Labor Day Weekend.

9-6-10 SHORT HILLS: It was a lovely weekend weather-wise, sunny and not too hot, but no rain, not for a few weeks. The first two zones of the sprinkler system are not working at all and the third zone is delivering a trickle. I am waiting for a repair, but in the interim, bought new hoses and a sprinkler that attaches to the hose. I have most of the dry stuff wet enough now for a few days.

Valerie, Maggie and Lucy were here for the weekend. Val was editing her latest, so Judy and I entertained the girls. We went to The Farm for three new shrubs, the Great Swamp Raptor Center, a farm stand, the movies. We did a dog walk and Val took them to the Mall. They left this morning, and I planted the new shrubs.

The casualties were: two variegated cotoneasters and a pheasant berry. I used a crepe myrtle, Lagerstroemia ‘Cherry Dazzle’, for the spot where the pheasant berry was, and a blueberry, Vaccinium corymbosum ‘Northsky’, and a Pieris japonica ‘Cavaine’ to replace the cotoneasters. Add in a little weeding and pruning and it’s an easy day.

It’s about two weeks to the Autumnal Equinox and the official end of summer, always sad to see it go, but instead we get a fall with no oppressive heat and the foliage and the end of the bugs.


The Entertainers, Sam, Nick, Gus, and Chloe.