Emmett at the Fair.

8-27-26 VERMONT: The plan is for us to be back in NJ in less than a week, summer is almost over. We are still racking up memories for us and Emmett. We were at the Cornish Fair last weekend, and saw sheep, cows, chickens, pigs, some of us rode on the merry-go-round and on a car ride. Some of us had a bloomin’ onion and pulled pork. We saw a juggler, who

juggled knives, and balanced a step ladder on his chin. We drove across the historic Windsor-Cornish wooden, covered bridge to get there and back. 

Cedar Circle Farm Camp this week had all the camper/caterpillars sit on their favorite vegetables and then enter a chrysalis, where they metamorphosed into butterflies with wings.

Here we had the water line to the barn re-located in order to be able to shut off the water to the house, but not to the barn. The painters start on Monday doing the outside of the houses.

A doe visited yesterday during the day to eat apples, a few dozen, off the ground and picked off the trees. She was here for almost an hour. The great blue heron was here several times this week, and a kingfisher also stopped by.

We had a nice rain this week, delivering 0.75 inches, and maybe more today.

New blooms: pink turtlehead, red lobelia, poppy [re-bloom]. 

Every body likes apples.

Doe, apples, phlox, cattails.

Cornish Fair with Anna and Emmett.

Emmett and Dad on the carousel.

Driving lesson.

Cow grooming before the judging.

The Windsor-Cornish bridge spans the Connecticut River. It was built in 1866.

Two lane, timber construction bridge.

Emmett and me making Guacamole, a fav of his and mine.

Caterpillars occupying veggies.

Caterpillars in a chrysalis.

Caterpillars have metamorphosed to butterflies.

Poppy that I planted mid-season, after they usually bloom, surprised us by blooming now. The bee took it in stride.

Pink turtlehead blooms much later than the white ones.

Emmett in Wonderland.

8-20-26 VERMONT: It’s still beautiful, but the days are getting shorter, the nights are cooler, and the garden is getting unruly. We had a half inch of rain, delivered in two aliquots, we need more, of course, but fall will deliver it. 

The Oil Boys were here to install the new furnace in the old house basement. The painters arrive next Monday to start painting the exteriors the houses. I have taken almost all the screens out for the painting. 

Emmett continues to discover Vermont. He’s been to another farm camp, bird lesson from VINS, pasture walks, apple feedings for the horses, tractor tryouts, seeing a garter snake and a green frog yesterday, a robin’s nest, and the discovery of huge caterpillars on one of the tomato plants. It turns out that it’s a Tobacco Hornworm rather than a Tomato Hornworm based on its having a red horn.

New blooms: more asters.

Blue Lobelia, also comes in red and white.

Hummingbird at the feeder.

Tobacco Hornworm with red tail horn.

I want my own tractor.

Small garter snake.

Emmett and Howie after a walk in the pasture.

Robin Egg in Nest.

Eastern Phoebe, immature, in the big pine.

Ice cream after Thai dinner in town.

The Further Adventures of Emmett.

8-14-26 VERMONT: It’s cooler in the seventies, and tonight might get down to the 40’s. We were in a series of cookie-cutter days, all beautiful. We have had the plumber here to fix a leak in the washing machine faucet and to estimate the cost of changing the water line to the barn. Screen doors replacement estimator was also here.  

I planted a clematis [C. Rebecca Evipo016] under the deck by the lattice. The clematis that had been happy there for many years didn’t survive the installation of the heat pumps. Also I planted a cardinal flower [Lobelia cardinalis] on the edge of the pond by the hollyhock and echinacea. 

New blooms: ligularia dentata, sedum.

Ligularia dentata.

Sedum looking vivid.

Walking in the pasture, Emmett and the greatgrans.

Emmett and an orange tractor.

Emmett and the alpacas.

Emmett painting the bear.

Weathervane with bird.

Emmett Is Here.

8-11-26 VERMONT: The flatlanders are here. Anna, Gardner, Yaya and Emmett are here for a few weeks. Lily and Danna were here for a long weekend. There were adventures here at the house and at the Latham Library, at Cedar Circle Farm. Dinners were at Red Can and Elixir. The boat got some use, frogs were briefly caught, horses were fed, tractors were admired thanks to Andy and Steve. Aged greatgrands are struggling to keep up the pace.

Judy got a wooden saffron jar at auction. The windows were washed. We had 0.2 inches of rain. The storm last night came with lightning.

New blooms: monkshood, sedum, big-leaf aster, black-eyed susan, blue lobelia, white star clematis. 

 

Emmett helping me water the transplants.

Captain Lily with crew of Danna and Yaya hunting the wily amphibians.

Emmett checking out the saffron box.

Emmett and Blanca.

August Arrives.

8-4-26 VERMONT: We had a deluge yesterday and got almost an inch in an hour. It was the hardest rain I’ve seen in a long time, but no wind and no electricity. All the gardens look refreshed today.

We had dinner at RedCan Saturday and go to Tapis tomorrow. The window washers were supposed to be here tomorrow, I took all the screens out, but are coming later this week. Instead Pinnacle Tree is coming tomorrow for multiple pruning jobs. 

New blooms: lily, white turtle head, rocket ligularia, goose neck loosestrife, Joe Pye weed, helenium, golden rod, fall anemone, aster.   

Helenium, also called sneeze weed because it's out at the same time as ragweed.

Lily. As the daylilies finish, the true lilies begin. They also have a nice aroma.

White turtlehead. We also have Pink turtlehead which blooms much later in the season. I think the name is a stretch.

Fall Anemone is very early this year, as are many other things. Perhaps it's due to the heat wave in May.

Hummers can't get enough of Bee Balm.

The whole beak in the flower.

A Fair Day.

7-30-26 VERMONT: It’s been a busy week. We went to the North Haverhill Fair  on a weekday afternoon to miss the crowds. The horses did a pull, one of several competitions, depending on size of the horses. We watched teenage farmers drive their oxen teams through a labyrinthine course. We shared a bloomin’ onion and a lemonade.

Later I rehabbed the picnic table on the deck, replacing the table top and seats with spruce. A lot of the rest of it is now pressure treated wood, but not the parts that come in contact with people. That took two days, interrupted by rain. I also replaced a table leg and a support with PT.

The yard is full of immature birds learning to fly. I watched a baby robin following a parent around pecking for bugs.

New blooms: echinacea, cup plant, fleece flower.

Immature songsparrow paused for a pic.

Horses in their best ouitfits.

Kids and their teams.

Cows waiting for their show.

What makes a Fair a Fair.

Echinacea with two fritillaries and a tiger swallowtail.

A tired carpenter and assistant taking a break.

Portland, Maine II.

7-23-26 VERMONT: We came back from Portland yesterday through a rainstorm in NH. Of course there was a stop at Bob’s as we left Maine. Today we’re doing laundry, stowing the suitcases, editing pix and figuring when we can go back to Portland. I’m putting up a bunch of pix to make you all jealous that you weren’t on this trip—or glad you weren’t.  

Portland is on the Atlantic, here is low tide exposing seaweed and mussels.

Lighthouses are everywhere.

Another look at that one, from the land.

This one has a hard time keeping itself dry.

And one more.

An array of whirl-a-gigs near the lobster shack between lighthouses.

Meanwhile back in the city, many old brick buildings have been repurposed to home shops and and people.

Cobblestone streets and brick sidewalks.

Oriel windows in blue.

Shops are everywhere.

No trip to or from Maine happens without a stop at Bob's in Kittery.