Our dahlias are still blooming.
The recent rain weighed some down.
The wind blew some over.
But the blossoms still standing are beautiful.
Summer and I took inventory.
We still need to deadhead the casualties and spray some soapy water on the aphids.
I wonder if we will ever run out of chores.
Probably not.
#BloomScrolling #Dahlias

I snapped a few photos of our flowers before the wind and rain completely wrecked the display.
It's funny that I don't want the warm, dry, sunny weather to stay. I start wishing for rain and a cool breeze this time every year. Fall is my favorite season on the north coast of California. Some people tell me that we don't really have seasons here with our temperate climate but I can smell and feel the seasons change as I age with the passing months. I don't need to look at the calendar.
When it's time for Spring again I will be ready for that too.
I have lived in this place for so long I think I've become part of the landscape.
#BloomScrolling #Dahlias

Summer is in listening mode as we watch the evening sky change color. I wanted to tell her a story.
I recently saw a local history article that took me back sixty years. It had a photo of our old next door neighbor. We called her Aunt Dot. She wasn't really related to me. Widowed since WW1 she lived alone in the same house her whole adult life.
She was very different from my mother.
Well educated, working and driving she was sophisticated in her appearance and speech. Allowing me to borrow from her personal library because she said I was the most trustworthy of the neighborhood kids. She explained what I read when I didn't understand and helped with homework.
For a child whose parents had no time for her Aunt Dot was a god send. Her faith in me bolstered my faith in myself.
Her intention was to send me to college if I kept my grades up but she passed away when I was twelve.
I remember her with love.
#Sunset

Byron on #Caturday