September

"The breezes taste
Of apple peel.
The air is full
Of smells to feel-
Ripe fruit, old footballs,
Burning brush,
New books, erasers,
Chalk, and such.
The bee, his hive,
Well-honeyed hum,
And Mother cuts
Chrysanthemums.
Like plates washed clean
With suds, the days
Are polished with
A morning haze."
-   John Updike, September

We've got the apple peels.  And peach peels.  I have a ripe pumpkin in the oven as I write.  Tomatoes still out in the Darwinian Garden, as well as peppers.  The new, "Winter Garden" sprouts are appearing, as well as that irritating horseradish which refuses to go away.  

Thankfully, we don't have the smell of burning brush - that might mean a catastrophe in these drought-ridden parts.  

This foggy morning, on the early morning Bouvier and Bloodhound romp, I stopped to study some giant sunflowers down by the creek.  There was a bumble bee asleep on one of the flowers.  This is the second bumble bee I have caught napping on the job on one of these sunflowers, and I need to find out why.  Anyone know?

Here it is, the first day of September.  On the drive in to church this morning, I thought how nice it will be to have frosty mornings.  I am tired of gardening.  It has been an unpleasant struggle this summer, and one I do not wish to experience again.  I am already in the autumnal spirit, I suppose: I baked brownies this afternoon and also the pumpkin.  Our fourteen New England Pie Pumpkins ripened in July this year, not October, so we have been enjoying pumpkin ice cream instead of pumpkin pie.  But, I might make a pie later this week with this pumpkin. Eleven pumpkins eaten, three to go. (I did plant a new row of New Englanders last month, experimenting with the hot weather.  I don't know if hours of sunlight plays into the ripening as it does with tomatoes...stay tuned...)

And so here we are, the first of September: air conditioner on, the forecast calls ofr triple digits tomorrow in rural Kansas, and I am contemplating pumpkin pie.

That's OK.  In the past, with three kids living in three different places (or coasts), I have made Thanksgiving Dinner in September.  One must just...make do.