and Europe) stand guard.

Asia fascinates me from every angle. There is just something about her that draws me in.

Is it her worn features?

Or is it her missing limb?

Haunting.

Do you find her creepy or interesting?

What is with people on craigslist? We had our solar pool cover and the reel advertised on craigslist for about a month. One guy said he wanted it and made arrangements to pick it up at a time that was not at all convenient for us. Rick worked from home that morning so he could be there to help take the reel apart. The appointed time came and went with no email, phone call, and the guy didn’t show up. Thank you (self-serving idiot)!

Fast forward to yesterday. Someone else wanted it, said they were bringing cash and would come to pick it up at 6:00 p.m. yesterday evening. Same scenario as above. No call, no email, no person.

We’ve now taken it off the list. We’ll wait until next spring and advertise it in the pool store and maybe someone with more integrity will want it.

And last night at 3:21 a.m. (or should I say in the wee hours of the morning this morning) we were once again rudely awakened by a huge BANG! Just one, but we both startled awake mumbling “what the heck was that?” It sounded very, very close. I couldn’t get back to sleep just knowing another one would probably be coming. I had sort of heard something in the distance before that but only on the fringes of my sleepy brain.

I did fall back asleep until 4:12 a.m. when another firework went off, this time not as close. What the ???

Rick thinks it is someone driving around in a car throwing fireworks out the window and we only hear them about once per hour because they are making some kind of circuit around our area. I did not hear a car drive by, but who knows? It’s completely and totaling annoying. I’m sure whoever is doing it is having a great time. Maybe once school starts next week we won’t be having any more nonsense.

I need to end this post with a soothing photo!

Sleepy bee. This time of year the nectar must be pretty potent!

Early morning sunlight sifting through my backyard trees.

Here in New Jersey August is a pretty mild month. It should be the hottest but it’s not. Somehow I think it’s the weather’s way of segueing us into autumn. Every year for the past six years that we’ve lived here it’s been the same. So why do I keep expecting it to be somehow different each year?

Now the cicadas are joined by multitudes of crickets at night, each one trying to outdo the other. The cicadas are not ready to give up their orchestra seats to the crickets just yet.

If this is typical of all the other years we are not quite done with the heat just yet. There is always a week at the beginning of September where the temperatures soar for the last hurrah of summer.

My little clutch of turkeys come nearly every morning. A hen with two half-grown babies. The other day when I looked out I thought a recognized the sole turkey that was at the feeding station. I’m certain it’s Thomas back again! He has the same funny feather that sticks out all by itself on his chest. And even more exciting news: Thomas has hooked up with Lady Hen and they are now traveling as a family group. Good for Thomas!

Thomas and family.

Some trees are getting a head start.

Not sure if they are truly changing because of the season or if it’s stress from not enough moisture.

The air feels different; it’s hard to explain, but it’s there.

It’s easier to see the difference in the light. It’s softer. The way it filters through the trees. The shadows in the morning. The increasingly shorter days. All due to the sun dipping lower in the sky.

Me and the big pine in our front drive this morning.

Autumn is on it’s way. It’s real. Tangible. I think I’m ready.