The biggest ending is of course the loss of our sweet cat Sam. I still have not done a tribute to him here on the blog. Soon.

Assorted leaves hanging out before the pool was closed.

The pool is closed for the season. Its winter cover keeping it tidy for the autumn and winter seasons to come. It’s sad, but it was time. Next year we are looking to install a heater to add several weeks on to the beginning and the end of pool season.

Yesterday also was the end of my photography classes. I wish they offered a more in-depth class to hone the skills I learned but they don’t. So for now I’ll just have to take what I did learn and practice on my own. I was amazed how so many people can talk the talk but can’t walk the walk. They can go on and on about this and that about their camera, throwing all kinds of terms around, but when it comes to actually taking photos they aren’t very good! Yesterday we had to go out into the parking lot and take photos of textures, reflections, patterns, lines and etc. and then come in and do a slideshow. It was enlightening for sure. One girl who claims to have a job in a photography studio didn’t even know what the hot shoe was! She also did not share her photos with the class. (It was optional to share.)

It’s also the end of summer. Even when the days get up in to the 70’s the air is different and you can tell the heat has lost its punch.

My neighbor’s tree.

Little mushrooms are popping up in the yard.

Apples and fall fruits take over the farmer’s market.

In other news, Sam’s death kind of took away the excitement and pleasure of seeing my photo/s in print in two local newspapers. They actually did use them!

The Trends reaches has a large distribution and reaches our whole county. They used their staff photographer’s photo on the front page (boohoo, but hey they have to pay him!) but used my photo on the inside.

I was also surprised and pleased to see that their affiliated paper, Aim West Milford, that is local just to our township used both photos I submitted. (Also on on inside page.)

I was very pleased. And proud. I am thinking they had a lot of photo submissions for the fire and yet they chose to use mine.

So, that’s it for today. Kind of a mish-mash, but there you have it.

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?

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.

Shades of green at Green Turtle Pond. Taken two weeks ago.

And so it begins. The slow slipping down of summer. At first it’s the little things you notice.

The sun. It’s lower in the sky and rises later and sets earlier. It seemed like just the other day we were swimming at dusk which happened around 8:45 p.m. Now it’s around 8:00 p.m. It’s strange that you don’t notice at first, then all of a sudden it hits you: the change of seasons has begun.

There are other indicators. The pool temperature drops by about two degrees and becomes on the edge of swimmable. The cooler nighttime temperatures and the slight change in the angle of the sun are to blame.

The hummingbirds are feeding voraciously at the feeder stocking up for their big flight home. They haven’t been bothering with the feeder and have left it to the bees for the past month and half. Not now.

The other birds seem to be feeding a lot too. More so than usual. I’ve had to fill the bird feeder every other day.

The turkey with her two babies has started showing up every day at the bird feeding area in the front yard. Soon the hens and the toms will all band together and instead of three I’ll have twelve or fifteen turkeys coming.

And they aren’t the only ones. This cute little fox showed up the other day.

My garden spider is still around. I check up on it every morning. I’ve never known a spider to have a web in the same spot for so long! Don’t you think it’s strange? I call this photo Dance with Death.

It’s been a real summer this year. Very warm and humid. Not a lot of rain but enough to keep everything green without watering. The nasty storms over the past few days have pretty much passed us by, growing stronger as they move eastward, leaving us with only a little rain to show for it. We could use more.

I think I’m ready to embrace a different season. Although I hate to lose the pool, I am looking forward to autumn. To opening the windows wide instead of always having the air conditioning on and sleeping cool for a change. To cozy fires in the wood stove to take the chill off a damp day. To stews and chile bubbling away on the stove.

I have no idea if the trees will have good color this year or not. I kind of think they will. Last year was so disappointing with all that moisture we had because the trees just gave up and dropped their leaves without ever really changing. Will not quite normal moisture make for a poor showing as well?

The are predicting a very snowy winter for us which I am not quite ready to think about yet. After last year’s non-winter it could come as quite a shock!

Only time will tell what Mother Nature has in store for us!