I always gauge the end of summer by my wedding anniversary. We were married outside in early October on a bright, sunny day. By the time we came home from our honeymoon a couple of weeks later, it was C.O.L.D!
This seems to hold up every year. Our warm sunny Alabama weather is just about through.
We still have tomatoes. Two huge trails of vines through the flower beds in our front yard. The children and I go out every day and eat them fresh, like little pieces of glinting red candy. There are still hundreds of them out there — I'm not sure what I'll do with all the green ones when the sun stops being hot enough to turn a handful of them ruby red for us to eat every day.
There are still bees on the flowers on our front porch — huge bumbles. We love them.
This is the end of our summer oranges. I bought the Judge a "sweet" orange tree to go with our Meyer Lemon tree and they are the bitterest things you have ever tasted. We like to pop them whole — they are Tootsie Pop sized — into our mouths and grimace in disgust. But they do sort of grow on you.
It's goodbye to summer. Sweaters are coming out which is always good — fall is the season of knitting and the adoration of all that is knitted in our household (at least by certain persons in it). Ollie has already plucked a hat out of storage and realized that he felted one of his favorite fingerless mitts when he left it in the pocket of his jeans. Ellie has developed frighteningly good judgment about her favorite fibers (cashmere, alpaca, and silk). So we have something wonderful to look ahead to while we say goodbye to summer.
wrap the green tomatoes in newspaper and store them in the garage to ripen. Summer is definitely hanging in longer in Alabama than it is in Michigan.
Fry the green ones! I love bumble bees too. It’s funny how I hate some insects and love others. Some just seem dirty while others seem clean. Do you feel that way?