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On Saturday morning we went to Jockey Hollow National Park to the Wick House garden. Each year the Herb Society of America hosts a sale with clipping of herbs and such from their colonial garden. It always excites me to see some lesser-know plants for sale…Broomcorn! Woad! New Jersey Tea! To take a little bundle of the herbs home makes me feel like I’m taking a special part of living history into my kitchen. I purchased a butternut squash (one of three remaining, the other sixty were nibbled on by a naughty groundhog!) a pumpkin, three bundles of sage, basil, coxcomb, and globe amaranth. Also purchased some cat nip for dear kitty and handmade petal inclusion paper (petals from the Wick garden, of course). It was a nice day and now our home smells of drying herbs, and there will be butternut squash soup simmering on the stove very soon!

The rose hips are, every so slightly, starting to turn an orangey shade of red. Today I went walking in the rain. Armed with an umbrella and a steaming cup of chai tea I walked through the woods and meadows and I must say, loved it so. Rainy day walks are my favorite and I am so glad I am getting back to enjoying them! The rain drops were so sparkling and magical dripping from the ripening rose hips at the trails edge. Grey days are the best for my imagination and my favorite for savoring nature.

Today was such a marvelous, grey September day! Such a needed break from the insufferable heatwave we have been enduring. Eli and I took a little outing. First to do some treasure hunting (where I found this herb-collecting basket and some antique linens, I was so excited to use it I went foraging for acorn caps for crafts and also snippets of clematis). I also found the most beautiful wool blanket (vintage of course). I have been collecting old wool blankets as of late!

After our thrifting adventure (and really, it was just an adventure for me, Eli did not careless) we visited a farm we frequent and fed the sheep, ducks, and a beautiful bay gelding. I bought fresh picked peaches and apple cider donuts. A bit more shopping after that then back home to meander around the yard and admire our aforementioned clematis, which honestly has taken over (it is super invasive but oh-so-pretty).

Summer is winding down (or rather, has wound down as tomorrow starts the school year here in the northeast) and the sedum is about to bloom. I just love sedum in its preblossom stage, as to me it looks like fluffy white clouds that will soon mature to the most beautiful shade of pink (and how blossoms are SO welcome this time as year, as the flowering season is almost to an end). Sedum, along with its friends joe pye weed, goldenrod…the late bloomers of summer that give way to fall and seem to bid farewell to the heat and humidity. Take a bow my dear flowering friends before your exit, soon ice and cold will envelope your brown leaves and stems (and we do enjoy leaving your skeleton up until spring to watch the snow and icicles gather on your branches).

Oh, how I love new new beginnings. Finally! The golden season is here (thank you dear September for finally arriving). To celebrate we took a small trip to Princeton. We dined at our favorite brunching spot, took a stroll around the campus (mainly to visit a most beloved 1920’s garden) and then off to an apple orchard for autumn festivities. What a lovely day we had! Eli started to walk a few days ago and he was all laced up in his new shoes and ready to toddle his little heart out. There were fallen leaves the color of burnt sienna scattered on the grass, making for a perfect place to practice his new walking skills. My heart is full and happy. And being that the fall season is here it is most certainly overflowing.

The current heat and humidity situation here is pure torture! Still going on little adventures, although today we opted to rest. It is currently one hundred degrees! Yesterday we went to one of my most adored spots, a replica revolutionary war garden at the Wick House. It is such a delight to see the official flowers, vegetables and herbs of the colonial period in one spot, complete with a an outhouse that, (yuck!), was placed in the garden so the “contents” could be used as fertilizer to enrich the soil! Despite this less-than-desiraable fact for our modern times, the garden is such a marvelous place to visit, especially if one is interested in plants utilized in the late 1700’s. So much can be learned about history from the early settler’s plantings.

Took a walk around my absolute favorite marsh pond to spy on some wildflowers and bees in the golden morning sun. How I love to go for walks in the mornings, especially with this perfect weather we’ve been having here in the northeast! I’m feeling a bit sentimental about all the late summer colors, along with the tattered wildflower petals (a bit more ragged than usual this year from all the rain and stormy winds) and bumblebees with wings worse for wear. But in that sentimentality is a wee spark of excitement for crisp weather and all the other splendor that comes with the season.

Late August and sun drenched foliage. When the last firefly has flickered and the grass is turning to spun gold and the leaves are deep green (and maybe even a bit brown) but still seems to say wait! I know you are excited to see all my majesty, my jewel toned show! And yes, you will my dear, soon. For it is still summer! Please enjoy me now while I am still dressed in green So we relish in these last days of summer, warmth and green while awaiting the grand finale. To say it has been a rainy season here would be an understatement. The creeks are all bubbling and waters murky from overflow. Either the mosquitoes attack and the sun burns or one gets completely drenched in downpours of rain, but enjoying an over abundance of walks (as always) and time spent in both fields and woods while the weather is tolerable makes my heart sing.

The other day, on the way home from horseback riding, I stopped off at a farm stand and bought some yummy peaches. Oops, I bought more than I could eat! So today I crafted a hand pie (which honestly is just so much easier than a pie in its proper form.) And I do quite like the rustic charm of a good gazelle! Nothing like baking in late summer with orchard fruits and dreaming of cooler days. Actually, it has been a bit lower in temps here as of late, and a bit grey too, albeit humid. But back to the peaches…juicy, sweet, just picked off the orchard tree, plump peaches have my heart this time of year.