Fall Classic – This Old House 2

That was the name of the horse show this past weekend…The Fall Classic.

Well.. on Thursday? It felt like anything but Fall. We were sweating like menopausal women in a steam room, all day, I kid you not. Of course, some of us WERE menopausal women, but even the kids were dripping. It was YUCK. BUT… my girl pulled up her big girl boots and chaps and hat and jacket and went out there and wowed us – even got a third place in several of her classes. Leah was a trooper, too – such a kind and good minded mare. Amen.

By Saturday, when the husband had to fill in for me because I was running an artisan market here in town with a fantastic co-manager, the temps had dropped enough that people were wearing light jackets…

We’re home for a week to catch up on work and house cleaning and laundry and bill paying and then we’re off to another show in Syracuse for five days. After that we’ll take a break and practice at home until next April. Amen again.

Meanwhile.. I’ve been harvesting the last of my little garden plots – the Zinnia seeds I was gifted by Hilary of Crazy as a Loom produced a stunning array of color, still going strong. The artichokes that we left on the vine have blossomed – have you ever seen artichokes bloom? WOW! They’d be a great accent in borders! My purple pepper experiment was a good one – the sweet peppers are gentle on the digestive tract and so pretty – ending up in a variety of colors. I’ll grow them again next year, I loved adding them to the fry pan, sauteeing with onions, eggplant, tomatoes, potatoes and sweet italian sausage. Alittle S & P, oregano, butter in the bottom of the pan – delish!

After a few fall-like days, the humidity has returned, most likely due to the storms out in the Atlantic. Wishing all in the storm’s path safety and no damage to properties, hoping it is not as bad as they have predicted. Our storm surges down at the cottage have been big already, and it’s not even hitting us directly. We’ve pulled in the kayaks and seat cushions and umbrellas and closed all windows. This picture was taken yesterday after a rain shower – Stella (our cottage) is just under the rainbow’s end on the left, tucked in the trees. Notice Filbert the flamingo, now a little droopy – still out there to weather the .. weather.

I’m admiring the tenacity of this lone sunflower too. The pot sits beside the gate to the horse barn, and this one flower decided to stretch for the sun as tall as it could muster, as the pot is mostly in the shade.