Winding Down.

8-28-21 VERMONT: Well, summer is winding down for our stay in VT. The summer always seems so short—I know it isn’t shorter than winter, but winter seems to stretch on and on while the summer flies by. Bill and Lynn were here for a few days, the last guests of the season. 

We had delivery of a new mattress and box spring. The box spring couldn’t fit up the stairway, so we had to get a split box spring, which was fine. 

Today and yesterday have been put away days. Benches, deck gates, hammock, canoe, rowboat, old carriage, porch rockers, hoses, buckets are all stashed away until next May. We will be back in October for the leaves and do the rest of the winterizing then, and in November when I will be back to clear the flower beds after a hard frost. 

We had a visit, brief, from a wood duck this morning, and a blue heron a few days ago.

New blooms: hardy hibiscus, bottle gentian.    

Wood duck, female or non-breeding male.

Wood duck again. We have had them before a few springs ago.

Hardy Hibiscus flower lasts only for a day, but is the size of a dinner plate.

Anemone, fall blooming variety.

Bottle Gentian. That's as open as it gets. So how does it get pollinated?

A brand new, shiny Monarch butterfly, probably from one of our caterpillars. There are several more caterpillars eating milkweed.