We’re half way through August already. The summer is quickly waning. Despite a few cool mornings (down to 43° one morning), the days are warm and lovely. It’s beginning to look like late summer. The goldenrod and asters have begun to bloom. We had some fine cicada weather during the week. The singing of those insects high in the treetops makes the hot afternoons seem languid and lazy – the essence of August.
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| Goldenrod in the meadow. |
On Monday morning my parents and Asa left to head home. It was a sad parting. Of all the good-byes I’ve made this summer, saying good-bye to my parents was the hardest of all. It was great having them here. I love being with them. I’m grateful I get to be their son for eternity. They took their time driving home. On their way west they stopped at Kirtland, Ohio, to see the church historical sites and they stopped to visit our Rathfon kin in southern Indiana. They embarked on this trip way back on July 5th and even though it’s great to visit family, I’m sure they’re glad to be home again.
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| Saying good-bye to Asa and my parents. |
We got some much needed rain on Monday night and Tuesday. Our summer was so wet for so long that the gardens grew accustomed to rain several times a week. When the rain stopped for two weeks, the plants began to suffer. Even with the rain, the garden is in a sorry state. August’s gardens always are. So many things are starting to look old and worn out. The weeds have the upper hand as things start to decline. I have to resist the temptation to tear it all up. Sometimes I give in to the temptation. I’ve already begun pulling out parts of the flower beds that are past their prime. I’d rather see bare dirt than a flower bed choked with weeds and half dead flowers. The tall phlox rule the garden now. Their fragrance is sweet and strong. In the evenings the scent comes through the open windows and fills the house. The best looking flowers right now are the dahlias and cosmos out in the garden and the flowers growing in pots on the back porch stairs.
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| Tall phlox, so fragrant. |
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| Red pom-pom dahlia. |
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| White double cosmos (with moth) |
Out in the vegetable gardens, things are still looking hopeful. The tomatoes are starting to show a bit of color and I have hope that we’ll pick plenty of ripe ones before the weather turns cold. I’d almost given up on my pepper and basil plants, they were so slow in growing. But now they’ve picked up the pace. The basil is leafy enough to start picking leaves. There are some small peppers that I know won’t have time to fully ripen, but I’ll let them mature as long as I can.
I’ve already begun planning next year’s garden in my head. Years ago I put raised beds in my vegetable gardens. I used scrap wood from the Amish and the beds lasted about three years before the wood rotted and I tore them all out. Since then I haven’t used raised beds. That will change next year. A few weeks ago I visited a garden with high raised beds and was impressed. So I’ve decided to build raised beds again and this time I’ll do things right and use materials that won’t decay so quickly. I’m excited to design it just the way I want it. It will make gardening so much easier for me and keep the woodchucks, rabbits, voles, deer, and other pests under better control.
Speaking of woodchucks, we have one, maybe two in residence again. The old woodchuck hole out by the pumpkin patch has a new occupant. It’s a popular den. I’ve filled it with rocks and buried it several times after catching and relocating its occupant, but a new woodchuck always reopens it and moves in. The second (maybe the same?) woodchuck is living under the Shillig’s shed. I saw it yesterday and it’s big and fat – mostly from eating my broccoli. I’ve set the live trap – again.
Josiah went camping Friday and Saturday. This was the weekend for the International Calumet Camporee at Elk Lick Scout Preserve over in McKean County. He has been to five Calumet Camporees over his years in scouting, but this was the last one he’ll attend. By the time Calumet comes next year, he’ll be on his mission. This will be a tough week for Josiah. He’s having his wisdom teeth removed on Wednesday.
As we drove through the hills of Pennsylvania and New York on our way to and from church today, I was awed by the glory of the summer world. Summer, to my mind, is the normal condition of the world, the world as it should be. Spring and fall, for all their loveliness, are just the lead-in and lead-out to summer. And winter is the anti-summer, the bitter season we must endure in order to appreciate the glory that is summer.
I’ve already begun planning next year’s garden in my head. Years ago I put raised beds in my vegetable gardens. I used scrap wood from the Amish and the beds lasted about three years before the wood rotted and I tore them all out. Since then I haven’t used raised beds. That will change next year. A few weeks ago I visited a garden with high raised beds and was impressed. So I’ve decided to build raised beds again and this time I’ll do things right and use materials that won’t decay so quickly. I’m excited to design it just the way I want it. It will make gardening so much easier for me and keep the woodchucks, rabbits, voles, deer, and other pests under better control.
Speaking of woodchucks, we have one, maybe two in residence again. The old woodchuck hole out by the pumpkin patch has a new occupant. It’s a popular den. I’ve filled it with rocks and buried it several times after catching and relocating its occupant, but a new woodchuck always reopens it and moves in. The second (maybe the same?) woodchuck is living under the Shillig’s shed. I saw it yesterday and it’s big and fat – mostly from eating my broccoli. I’ve set the live trap – again.
Josiah went camping Friday and Saturday. This was the weekend for the International Calumet Camporee at Elk Lick Scout Preserve over in McKean County. He has been to five Calumet Camporees over his years in scouting, but this was the last one he’ll attend. By the time Calumet comes next year, he’ll be on his mission. This will be a tough week for Josiah. He’s having his wisdom teeth removed on Wednesday.
As we drove through the hills of Pennsylvania and New York on our way to and from church today, I was awed by the glory of the summer world. Summer, to my mind, is the normal condition of the world, the world as it should be. Spring and fall, for all their loveliness, are just the lead-in and lead-out to summer. And winter is the anti-summer, the bitter season we must endure in order to appreciate the glory that is summer.
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| The back porch stairs. |
