Looking Forward to Autumn

     I am not fond of hot weather. I don't like using my air conditioner -- I don't like the way it isolates me from what is happening outside, and I don't like how it keeps me from hearing the crickets and cicadas at night. I also don't like sweating miserably when the humidity is more than sixty percent, so I use the A/C when it's really humid, and forgo it when I can. I love open windows. Today, there was a nice breeze and the temperature dropped to below 90, so I took the essentials out to my front porch and spent a pleasant hour doing homework (the book), then listening to an audiobook (American women authors short stories -- Kate Chopin, Willa Cather, Edith Wharton). I knitted a bit on the baby blanket and some socks, then took some pictures of my WIPs.

     My mindless socks, that I take to work to knit on while in mindless meetings (I hope I didn't give my boss this blog address). I think I should have gotten a closer close-up. The flower is a clematis, which does very well in this area, so long as you cut it back in the Autumn. They come in light purple, pink, and white, also. I might plant a few more next year, and just completely bury the ugly metal fences under them. They don't seem to attract bees, and they're just gorgeous. They drop their petals one at a time, and it makes a lovely scattering on the ground.

     The non-traditional baby blanket. The colors make me dream of Autumn, which I look forward to more than just about anything. I can't wait for that first night when I go outside to walk to dog, and feel that first little nip in the air. As much as I love my flowers and my tomato plants and lavender, I love that nip in the air more. Oh -- these are elephant ears. They get REALLY big. My Louisiana grandmother planted them around the ditch culvert to hide it from view. They grow from giant corms that winter over in the south, but don't come back if it freezes.

Gratuitous cat shot! Petunia attacking Edgar Allen Poe Cat. She's such a pesky little twerp. Sometimes Edgar looks at her as if to say get in my belleh! Other times he runs off and tries to hide, but Petunia is the perpetual pesky little sister. She finds him no matter where he hides.






     Lastly, my friend Melissa has been bitten by the blog bug. You will find her here. To my great sorrow, she is not a knitter. But I think that's only because she's so busy raising four kids and homeschooling three of them and baking and keeping house and doing laundry for six people and cooking for six people and following her own interests, which are photography, serving in her church, and various military spouse duties (I need to go rest just thinking about it all). Perhaps one day when she's old and gray, she and I can sit down and I will teach her to knit with real wool, not acrylic. Perhaps we should start with alpaca ... that's pretty addictive.