Monday, August 09, 2010

Summer, She is Coming to an End

Summer afternoon - summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language. ~Henry James

Signs that summer is nearly over:

It was DARK when I got up this morning...

Yesterday I peeled, chopped, steamed, smashed and froze five butternut squash. My SIL said I should just store them like the pioneers did, whole and down in my basement, but I HATE processing them so just want to get it over with.

I cut back most of my perennials because they're done blooming and look ugly now. Plus, some of them have a tendency to reproduce like CRAZY if I don't dead head them immediately (the coneflower, black-eyed susans, columbine and bachelor buttons are the worst, but they're all pretty bad).

My tomatoes are beginning to ripen. It's mostly the cherry tomatoes right now, but a few of my larger ones are beginning to blush (either that or they're embarrassed).

Back to school sales (office supplies, how I love you).

The nights are getting cool and crisp (except for last night, which stayed quite warm).

We only have four more monarch pillars, and they are all pupae (so far, the one I glued to the roof is still green, leading me to believe he's still alive -- but only when he hatches and is NOT deformed will I truly breath a sigh of relief).

*sigh*

The summer flew by. It's just not right considering how slowly the winter drags.

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You Have a Melancholic Temperament



Introspective and reflective, you think about everything and anything.

You are a soft-hearted daydreamer. You long for your ideal life.

You love silence and solitude. Everyday life is usually too chaotic for you.



Given enough time alone, it's easy for you to find inner peace.

You tend to be spiritual, having found your own meaning of life.

Wise and patient, you can help people through difficult times.



At your worst, you brood and sulk. Your negative thoughts can trap you.

You are reserved and withdrawn. This makes it hard to connect to others.

You tend to over think small things, making decisions difficult.



This is only about 25% correct.

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16 comments:

groovyoldlady said...

My tomatoes are turning too. This is my first time growing tomatoes and I'm ain a bit of a panic as to what I'm going to DO with all of them. Do you can yours? Or freeze them? Or make salsa? Or let them get overripe and throw them at people?

Michele said...

LOL-Groovyoldlady- "and throw them at people".
HAHAHHA

I share mine, and eat lots of tomato sandwiches. And one time, I was ambitious and made my own spaghetti sauce. Peeling the skins was sort of tedious. The result was yummy tho.

As much as I am going to miss summer, I'm looking forward to the holidays. It's going to be a busy year. and the best? NOOK!!!!

Dru said...

LOL at Groovy throwing tomatoes at people.

re quiz: You Have a Melancholic Temperament and it's 80% accurate.

Have a good Monday.

Mary Curry said...

Good morning, all. I got melancholic too. Is there anyone else who goes back and plays with the choices to see what answers you have to change to get something different?

I don't think of this as end of summer because I'm only halfway through summer vacation although I'd take autumn gladly if it would just cool down!

Maria Zannini said...

Some tree leaves are falling, but we're still in triple digits. I think it must be the end of their growing cycle.

Now if only Mother Nature would get that message.

Tori Lennox said...

Summer may be winding down at your house, but we sure can't say the same. We're under a Severe Heat Advisory for at least the rest of this week. I'm pretty sure summer is never going to end....

Ceri Hebert said...

I can't believe how many tomatoes we have this year!! Against the odds too. Eight of the plants we nearly pulled out this spring because they were nearly dead from a frost, but we decided to leave them and now they're huge. The rest (besides one) were from the compost, all thriving cherry tomatoes. And our pumpkins (5 plants) are crazy! We have about 20 pumpkins growing. Love it!

Oh, and my mom's stray mama cat who she hasn't had much luck catching just had 4-5 babies in her garage this weekend. Can't get to them either. And she has one 4 month old who lives under the deck. I think my mom is going to keep her because she's a sweetie and very friendly. But she has to catch mama and get those babies somehow.

Brandy said...

I'm with Tori, it's hot as heck here and Summer shows no signs of winding down. I also still have tomatoes growing and something else (we can't remember what it is), but it's blooming!

My quiz was the same as yours.

Hope you're having a delightful day!

Marianne Arkins said...

Groovy, though we love tomatoes like mad here and eat them until we're sick ... if, by chance, we have extras, my first choice is ALWAYS fresh salsa. Second it canning (peeling is easy - just scald them in boiling water until the skins crack and pull it right off).

Or, you could always ship your extras down here. We're not THAT far away. *G*

Marianne Arkins said...

Michele, your Nook, she is a-coming! Soon, girl, soon!!

Marianne Arkins said...

Dru, thanks for stopping by. You should start a little container garden :-)

Marianne Arkins said...

Mary, you're only half through summer vacation? Really? We start school in a couple weeks!

Marianne Arkins said...

Tori and Brandy, you folks living down south have 6 months summers! LOL... not so the northeast. Ours fly past in the blink of an eye.

Marianne Arkins said...

Maria, we have trees whose leaves are turning, but I think it's less that it's fall and more that they're dying from lack of water...

Marianne Arkins said...

Ceri, I have tomato envy. I would have had a bumper crop had the deer not treated my tomato plants as an all-you-can-eat buffet!! Bring some up when you go school shopping. I'll come pick them up.

Tell your mom to set a live trap with tuna for mama cat ASAP. The babies will be easy to get now, but when they're mobile, all bets are off. Good luck to her!

Mary Curry said...

We go back the day after labor day so I had exactly one month as of yesterday.

I usually go in a week or so ahead of time and spend some time setting up my classroom.