Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Summer survivors

My grandchildren and their parents are glad that change is in the air. You can feel it early in the morning and again in the evening as the sun goes down. We will all once again be summer survivors like these cosmos. Their fate seemed one of certain doom as their neighbors succumbed under the relentless sun. Then cooler days and a revival. This week they simply stunned me. A miracle!

This morning I continued my cool, early morning gardening cleanup in preparation for the glorious months ahead. Today was the day to attack the strawberry pots. Look what I found. More hope. More al fresco dining, more good books on the outside sofa in the afternoon sun, more errands run mid-day, more grandkid Primary sing-a-longs before a lit fireplace, more fresh items from the garden other than just basil, more time outside in comfort.

Today on our myfamily site, my cousin had posted pictures of the Idaho ranch in October, not my usual visiting season. It was potato harvest and there was brown and more brown and even snow on the Tetons in the distance. It hit me suddenly how a few degrees latitude and feet altitude can make such a difference in how one experiences "seasons." I'm a Arizona summer survivor who will now be rewarded with 6 to 7 months of lovely weather. But when it starts to heat up again, I will look forward to summer, for one main reason only. The pool will warm up and I will have 5 to 6 months of daily lap swims in my own backyard with the other summer survivors.

The vines have been excellent summer survivors. I find it appropriate that they somehow left a circle, a symbol of the circle of life and renewal.

And then just before noon, the doorbell rang. The heirloom tomato plants had arrived from the gentler clime of California (Laurel's Heirloom Tomatoes, and no, we are not related.) More hope for a delicious home grown tomato at Christmas. Ruby and Heather, we may have red, orange, and even yellow cherry tomatoes to share before the year is over. Another reward for surviving summer.

1 comment:

Vagabond Mother said...

We are looking forward to the cooler weather, and are thinking "cool" even if it really isn't. I hear it's supposed to be pretty nice this weekend, though!

You have some very tough plants. Some of them even survived me.

When I came by the house the other day, I thought that the pomegranate tree and the pink bogan vila looked very nice!