I Like Thursday: Into September

Ahh.... late summer/early fall.  I love the sounds of the buzzy-bugs and watching the antics of the swarming hummingbirds.  My garden is rocking with the summer blooms, and if the @#$%^ groundhog didn't eat all my produce, I'd be enjoying my vegetable garden.  Nobody seems to like cucumbers, so I was fairly successful with those.  I'm making notes for next year.

I kind of went overboard planting the marigolds this year.  On the other hand, most of them were hearty enough to survive the drought and the voles (unlike the zinnias which all perished due to groundhog or lack of rain).  The cosmos also kind of went a little wild.  The bees and hummingbirds have been loving all the blooms, and I discovered that the goldfinches like cosmos seeds.  The garden has been a very active place!  Oh, and the hyssop I planted last year is finally starting to bloom (I had just about given up seeing any flowers on them).

Our old mailbox got obliterated in July by a neighbor as she avoided hitting a deer that had stepped into the road.  She (and the deer) were unhurt; her car wasn't so lucky, although there was some seriously ugly surface damage.  Amazingly, the mailbox itself only had a small dent, but the post had all but disintegrated.  We told the neighbor not to worry about it and we installed the new post ourselves.  

We were grateful that no one was hurt.  The old mailbox on the new post looks quite nice.  Not the best way to go about upgrading... but we're happy with the result.

This envelope appeared in the mailbox a few weeks later.  We looked at it and said, "how odd, there's no names on it."  And then, "Hey, that's our new mailbox, how cute."  And then it finally dawned on us - this must be from our neighbor!  We chuckled that it took that long to figure it out.  Sure enough, it was a very nice thank you note.  I'm keeping the envelope with the card - it makes me smile every time I see it.  

 

I had collected a pile of cucumbers before I got ill; I was afraid over the last few weeks I wouldn't get a chance to pickle them.  Most of them were still in good shape!  After paring and slicing we ended up with five and a half pints of bread and butter pickles.  I'm happy!

 

Quilt progress!  I've got a good chunk of quilting done now - maybe two-thirds done with the second stage.  Only one more round after this!  The latest update is here:  On to Stage Two.

I'm looking forward to a long weekend at the Cape with some girlfriends.  Weather looks promising for outdoor activities and long walks on the beach.  

Linking up with LeeAnna and the I Like Thursday crew.