I seems like Spring and Summer have lasted a long time this year and yet they have seemed to go fast also. We have done a lot of things this Summer. Painted our house. David and I painted my shop to match the house. Planted hundreds of flower seeds. Got a greenhouse and started flowers in it. I actually swam a few times in the pool because the temperatures were so hot. Played with the puppies. Attended graduations. Had a couple of pool parties with grandchildren and friends. Worked on quilts. I am now working on some Christmas presents.

Yes, it has been a busy, yet relaxing season, but now we are on the cusp of Autumn and I am glad. I love the cooler temperatures. Love the Fall clothes. Love the colors of Fall.

This zinnia epitomizes the color of Autumn to me. Orange is becoming my favorite color. It is such a happy color and calls out to be looked upon.

While I have always leaned to pink flowers in my gardens, this year I planted a lot of orange zinnias and they have made me so happy. I am thinking next year I will plant more.

Speaking of pink flowers, I bought this plant and I cannot tell you what it is, but it flourished in the greenhouse, but needed a lot of watering so I moved it outside and it wilted and I thought it was dying, but David suggested I place a pan underneath it to catch the water so that it would sit in water and that seems to have done the trick. It is now flourishing again outside and the flowers are coming back in abundance. I will probably over Winter this plant in the greenhouse.

Zinnias are on my top five favorite flowers list. They are so easy to grow. Give quite a show and don’t ask for much except a little watering when it is dry. I have several beds of them around the shop and in the back yard and in my kitchen garden.

Lucy and Sugar enjoy the backyard. We have left half of it to go to seed. We had a bunch of sunflowers come up and we have been watching the Goldfinches and the Cardinals eating the seeds from them. I planted more in the garden area and the birds have just about cleaned them out. Since we have let our grass grow and planted wildflowers and other grasses we have seen an abundance of birds in our backyard. Also it seemed there were a whole lot more lightning bugs this year. And I am seeing more Monarch butterflies since we have planted milkweed where they like to lay their eggs. I am hoping our back yard will become a Mecca for more birds and butterflies as the garden becomes more dense.

I come out here almost every evening and play ball with the pups. I try to play until they are worn out.

On hot days they stay in my shop with me where it is cool. We put in a new heat pump this year and it keeps my shop nice and cozy in cold or hot weather. Don’t let that sad look make you think Lucy is sad about being in the crate. She loves it in there and both dogs beg to come inside every day.

Of course, David and I have taken a few rides this Summer. The back roads of Indiana call to us and we must go. There are so many back roads, we won’t see them all in this lifetime.

Off we go down the treelined, shaded country roads. You see some of the funniest sights on country roads, too.

How about a fake horse on the front porch of a house?

You won’t see that everywhere!

Or how about a house full of bones.

I can’t remember what town this was in, but it appears full of skeletons and bones and you can go through it at special times.

Someone has gone to a whole lot of trouble to get this many bones in one place! This time of year you are liable to see anything on Indiana back roads.

You might even have to watch out for the headless horseman. At Conner Prairie, north of Indianapolis, a town that is always in 1820, has a headless horseman ride you can take. You get on a wagon and head for the woods when suddenly, you hear the pounding of hooves, and there he is! The headless horseman. it is pretty scary. I was sitting in the back of the wagon one year and I could feel the horse’s breath on me.

Did some baking. I love to bake. Not much for cooking. Cooking is too repetitious for me. Baking is slow and easy and everything always turns out so good, except for the time I forgot to put sugar in a chocolate cake or one Thanksgiving when I made four pies and forgot the sugar in them. I had to go to the grocery story and buy more sugar and everyone in line heard about my baking fiasco. That doesn’t happen often, thank goodness. Anyway, these rolls and cinnamon rolls were delicious. One year when I was a child, my mother was in the hospital and this older lady from our church, Mrs. Winters, sent us some rolls and sugar cookies and ever since, I have used her recipe for both and they are always called Mrs. Winter’s rolls or sugar cookies.

I can almost smell these, hot from the oven and icing melting on them. Yum.

I started our own tomato plants this year and we have had an abundance of tomatoes. I have eaten tomatoes with everything, had fried green tomatoes and they are still setting on. Two plants seems to be plenty for us. Anymore and the tomatoes would go to waste although I have frozen some for chili.

Several reasons I love Autumn. Warm hand knitted socks, catalogues full for cold weather clothes, and Autumn fabric.

I love when the new Fall catalogues start to arrive. I love cool weather clothes. I have my eye on a couple of things from Coldwater Creek. They have beautiful clothes. They cost a little more, but I have clothes from them I have had for years and still wear. Buy the classics and they will last you forever. This fabric is going in a Fall colored quilt I have in mind. After I get the patriotic quilt done that I am piecing.

And, of course the Fall magazines. This is one of my favorites. Doesn’t it look like it has so many interesting articles? Their pictures are beautiful, also.

Well, that is all for today. I am sure I will be back with more meanderings before too long. David has been working for Ralph Lauren for twenty years and this year he gets a whole month of vacation with pay so we are making plans to do a few fun things. I also want to go visit my sister and brother-in-law. They have both been in the hospital, she with sepsis and he with bladder cancer. They are both in their eighties and are taking care of themselves and do not want any visitors until they feel better. Their daughter is trying to take care of them, but she isn’t in the best of health, either. If you are a praying person, please ask God to care for them. I know He is, but He still likes to be asked. Hope you all are in good health and having a wonderful end of Summer. Bye.