waning summer

Ahhh, the first cool in the air, brought in by Danny the tropical storm. And yes, summer is winding down - school starts Tuesday - but with all the rain this summer we have hardly seen any red leaves yet. I travelled a lot in August - hence the dearth of posts - and my last trip was to visit my mom, who still lives in the same village where I grew up, though not in the same house. The house she lives in now has beautiful views, and over 300 acres to walk over and admire. It is a wonderful place to see all sorts of wildflowers and wild animals. I saw a deer and a great blue heron on one of my morning walks.

This is the view from the porch off the kitchen. The place is named Arcady, which is a form of the word arcadia and suits it very well.



The swimming pond.
Here's where we swim in the summer and skate in the winter. There are eight or so ponds on the property, most dug to encourage wildlife - those are too shallow for swimming, but this one is great for a cool dip on a hot day.



This is one of the conservation ponds. Most of the property is under conservation restriction, so no other houses will ever be built there. Some of the land is hayfields, and some is woodlot - a typical upstate farm. There is even an abandoned apple orchard, with trees too old and too long neglected to feed anyone besides the wildlife that inhabit the hillside now.



All around are interesting plants. Here's a teasel - some varieties of this plant were used for processing wool in the old days.



And one more photo - of the marshy meadow full of goldenrod and joe-pye-weed, and jillions of other plants - and many birds also.