Indian Summer???

A quiet week while John was down south. The weather has been stunning; clear days and nights, warm temperatures, and brilliant colors. The leaves have not begun to change color yet, but the sun is lower in the sky and casts intense shadows through the trees. Soon enough we'll move to proper Autumn with that certain chill in the air.

We're still harvesting blackberries. It looks like more jam is on deck. And I will take a stab at making pickles from all the cucumbers that we have received from our farm cooperative share. We had dinner with friends last evening and contributed some blackberry ice cream for the dessert. Very yummy.

This weekend seems quite short. I guess I like the three-day variety. Yesterday, the morning was taken up with a service on the car just in time for winter, followed by a quick drop off at the Goodwill store and a stroll through the Farmers Market to grab some more tomatoes. We had a few hours for some of the usual weekend duties before cleaning up to join our friends for dinner. They have a lovely view of the Olympics and we were treated to a beautiful sunset. The Olympics are looking a bit like the Blue Ridge Mountains at the moment. There's a fire burning that will continue until the rains put it out and it has resulted in a perpetual blue haze over the mountains. It's in a remote area, difficult for fire-fighting crews to get to and they have chosen to let it burn. A natural solution to a man-made problem. Despite all the rain that falls out here, the conditions get quite dry quite quickly.

The month is well under way now. We have a few "occasions" on the social horizon. Later this month we'll go to the annual fundraising event for the local Humane Society and then we look forward to the weekend of John's birthday when Gareth and Karen will both travel up here for a visit. In the meantime, it's business as usual and there's nothing wrong with that....