Fall is in the Wings

I was shaking the rugs outside yesterday and noticed a different feel in the air. It was hot, but maybe I'm getting used to it...or maybe just the fact that we are in late summer and I know that it won't last much longer. You know...there is that buzzing of insects in the air and the crows are making a racket in the woods. Is it my imagine or are the chipmunks starting to store things for the long winter ahead? The little guy can hardly lift his head after stuffing his mouth with sunflower seeds. I bought the ingredients for homemade suet yesterday. The trunk of the car is filled with chicken starter...a 40 lb bag. How many birds am I planning on feeding this year :) There seems to be an urgency starting... with the birds who migrate. My hummingbird feeders are always filled with those precious little birds. As I sit on the front porch, they fly from the feeder to the Ash tree. There seem to be a couple of inexperienced hummingbirds...maybe young ones? The Gold Finches are back from their summer in the fields. Chickadees and Nuthatches go back and forth from feeder to the woods. The perennials are starting to look tired. I can see mums blooming next door. My asters are starting to open. The lilies are just about finished. The highways are lined with blue Flax, Queen Anne's lace and Goldenrod. Soon we will see corn stalks and mums for sale at roadside stands. My Japanese Anemones are budding...getting ready to put on their first show in my garden. The Touch Me Nots are setting seeds...ready to pop open and spread seeds all over. There are changes in me too...I feel like cleaning my "nest" The windows look dirty, so I did them inside and out. I want to rearrange things, clean cupboards, and clean behind the furniture. Coffee starts to smell good to me and my robe, hanging on the door looks cozy. I am tired of my summer clothes and anxious to bring out the fall ones. I start looking at my favorite cookbooks...looking for recipes for "real" cooking....not the light, hurry up meals of summer. Soups, stews, oven meals. I may bake a pie today. I want to decorate with pumpkins and gourds...the oranges, russets and yellows of fall are beginning to take precedence over the summer colors. My houseplants are coming up from their summer vacation in the basement. My Amaryllis will be repotted and brought in soon.....ready for their rest before Christmas. Did I just say Christmas? I looked at Christmas cards yesterday online...and thought of ordering. Before I get carried away here, I hear that it will be in the 90's again next week. I say let the 90's come...they won't last long and soon we will be in the full swing of a new season. I'm ready.

Balisha