August 2023 to October 4, 2023

 

 

Summertime, and the living is easy! Don't these squash at the Farmers' Market make beautiful geese?

 Meanwhile, the long legged flower box was humming along.

 I got to playing around with the blue squares I had started in PS. It takes me many iterations before I settle on something.

And, yes, this was the demise of the long legged flower box. The weight of the rainwater was too much for it.

So I put the flowers in pots. There are a bunch more pots on the stump of the former crab apple tree.

The many rainy days made me stay in and finally finish my playing with the blue squares.

Coming back home. This is Hadley about a quarter of a mile from the Amherst line; it's about 2 miles from my house. The clouds grabbed me.

My newly mown backyard -- which is too much for me to do. I'm vrey grateful for Jacob who is a very industrious young man who mows for me.

And behind me while I'm taking the above picture, is my falling down deck.

I contracted for a new deck, but had to wait almost 2 months ... so I began a new WIP (Work In Progress). It's a scrap quilt.

Traveling to North Amherst (to go to the Survival Center) I saw this. This is broadleaf tobacco drying and it will eventually make very fine cigars. At one time, there were many many tobacco barns in the area (I believe there are still some in Connecticut), but this is one of a few still in use.

When I came to UMass in the 60s, the local kids used to either work in the cucumber (for pickles) fields or on tobacco. The pickle factory is gone and so is much of the tobacco.

(By the way, they used to have "Cabbage Night" the night before Halloween when the local kids would promulgate hijinks. Perhaps uprooting cabbages was part of it, but I do know some tobacco barns were lit. I think that ended Cabbage Night, because it never happened when I was here.)

This field is right next to that tobacco barn.

Working a bit on the WIP, I just couldn't figure any way to integrate the green with the blues and purples.

Here we are up to August 26 and Emily and I had a wonderful stroll through the Tower Hill Botanic Garden in Boylston, MA. This is some of the featured sculpture.

And then it was August 29 and time to tear down the old deck. The guys were amazed that I hadn't fallen through because it was in such bad shape. They quickly disassembled it with their bare hands.

Below you can see the concrete footings that they dug and poured. The inspector had to examine them before the guys could put in the pressure treated structure. See the rust on the bottom of the door to the garage? Butch, the best handyman in the world sanded the metal door and painted it. Wait until you see it with the new deck!

We will take a short break here for an artsy fartsy shot taken at dusk.

Can you hear the hammers?

On September 1, Ann and I decided to motor up to the Bridge of Flowers in Shelburne, Massachusetts. It was a lovely almost-fall day: not too hot and not too cold.

And then a deck party!

Of course, you have to have starters to go with the pitcher of margaritas! That's steak with tomato. The won ton wrappers aren't baked yet, but that's feta cheese and spinach in them.

I think I made chicken cacciatore for supper, but I've forgotten. We had a good time.

The WIP (scrap quilt) continues to grow.

Sunset on September 15, looking west.

Saturday Farmers' Market: Flowers from Sunset Farm

New storm door on the garage installed by Butch.

Here's the newly painted metal door to the deck. I'm so happy to get rid of the rust!

Cathy V. and I decided to go to MassMOCA (Mass. Museum of Contemporary Art) on Sept. 28. It was a lovely fall drive of about 90 minutes.

Yes, those are living trees, upside down, outside of the entrance to Mass MOCA.

There's one born every minute -- and in this case, it was me.

September 30th brought John Lithgow to Johnson Chapel at Amherst College. He performed for free, exhorting the audience to donate to the Jones Library's renovation fund. The Trustees and Friends of the Library have already raised $9 Million for the cause.

No, I did not get a picture of Mr. Lithgow because I had shut my phone off before his introduction. He was very entertaining! The screen was taken down before he spoke. It was showing facts about the renovation. I performed a wedding here some years ago.

A visit to Cook Farm near my house at sunset was due to Sally's Coffee Grounds ice cream calling me. It was delicious.

You can see how all of the rain made the pasture almost impassible for the cows. There is always one brave soul, however.

And the WIP keeps growing slowly.

M & M Hardscapes came with three men on October 3rd. They spread black plastic and covered it with traprock. They poured a cement step for the bottom deck step. 

The next day they dug out the roots of the horrible weeds that had turned into trees poking up through the old deck. They graded the cement-like clay and spread loam and grass seed.

Remember the plants I rescued from the long legged flower box? They are still growing, luckily.

Here's my firebush that I love looking at except for the fact that I haven't been able to trim it due to the wasps nest in it. I've bought the Raid for wasps, just haven't got out there at sundown to spray them.

And this blog has brought us up to October 4th. The next post will bring you with Cathy V. and me to the Clark Museum in Williamstown. But that's for another day.