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!

Sure looked like you got a ton of rain the other day - they sure did in NYC.  We did too - about an inch in 45 minutes!  The fox looks tall almost like a cross between a coyote and a fox.  Cute though.

Nope, it just missed us but Rick was almost washed away yesterday afternoon down in Wayne! They had a ton and water was fountaining up from the manholes! I’m pretty sure it’s just a fox. It wasn’t very big. The tree stump he is standing next to is about 18 inches tall.

I especially love the very detailed photos of the spider and his (her?) web. I’m looking forward to our writing spiders showing up soon and I’m so ready for fall. We finally had a good shower last evening and the weather is cooling off a bit. I know I’m weird, but I can’t wait til it gets dark at 5P!!!

Bigsis, thanks! I think the spider is female. She pretty much rocks her web! You don’t get the spiders until fall?

Cute fox, though maybe a little scraggly. Poor guy. It’s great that your spider has hung around so long. Ours seems to come and go—I haven’t seen it in about a week.

Steve, yes, a little on the scraggly side but better than the coyote that looked like it had mange that used to come. Maybe your spider balcony hops and visits your neighbors on days you don’t see him!?

We have little spiders all year long and Daddy Long Legs, but the writing spiders only seem to come in the fall!

We’ve also noticed the signs of the end of summer (never really noticed the beginning of it this year!) the leaves are already changing colours on some of the trees.  Autumn and Spring are my 2 most favourite seasons.  Love the photo of the spiders web with the honeysuckle behind.

I have mixed emotions…glad to see the hot humid air disappear, sorry to see the long day go.  But I have a week in Wildwood so I will have to make sure I cherish it!  Note to self: start the snowblower over the weekend, just to be prepared!

Hi Joyce. You poor thing! I know it’s been bad over there this year as far as nice weather is concerned. Maybe that means you’ll have a mild winter?

Helene, I know! I’ve never been to Wildwood, it’s just a bit too far for us from up here in North Jersey. Be sure and take lots of great photos while you’re there. When do you go? Oh, please, don’t start your snowblower just yet! You might jinx us.