Sand in Our Shoes.

10-24-22 SHORT HILLS: Last night was a late one for me. I watched the Yankees get swept by the Astros after the Phillies beat the Padres. I have no favs in that whole group, but, as a Mets fan, I’m always glad to see the Yanks lose. WS starts Friday.

The games were late because of the rain we had, half an inch here. Leaves are turning and falling. Judy and I trimmed the shrubs along the sidewalk that edges our yard.

Saturday we visited friends Chris and Bob in Seaside Park. A chance for us to see the ocean and beach. They treated us to a seafood feast   for lunch. On the way back north we saw friend Jo-Ann in Brick. 

We had dinner with Trina and Jeffrey a few nights ago and brunch with Richard and Elaine last weekend.

The beach and ocean, low tide. There were people sun bathing, walking, fishing and a couple of guys surfing.

A ring-billed gull enjoying the surf.

There were many boats with fishermen. We were told that stripers were running. These two boats were near the horizon.

The boardwalk at Seaside Heights, re-built after Storm Sandy, in the distance.

Barnegat Bay at the other end of the street.

Live wave action.

Autumn in New Jersey.

10-20-22 SHORT HILLS: As much as I try to see birds as just birds, the grackles seem to be a gang of thugs. They travel in a flock and mob the feeders, chasing the other birds away. 

The weather here is mild, sunny and seasonal with no frost in sight. The leaves are slowly turning and falling. The house plants have adjusted to being back in the house. 

New blooms: witch hazel.

This might be the last rose of summer, gracing the kitchen window.

Definitely the last apple blossoms of the year. you can see lots of little, green apples mixed in with the flowers.

One of the grackles in question--is it not thuggish?

House finches busy at the feeders.

White-breasted nuthatch and another house finch.

In Search of Color.

10-10-22 VERMONT: We went looking for color. First we took I-91 north and explored Ryegate, Peacham, Danville and Cabot. The color reaches peak further north and higher up before lower altitudes and further south. The day had some sun that slowly disappeared in the clouds. We usually go to Peacham. It’s on a hilltop and has a cemetery with gorgeous views and beautiful old trees. Danville has Joe’s Pond and scenic vistas from Route 2. Cabot has cows and pastures. We came home on the highway when the sun was lost to overcast. 

Today we went west to Sharon, Pomfret, and Woodstock, traveling, in part on Cloudland Road, a pretty country road with impressive farms. The hillsides were orange and red. We saw lots of cows, sheep and wild turkeys. Woodstock was crawling with tourists with cameras. We heard a lot of French spoken by Canadians. Lunch was out of the question, every place had long lines. Once again we got home with overcast skies and a little rain. 

New blooms: cimicifuga. This is the last new bloom of the season. 

We're in Peacham.

Cemetery with orange trees.

More orange.

Cabot cows and threatening clouds.

Pomfret pastures and hillsides.

Pomfret, same road, looking the other way.

Cloudland Road.

Cloudland Road.

Cloudland Road.

Cloudland Road. Cud chewing time.

Cloudland Road. Wild turkeys, part of a flock of about a dozen, all eating apples.

Back in Thetford. Black, white and blue sky.

Cimicifuga, first flower, sometimes this plant gets nipped by frost before it blooms.

Back in VT.

10-7-22 VERMONT: We drove up in the remnants of Ian in heavy rain until we got out of the Metro area when most of the rain let up. We got here in time for me to look around and check the gardens, which are well into fall. 

I have been doing chores and more chores. There is so much stuff to put away for the winter. Judy put the porch rockers down the basement, and together we put most of the deck chairs away. I picked all the green tomatoes and bagged them to see if they ripen off the vine. The rosemary plant looks good so I brought it inside to winter here. I started putting hoses away, there were many hoses out because of the dry summer. I pulled more plant support hardware out of the beds. 

We needed a repair to the pasture fence that the horses’ Mom and Dad took care of. 

The color locally is OK, but not at peak as yet. The two red maples that we planted two summer ago will be good in a few more days. In the two days we’ve been here, the color has noticeably improved. 

There will be a memorial service for friend and neighbor Bruce Nelson tomorrow. 

New blooms: witch hazel, toad lily. 

Mazie debating whether to do an early morning swim.

Moosilauke in the diatance from our pasture with pretty good color.

One of the local bears near the upper pond at the end of August, caught on a game cam.

Same spot in September, one of several pix of a fox.

On the wildlife theme, a Great Blue Heron dropped in for a brief visit.

This is aster season, here are red ones.

Violet asters.

Asters hosting a monarch butterfly. Shortly after this pic, the butterfly flew off in a straight line toward the southwest. Next stop-Mexico.

Witch hazel, a cluster of delicate flowers.

This complex flower is a toad lily. The pollinator must head for the yellow spot to get the nectar deep in that scrotal-like sac on the bottome of the flower. While the bug is in the flower, the upper umbrella-like organ coats it with pollen. Any questions?

The color is getting richer today.

Ian Brings Rain.

10-4-22 SHORT HILLS: Hurricane Ian tore through Florida and then South Carolina doing lots of damage. Now the remnants of the storm have been camped out on top of us for three days or so. We’ve had maybe an inch of rain and occasional gusty winds with a few small branches down in the yard. 

It’s been cold here. The screens are out and the storms are in. The heat has been on for a couple of days. 

Most of the grackles have moved on and the usual feeder birds are getting a chance at the seeds. We are off to VT tomorrow for foliage and chores.

The grackles manage to look menacing when just eating sunflower seeds.

Cardinal looking soggy in the rain.

Ms. Cardinal working the feeder.

Fall Has Begun.

9-25-22 SHORT HILLS: Well, it’s happened again, I forgot to do a post. Now it’s fall, the Equinox slipped by a few days ago, and it gets dark earlier and earlier. We also had a bit of a cold spell, with nighttime temps in the low fifties. 

As Hurricane Fiona passed us out in the Atlantic on her way to Nova Scotia, we had a gusty, windy two days and a decent rain, and it’s raining again this afternoon.

I dug up the crumbling blacktop around the driveway drain and replaced it with a Sakrete product—macadam in a bag. I also filled in gaps in the blacktop by the garage apron. The hard part is tamping it all down. The last time I did it was about 10 years ago, so the next time will probably be someone else’s problem. 

I had lunch with Bill recently, and tonight we have dinner with Bill and Lynn. Last night we had dinner with Alan and Ellie, and this morning we were in the Village and had brunch at Minetta Tavern with Lily, Anna and Gardner.

Judy and I did a dog walk at Loantaka Brook Reservation. There were lots of Canada geese on the pond and a turtle con on a log.

New blooms: an apple tree put a couple new flowers.

Judy at Washington Square Park before brunch.

Loantaka Pond with Canada geese on the left and turtles on the right.

Here's the geese.

Here's some of the turtles.

Here's another turtle standing on the back of a much, much bigger turtle. In the middle at the top is a blurry dragonfly.

More Rain, At Last.

9-15-22 SHORT HILLS: One week until the autumnal equinox and the slow slide into darkness. It still feels like summer here, I’m still wearing shorts and tees. All our doctor visits are getting checked off, but we both have more to go. 

Outside we’ve had more rain, and I shut the sprinklers down during the rainy spell, but now they’re back on. A lot of the drought damaged shrubs have some new growth, so I’m going to wait until spring to see which of them are alive. I can always cut them down, but I’d rather give them every chance to rebound.

The indoor plants that are outside have largely bounced back from the damage sustained in the drought. I think they will get a few more weeks before their vacation ends.

We have dinner with Bebe and Ronnie tomorrow and a memorial service for old friend Bobbie on Sunday.

New blooms: crape myrtle, white snake root.

Crape myrtle is blooming at the top of the tree.

White Snake Root is either a wildflower or a weed. It's a nice fall surprise when most everything has long since finished.