Farewell summer...

 It is a poignant time of year for me. We always came home from the cottage the week before school started. Mom would do a massive house clean while playing Christmas music at full blast. She didn't start work until September. Dad escaped to the office!

We haven't gone anywhere or done anything, since we've been so ill. Joe has been great about figuring out meals. We've a couple of things coming up and I will look forward to getting out of the house. The Perth Fair (the heavy horses), the Sundance Artisan Show, are two things we shall try for. 

The garden is wearing down. I am very behind in weeding. I filled a large garbage can yesterday. Once the seeds disperse one is doomed. My one pumpkin and one zucchini look good 😣, thankfully we've lots and lots of cherry tomatoes. 

It is joyful reading about all the people preparing preserves for winter. 

The thunder storms will stop. I figured out how to do a live screen capture of the recent August storm on LightningMaps.org.

 

 The hummingbirds were still here as of Friday, visiting the petunias and various wildflowers. Soon they will be gone. I spotted one the other day on the petunias.

The Woodland Sunflowers are still in bloom, but some are losing leaves and petals. I'm not ready! The butterflies are disappearing. The large ones don't last too long. The season is so short.

Bees, wasps...

Our Ottawa kids are canoe camping in Algonquin Park this week. They rent a canoe, and have it dropped off at their launching point. Then they canoe along the lake, portage, and find their camp site. 

Then school begins. 

Caitlin bought a canoe on Kijiji for less that the cost of renting a second canoe. They tried it out at the beach! Aster and Jo sure are growing.

Saturday was a let down! We'd watched the DNC speeches. VP Harris is amazing. Driven, positive, determined to improve the lives of all Americans in terms of housing, healthcare, human rights. It's a lot to hope for, but all the people around her have changed the tone of the election. 

The dawn has arrived.

Doe, a deer, and a hawk

It's been a bad week for deer. Two were struck and killed on our highway, one north and one south of us. Thankfully, the carcasses disappeared rather quickly. We were worried that the little doe that visits us was gone, but she was back the very next day.



We had mail arrive! Cluny and Bryony have been doing art. Isn't that sweet?!


In the backyard, I have zucchini doing really well.


We went off to town. Interesting juxtaposition of people!


Parking is tricky!


Lots of people out enjoying the weather.

Perth's fake cheese!

 The Crystal Palace, where they have the market on Saturdays.

Remember the retirement home building? It's getting there. They took down part of the fence. I've been taking photos during the build.

Look who I tracked down! I could hear it in the trees, and it flew to a nearly perfect spot for a video.
red-tailed hawk from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

A little closer to home, a caterpillar. I think it is a white-marked tussock moth.
caterpillar from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The moths have been busy at night. 

Turtle rescue & phoebe

I'd been lazing about in the back, watching the pumpkin plants growing. There is squash and zucchini, as well.


I noticed the phoebes would try to land in the half-barrel of pumpkin plants. I added a stick. They like it. They are feeding four little beaks right now. They hatched July 1st.

He wasn't sure about me, but didn't want to drop the bug, either.

I harvested my first zucchini!

JB bought some fresh flowers from the market.


Down at the frog pond, it's miserable with bugs!


Sunday night, JB was bringing me pizza for dinner. A special treat. He found a wounded turtle on the road. I inhaled some pizza, he had some of his chicken bites, and off we went to take it to the Rideau Valley Wildlife Rehabilitation.



They didn't have much hope for it, but they would put it on pain killers.

You can't get there from here! Nearly an hour, and 55 km each way.


The trick with traveling through the Marlborough forest is watching for wildlife! It's amazing habitat.

Then home.

I keep track of the OPP traffic incident reports. Summer brings the tourists, and an increase of incidents.