Is it fall already?????

hard to believe that summer has slipped by so fast this year but here we are the beginning of fall. Temps are beautiful, humidity is down, night temps are great for sleeping with the windows open and the gardens have come back to life. I have learned over the years to work with the seasons here in the 'heartland' of North Carolina and have found fall to be one of the ones I look forward to the most. When I lived up in Delaware fall meant that a long cold winter was just around the corner, ice and snow and frigid temps. Down here it means a chill in the air but many days still left with 70's - often hitting them almost every fall and winter month several times. We have the wonderful fall colors but still have flowers to enjoy and more to enjoy as December and January greet us. I am eagerly looking for the first signs of reseeding violas to dig up and move to where I want them. While I will buy a flat of new ones it is the reseeders that win my heart.

Fall also means the start of decorating season - first my fall and harvest theme which will give way to Christmas once the Thanksgiving turkey gets put away in the fridge - a truly wonderful time of the year. Tom has been busy putting in a fall/winter garden - lettuce, carrots, beets, brocolli among other things. We still have some tomatoes and peppers but for the most part the summer garden is done. Not as good as we would have liked but there is always next year. We have been using this last week or so to do some garden cleanup.

Now for some family news - Mom for the most part has been doing good. We have had a couple of ups and downs but have managed to correct the situation before it got too bad thanks to a really wonderful hospice team. They are right here when Mom needs them and offer me all the support that I need to keep Mom comfortable. She has been busy making her angel ornaments and gives one to every new hospice team member that comes into the house. She and her angels are apparently the center of conversation at the hospice meetings. Our Celeste turns 3 next week and is really quite the little talker. It is so neat to be able to carry on a conversation with her now but my-oh-my they grow up way too fast. The grandsons are all getting settled back into a school routine. Other family news has my nephew Alex and his family Amy and Amaris moving down here about 6 miles from us the end of October and the next spring or early summer Tracey and her family will be moving into the area......can sister Lee and Danny be far behind **hint** **hint**. Tom and I are planning a trip up to see everyone in upstate PA on Sunday for a couple of days. We had to cancel a planned trip a couple weeks ago when Hanna went through. It will be the first time up there in 3 years and the longest time away from here since Tom and I got married. We certainly thank Ruth for her plans to stay with Mom to give us this break. Good news from HoustonTX - my niece Kristen and family were evacuated to Austin to her sister Dana's for Ike and able to return a couple days later with no damage to the house - just yard clean-up.

I will close out for now - Tom will be along later with pictures. Thank you all for stopping by - be sure and leave a message

Lynne ~~he who plants a seed - believes in tomorrow~~