As we head into Labor Day weekend even I have to admit summer is over. The night-time temperatures have dropped into the 40’s. Can you hear that noise? It’s me whining. 🙂
The gardens are still looking good, and I’m still giving tomatoes away as fast as I can.
I’ve been moving some plants around because that’s what gardeners do. We get them just right, and then the next gardening season arrives, and a great need arises from within to tweak the plan just a bit. 🙂 Next week I start the big dig for the fall potting party for our 2018 Master Gardener plant sale.
We’ve also been doing a little DIY in the form of adding an extra brace to our raspberry support, painting everything, installing new support wire, and painting and installing some trellises for the new blackberry bushes. We’re also sanding and painting our front door, side door and a variety of trim pieces. Time to buckle everything up before the winter.
Last week, we were up in the lakes region visiting friends and stopped to snap a photo of this beautiful barn. You don’t see many fully restored barns painted lavender, orange and gold, but it is beautiful. Consider this my Thursday Doors contribution, so you’re getting a holiday break from me. 🙂
With the long weekend and the throng of tourists, we stay close to home. I’ve got a couple of sewing projects, a good book, and I’m guessing we will visit the park for a picnic and a little time in the sun by the water. Life is good.
Now, if we could just wave a magic wand and ask Mother Nature to turn off the water tap in Texas and surrounding areas and give our fellow citizens a break. We have family in Houston, and thankfully they are all well and dry. Once there is a break in this terrible deluge, may the many thousands affected have the ability to get back home and the strength to get their lives and homes back on track. Labor Day – I think that may be exactly what it will be this weekend for them.
Have a good weekend, enjoy yourselves, and stay safe. 💗
Linked to Norm Frampton’s Thursday Doors, August 31, 2017, being hosted this week by Jolene Mottern. Thursday Doors is a worldly adventure – Canada one week and Indianapolis the next. 🙂 Check it out.
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NewEnglandGardenAndThread 
I wish I was close enough to get a few of your tomatoes. Hope you have a fun-filled Labor Day.
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I’d be thrilled to share. It has been a bumper year here for tomatoes. 🙂
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me too – something about homegrown tomatoes!
🙂
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Sounds like you’re living up to “Labor” Day yourself! Great barn. Love the color combination.
I echo your sentiments regarding our Texas neighbors. What a tragedy. Hope the authorities don’t let this turn into another aftermath like Katrina and Sandy.
Wishing you and Dennis a relaxing, enjoyable holiday weekend. And I hope it marks the end of the seemingly endless health issues you’ve been dealing with.
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Hope you have good weather and a relaxing weekend. 🙂
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I love that barn! And I wish I had some of your tomatoes! Here in Georgia it will still be summer for a while. Sending prayers for all of the Texans affected by the storm and wishing them a quick recovery.
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Beautiful barn…kudos to the owner for it being so well kept.
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That barn is stunning! We, too, are staying close to home over Labor Day weekend. Friends are coming over for dinner on Saturday, and weather permitting, there will be bike rides.
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The barn is beautiful. Don’t give up on Summer, Judy. I told my wife (yesterday) that we will still have our share of warm weather. She tells me the squirrels are preparing for winter.
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Me too for tomatoes! I love them. Those little sweet 100’s…I pop em in mouth like they’re candy. I do! Miam!!
The flowers look beautiful, and you do sound busy, but happy.
I hope the rains stops in TX too, and they come back stronger than ever, and I hope you have a wonderful Holiday week-end!
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Love the flowers!
So glad your family is safe and yes I sure wish we did have a magic wand to wave over Texas, can’t imagine how the people there feel.
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Who would have thought that a color combination that sounds so bizarre on paper would be so New England-ish appealing? The barn looks so warm and inviting!
I am not tired of summer by any means, but the thought of pumpkins and quilts and mums does excite me. Among all my seasonal decorations, I find the most satisfaction in bringing those out. I can identify with your “nesting instinct” – reading and sewing and the return of some favorite tv series helps me deal with colder temps ahead.
Your floral collage is magnificent! – color wheel tints, tones, and shades in the red and violet families!
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I’ll bet your artistic pulse quickened at the colors on that barn. 🙂 Fall is a wonderful time of year for you and your band of merry and beautiful grandchildren. I can only imagine how fast your creative mind works coming up with new adventures for them. Fun times.
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Beautiful photos — Gorgeous tomatoes! I like the barn, I do. I feel like I’d like a person who chose those colors.
We’re still in the 80s with overnight lows in the 60s, here.
I hope you enjoy your peaceful weekend 🙂
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I’m with you – that would be one interesting person to talk with and listen to how they came up with those colors. They work – it’s a beauty. 🙂
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Don’t blame you for whining Judy. Looks like you’ve had a great summer though. Love the beauty of the restored barn.
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I’m never ready for fall. 🙂
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I love the lavender and gold combination. With the red/orange door, it’s a winner 🙂
I’m in awe of your energy and enthusiasm in the garden. I look at mine and think, yeah, I should do something, but there’s always something else I’d rather do 😉
I’m in denial and still counting on many more days of near summer-like weather.
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You may not be gardening but you’ve sure been getting your exercise in other exciting ways. 🙂
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I can’t argue with you on that point … but I’m willing to guess your yard looks so much nicer than mine 🙂
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I lust for some of your tomatoes, Judy. I have a great idea. Why don’t you pack up a bunch and come visit us in the Chicago area? You could stay here and take the train into the big city if you wanted and summer is still in force here: upper 70’s during the day, cool enough to sleep with windows open and a light blanket at night. What’s not to like? As for rain, I’d be happy to take an inch or two here just to help out. What a disaster!!
janet
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Now, that sounds like a plan. I’ve been to Chicago many times, enjoyed it immensely, but it’s been a long time since I strolled along the Magnificent Mile. 🙂 We are as dry as a bone up here. We don’t have drought conditions, but we haven’t seen rain in quite a while.
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Tell me when you’re arriving. 😊
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You are NOT the only one whining. Garry is busily bemoaning having to put away the boat shoes and shorts. But I do love autumn, so while I’ve got this niggling, nervous mental thing in my head (how BAD will the winter be this year?), I’m planning to enjoy whatever autumn time we get.
I think August has been our driest month this year. I hope it stays like this for a few weeks, at least.
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This has been a very cool August overall. This is our second break / cooler weather this month.
I am trying to convince myself to enjoy every minute of these low temperature days ( 77-81 highs ) because I imagine that a heat wave will return soon.
That is one fun paint job on that barn!! 🙂 Enjoying tomatoes here as well / split between me and the family down the road 🙂
Your blooms are beautiful! 🙂
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That barn sure is a beauty!
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Lovely pictures! Summer (the local’s summer when the kids go back to school and the tourists leave) is just starting here. We have some of our best weather August – mid-October. But then, we don’t have your beautiful turning of the leaves. It’s all a trade-off, I guess.
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When the tourists leave, you can probably return to your favorite haunts and not stand in line. 🙂
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Nice photos of your flowers! Yes, I wish Mother Nature would spread the rainfall across more states instead of just concentrating it on Texas and now Louisiana.
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Oh, those late-summer colors! They seem to have gathered sun and warmth from the whole summer — your garden must be glorious right now. A proper send-off into the colors of autumn. And I refuse to think about what comes next (I’m not ready). That barn is a gem. As to the sound of your whining, yes, I did hear it, and I’m wondering if you heard the sound of my laughing out loud when I read it.
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Now that’s a barn with style! Our garden, here in Western PA, is fading fast. We do have a bumper “crop”of Monarch caterpillars this year. I, too, have plans for moving plants and starting new beds. It’s an affliction.
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Affliction is a good word for it. 🙂 I’m so glad you had a great crop of Monarchs. I’ve seen one, and I was doing the happy dance that day. 🙂
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Oh that flora and those colors! Lovely! I, too, am seeing the slowdown and changes of late summer in the garden. It’s such a short season in New England, yes?
And, my heart goes out to those brave responders, citizens, and all those animals that I see over and over in the Texas news. 💔
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Yes, winter goes on and on and summer is gone in a wink. 🙂 But, I do think that has something to do with my age. 🙂
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So that’s it. I can REALLY identify.
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That is one well cared for barn. Beautiful! I am going to miss the flowers.
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Your gardening skills never cease to amaze me! While you’re talking to Mother Nature could you also ask her to turn down the heat on this side of the country. But I would rather have this heat than what Texans are going through.
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wow – they picked such unique colors for the restored barn – and good for them for changing it up – 🙂
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Happy Labor day! (not sure if it has passed already) I love the barn, and your garden is looking very good….and it is the end of summer. Reading your posts on getting ready for winter makes me feel like a wimp (as we would say in Australia) because we just don’t have to put so much work in…good luck with it all….makes me get out a work a bit harder in the garden!.
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That other whining sound is from me.
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We also have had a bumper crop of tomatoes. Fortunately tomatoes–unlike zucchini–always seem to be welcomed by others! Have a lovely Labor Day weekend, Judy.
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Just heard from one cousin in Winnie, Tx who returned home today. She was so relieved it never reached her floor. Water is still ankle deep and she said it’s good to see grass again, but was trying to figure out how to rid the musty smell from the air. Her poor car is a loss I think so hopefully her insurance will help out. Waiting to hear from others.
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Glad your cousin survived household damage. I’m guessing none of us are going to be wanting to buy any used cars coming from Texas. 🙂
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Truer words as they say!
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Beautiful garden photos. We’ve just had the fourth warmest winter on record and Spring has started out very nicely. But, unlike Texas, it is so dry here. We haven’t had any rain for months.
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I agree Judy – very unusual paint job but how fun! Doesn’t it make you want to meet the owners?! Enjoy the holiday. I’m with you, a great time to stay at home!!!
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Oh, you are so productive–you remind me of all the jobs that are undone here, in this difficult summer! Luckily, the weather will allow for outdoor work for a bit longer . . .
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I have been working outside with a light jacket on. Who knew it would arrive so soon. 🙂
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Beautiful photos! Enjoy your holiday weekend!
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I want to be sufficiently close to get a couple of your tomatoes. Expectation you have a ton of fun filled Labor Day.
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I also have extended family in that area with extensive flooding. Sending all the best thoughts to yours for recovery.
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Hope your family did okay. 🙂
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They will rise above this, thank you.
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