WATER COOLER CHATTER

happened to be in the office today where we gathered around the watering hole...mr. house finch stayed quite a while... well, for him...

mr. sparrow is ever so bold...
suddenly the leaves are dropping off the trees and it makes one thirsty...

PURPLEY SUNSET

harvested my meager beets (and 1 parsnip!) we're having them for dinner tonight.
purpley sunset today
the potager... there are 4 more tomatoes and it should be warm enough to ripen them this week.

OCTOBER COLORS

the leaves are just turning... palisades on the hudson...
sugar pond...

new echinacea 'macaroni & cheese' opening...
new echinacea 'green jewel'
my favorite marigold, 'jolly jester'
dwarf oakleaf hydrangea
luna posing...
clematis 'roguchi' seed head
and some spring-like colors... asters and mums...

CLINGING TO SUMMER

though summer ended last month, wonderful daytime temps have brought out this bee, clinging to the echinacea for all it's worth...slanted fall sun knifes through the blood grass...
mums are just popping open...
i just bought this mountain mint, so pretty and the deer avoid it...
nicotania brightens the potager...
the potager heading towards winter... masses of marigolds glow... tomatoes blush, and then i bring them into the house to ripen, rainbow chard is still going strong, cabbages are beginning to form heads...

FIRE TRUCKS!!!

our local volunteer fire department celebrated its 100th anniversary, and all of westchester county came to celebrate:
fire trucks galore!
my favorite photo from the parade...
our neighbor, t...
our town's new hook and ladder truck, which has blue led lights all the way up the ladder...
people who don't look very indian....
fire bikes?
volunteer fireman in the making...
above the knee sock tats were the rage...
irvington's literary-themed fire truck...
old fire chief's truck from tarrytown...
tarrytown lost two fire fighters last month in a gas accident... this was the only sad part of the parade...
i think this was nyack's truck with a painting of an 1834 truck...
and here's an actual truck from the 1800's...
even the drums were old... the drummer told me this one is over 50 years old...
scarsdale's 1946 truck...
the drummer who's drum is pictured above...
wow, now this is a classy old truck...
looked good coming and going...
the parade made its way down to the hudson river... crossing the bridge over the metro north tracks affords a nice view...
two ladder trucks hold up our flag at the end of the parade.

OSPREY VISIT

the osprey visited us again this year, though much later and more briefly. i was watching him and got lucky; he spread his wings for me...the potager is mellowing. recent produce is limited to tomatoes, chard, kale and....
butternut squash! what an easy and rewarding thing to grow. one only needs protect the ripe squash from the squirrels, as butternuts do no get vine borers. i had 4 plants yeild about 7 squash. (one plant developed blossom end rot.)

VISITORS FROM AFAR

thanks to my brother for identifying this visitor, and ailanthus webworm, visiting from the tropics. apparently these tropical moths sometimes travel as far as eastern canada, though they do not survive northern winters. have my nothern ny or canadian friends ever seen one?
at 11pm on my birthday last week, the night-blooming cereus put on a 3 bloom show. only my daughter, her friend and i were there to see and smell this once-a-year bloomer.