Things are looking so September good out there!
The paths add balance to the farmette lands and today, I took the hand mower out and cleaned up the narrow alleys linking one segment with the next. The tractor mower doesn't fit in the alleys.
The asters are starting to throw down their purple color, the phlox will give an occasional bloom from now until frost, even the lily will show that she's not fully dormant yet. And it all smells so autumnal! So rich! So heavenly.
Breakfast.
Ed is pushing for a walk in the Hook Lake wildlife area. We've rarely explored it, possibly because access to it is limited. Indeed, it's been closed off lately -- overgrown and unwelcoming. Still, he thinks there is a path...
We ride out on his motorbike and we look every which way...
Nothing. No path to the lake. Lots of private property signs, despite the fact that there is a chunk of land we know is under the stewardship of the DNR.
Indeed, a couple comes out of their house in the woods and questions our presence there. Should I sing them the refrain from Woodie Guthrie's song? I'm always dismayed how much rural folk guard their property against walkers. I suppose I get it: you protect what's "yours," keeping the right to chase someone off with a gun, because that walker may harm you with his own gun. Fine, but this mindset does not make for a happy and welcoming landscape. I think about the right to roam laws elsewhere and I have to say I'm envious. Our roaming is limited to designated public spaces.
In the end, we do find a swath of DNR wildlife land and we explore it to the max: corner to corner.
And I like it! The tall grasses, the giant oaks -- it's likely the way it was hundreds of years back.
I tell Ed it's a fantastic little walk, but I know he's hungry to probe deeper. Ed doesn't travel far, but his great desire to explore his immediate surroundings is profound. In the years we've lived here, we've gotten to know every bit of public land, every corner and crevice of it. Today, we add this small fragment to our list of explored local lands. It was the perfect day to take in its September beauty.
In the afternoon, Snowdrop is here once again. Though Friday isn't her typical farmhouse day, we are making up for lost time!
(I show her my crazy beanstalk!)
(we pick a few peaches...)
(she loves our watermelon patch!)
(... and the meadows...)
Oh and look who is here to pick up his sister?!
In the evening, I cook up some soup and life feels pretty close to normal once again.
With love...
