The Secrets of September

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. I love September! This year it feels like a real gift.

The summer did not provide the usual refreshment and rejuvenation for many reasons. The rain, the bugs, the family circumstances of this year all combined to seriously limit my time outside. I hardly dug in the earth at all and my fingernail scrub brush went almost untouched. My tools lay lonely in the sugar shack. My little boy, sadly, got less time in the yard than he desired.

We're trying to make up for it in September. It's been gorgeous. The bugs have taken off for lands unknown. The hammock has been up for several days in a row, and the forecast for the next week is, as my Arabic teacher used to say, dafi', or perfectly warm. The sky has been without clouds and the crisp night sky fairly drips with the glitter of the Milky Way. The leaves are just beginning their yearly fireworks and the tops of the Green Mountains are blushing with red.

I even planted a few things today because the weather was so nice: chrysanthemums (one of the fragrances of fall) and a few bulbs for next spring, including species tulips, crocuses, and six Persian blue alliums. The vegetable garden was not very impressive this year, but I hope to do better with the next chance I get. Now it's time to gather dried hydrangeas and lavender for the winter months, hang up the herb garden bunch by bunch, and buy another child-sized rake.