At Opposite Ends of the Lane

Sunrise

Sunset

Late Summer Dreams Along

 Where are the wet days we had in June?  The weather is warm and drowsy - the mornings thick with fog before the sun breaks through,

thick dew on the grass, spiders' webs scattered about.

A glimpse back to haymaking by the Five Mile Baptist Church ...Now they're harvesting the beans.

Forget-me-nots by a not-quite-mountain stream.

 Asters purple in the evening light. These are useful as they just colonise my flowerbeds. No need to go to Home Depot and pay for them.

And fields full of goldenrod.

 With woods behind.

And fringing the stream. If you don't like yellow, you're out of luck around here in September.

This has not been a good year for apples. The old sentry box under this tree is where children, presumably grown up now, used to wait for the school bus.

 Like a moonscape, a crop of sinister, spiky mullein,  a European import, I read.

They look like western New York's answer to cacti. Roman soldiers, apparently, used them as flaming torches.

For the Indians here, mullein was more mundane - they lined their sandals with it to keep out the cold. Speaking of which, is this strange, ghostly, mushroomy plant growing under our fir tree Indian Pipe?

Well it is an Indian summer. But alas, here's a first glimpse of red, even if it's only a sumac. These wimpy, alien trees are always the first to succumb.

The Gaggle Gathers

  Not quite in their perfect V formation yet. Sadly a sign of autumn approaching, along with drifting leaves on the grass and a chill in the mornings. The geese have been holding summer conferences on the small lake at the top of the lane but this is the first time this summer I've spied them taking off en masse. We are under the flightpath so we'll see more and more of them.

Languid Late Summer

 That candy floss in the valley over the Five Mile Baptist Church again..

 ....I just can't seem to get enough of it. It seems there have been more foggy mornings this summer than I can ever remember. The sort of morning when you really don't want to bump into them.

That's right, dear, nice and slow across the road.

The mornings are cold now, almost frosty but someone's been working hard.

Blue and white are August colours.

This was on the Allegheny River Trail in town, right by the traffic of the incongruously named Constitution Avenue. (For all its grand moniker it skirts Walmart and some railway yards.)  If only I'd come early in the morning when the sun was on them.

 An old oil well sits in a meadow, a remembrance of things past.

All the Fun of the Fair

  I didn't have my usual stint this year volunteering at the Cattaraugus County Fair. So I can't report on the delights it might have provided. I hope Smokey Joe's Pulled Pork Barbecue was still there. These American county fairs have a sweet familiarity -   Western New York meets The Archers  (for the benefit of my American friends, a legendary and long-running radio soap about life in an English village). There are the pony classes

 (though I wish someone would explain to me why they wear those garters under their knees), the flower and produce, farm animals, arts and crafts, the works, with the addition of some exotica like demolition derbies and Swifty Swine the Racing Pigs and all swathed in the nostalgic scents of new mown grass and a hundred different kinds of deep fried food.

Erie County Fair, held in Hamburg, about an hour to the north of us (see, Americans don't need to travel far to go abroad) is the biggest such event in these parts and for some real insights into American Fair fare (now, apparently, the Latest Big Thing among Foodies) I defer to my friend Mary Kunz Goldman of the Buffalo News. For those with a sense of adventure, she suggests this foodie photo gallery  which, if nothing else, will tell you that, despite deceptive similarities with Blighty, we really are in America. And you thought deep-fried Mars bars were outrageous. They are cuisine minceur exemplified compared to this. Chocolate-covered bacon is, arguably, the healthiest option. That or deep fried avocado.  Incidentally, the vast crowds attending Erie County Fair also included several presidential contenders sporting pinnies and showing off their prowess at barbecuing pork chops. (Sorry, Swifty Swine). They know their public.

Disney on the Lane Again

 Sometimes western New York mornings are just too sweet for words...

Meanwhile Back in the Jungle

Things, though I say it myself

 Are progressing reasonably well.

 The weather seems to have adjusted itself to the very practical arrangement of mostly sunny and a little thunderstorm or two when you need it.

Unfortunately most of the tomatoes' confreres parted company with the vine, due to too many over-zealous support attempts on my part. The red one may prove to be a success though. Just a few more days. Hold tight!

The Obedient Plant is doing as its told

And the hardy hydrangea makes up for the one that never ever blooms, no matter how much I talk to it ala Prince Charles.

This year I refused to surrender the petunias to the slugs and they are hanging in there.

Not American-neat but it'll do.