September 11, 2014.

Has it really been 13 years? Yes.

Today I am seeing my first signs of the fall season. Two I noticed for the first time. The third I had noticed subconsciously.

Not that it feels like fall. As I write it is 91 degrees on my patio in the shade, agreeing with Weather Intellicast which reports that with the high humidity it actually feels like 96. If anything it was worse this morning when I was out trying to get in a bit more mowing before the (promised and hoped for) weekend rains. I was on my walkabout to determine yard work priorities when I spotted my first sign of fall: the goldenrod is right on the verge of turning yellow!


And then, after mowing was done for the day, I discovered the first blooms on the morning glory vines on the bank to the west of my back yard.
That third sign was coming to the realization that I have had no new wasp nests in my garage since I last sprayed 6 or 7 about 3 weeks back. (My reverence for life does not include the wasps that build in my garage. Nor does it cover fire ants, 5 new mounds of which I treated just this morning.)





The gingko will not look this green again until late next spring. A major theme of this section of SEASONS  will be how this green pales down and then turns into a brilliant yellow.






I don't care what the thermometer says: summer in Sawyerville is definitely on the way out and fall is coming.




September 14. It would have been my father's 116th birthday. Yesterday would have been my Cousin Steve's 97th birthday, had he lived just 2 and a half weeks longer.

In honor of the weekend's anniversaries, let's have a few shots of the late afternoon light as it strikes the trees down in my woods






And while we're at it, maybe a shot of the light on the trees on the west side of the county road heading south by my house and yard.
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September 17.

Finally a very few spider lily spikes have shot up out of the ground. They weren't there yesterday. We did have 2/10ths of rain Monday afternoon: maybe that gave them the impetus to leap out into view.

I discovered these after lunch with my sister and a cousin at the Pie Lab (I had the grilled chicken salad and a slice of coconut cream pie: good). When I got home I went on walkabout to decide whether and what yard work would call out to me. I made note of several things, but an attack of dripping and sneezing made me decide to postpone until tomorrow.  This is as good a place as any to remark that I have had a runny nose ever since my big allergy attack on Easter Sunday afternoon. When I was taking nasal sprays during my subsequent period of deafness, I thought the dripping was encouraged by the medications. When it continued, I have begun to think that maybe it results from unexpected plant growth further north than we are used to. Or not.

Only a hint of the rust-red blooms that give the plant its name can be detected at present. But just wait a few days!
And the goldenrod is definitely more yellow than before, but it still has not reached the vivid shade of its name.
September 19: my first spider lily in full bloom! And more coming.



The ageratum has also started to bloom. When that as well as the spider lily is in bloom, I know the autumn is definitely on the way.
On the bank beside the county road the morning glories are doing their thing. You have to get out there early in the morning dew to get pictures of them. They close up pretty quickly after the sun hits them.
But there are still lingering reminders of summer. Those four-o'clocks just won't quit! I first posted photos of them in early June, more than 3 months back. The bushes are getting pretty straggly, though. (I just love those plants that keep coming back. Like these and the spider lilies and the ageratum.)
September 20, and the goldenrod is definitely moving in the right direction. What a difference 3 days makes!
September 24.

Hard to get the shots today because of my bum right knee. But I hobbled out onto the bank by the road to check on the morning glories.
It was relatively easy to hobble down the hill to check on the spider lilies. Coming back up the hill posed more of a problem. Usually the yard is filled with yellow butterflies at the time the spider lilies are blooming. So far not many butterflies this year. I'd like to capture a shot of one on a spider lily, but so far not a single one has let me get close enough.
Goldenrod is starting to live up to its name. (The fuzzy shot on the right is included only because of the honeybee at the very top. I've had such a few that I want to show off the ones I've photographed.)
A fond farewell to the clematis. This to the east of the patio is the last bit I have in bloom. I had pulled so much from this bush earlier in the summer, and I guess because of that this vine got a later start.

Since yesterday we have actually been in official Autumn. The weather has started to turn a bit more fall-like. Lately morning temperatures have been about 60 or lower. Warm afternoons continue, though. Rains, possibly thunderstorms, promised for Sunday and Monday. The general forecast for Autumn in this area involves warmer temperatures and more moisture than usual.

September 25.




More spider lilies. They're starting to open with some degree of profusion now.




After I got home from Pie Lab lunch (pork loin wrapped in bacon, macaroni and cheese, green lima beans cooked with bacon, coconut cream pie) I looked out the office window and discovered that yellow butterflies were flitting about the spider lilies.  As you will see below, I managed to get a couple of shots, although one of them was hastening away when it became aware of me. I guess I'm finally getting enough spider lilies in the yard to make it worth their while to flit about.



Fall 1962, my first year in New York, was the first year I missed the spider lilies and yellow butterflies, and I can recall the degree of homesickness I felt momentarily when my mother wrote me about how many of both there were in the yard.






Earlier in the morning I had gone out to check on the morning glories. The vines obviously like this old crepe myrtle tree beside the county road. This particularly crepe myrtle doesn't bloom much because it gets too much shade, but still it serves a purpose.


I'm not sure I'll get any more shots of these flowers this year. In any case, I suspect they are probably at their peak. Below is a shot of them on the bank.




The county road itself looks especially attractive in the morning light.



Yes, more spider lilies (and no doubt more to come). These are from the row at the bottom of the hill on the east side of the house.



The goldenrod is more yellow than ever, especially with the blue sky behind.
September 26. I've had lunch, light as I promised myself after yesterday's indulgences. Not only the big Pie Lab lunch but supper at Here Kitty Kitty with 2 favorite cousins. Fried everything, except for the salad and the coleslaw. Think of where the lesser characters in Deliverance would have gone for fine dining. Anyway, I looked out, and when I saw that the sunny morning had turned to clouds, I decided I'd better go out and capture a few more shots, Just In Case! Cloudy weekend forecast with a stormy Sunday!



The goldenrod still looks good with darker skies behind. 

Once upon a time goldenrod was the state flower of Alabama. At some point garden club members who thought it "common" pushed for something more elegant: the Japonica. Then WW2 started, and that name seemed unpatriotic. What to do? A simple solution: refer to it only by the other part of its name: the camellia.







I think the yellow of the goldenrod makes a nice contrast to the row of spider lilies at the bottom of the hill.

My grass, you'll note, is surprisingly green for late September.

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This row of spider lilies is just inside the fence to the west of the house. I had wondered when, even if, these would show up this year. Maybe those four o'clocks had crowded them out. But look what happened overnight! All of these spikes and the few blooms just suddenly appeared. None of them were showing yesterday.

Along with spider lilies we also have spiders. Great big garden spiders that spin webs between bushes exactly where you are tempted to walk. It is disconcerting to walk suddenly into one of these webs. As a child that would throw me into serious panic. The horror! Now it is more of just shock and irritation that I had not been more careful. I still don't like the feel of spiderweb on my flesh. Back in the days when I would accompany Huckleberry or Roscoe on their evening walks through the yard at night, I'd always hold a "spider stick" out in front of me to run into the webs before I did. Sometimes I think it a habit worth resuming, even in the daytime.

It will be interesting to see what the weekend storms do to the goldenrod and the spider lilies. Will they be beaten down? Or will they be encouraged to new heights? To be continued.

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September 27. The month is rapidly moving toward the end. Looking out the office window a few minutes ago, I came to the realization that chances are I will not have as many spider lilies in bloom again at one time this fall, and I decided that I should try to document something of the number now in bloom.



Ageratum is still in bloom. The smallness and fuzziness of the blossoms makes it hard take a photograph that does it justice, particularly its lovely bluish purple color.
The sky has been doing variations on this all day, getting ready for tomorrow's promised rains. There is actually the possibility of a day and a half fr steady rain. We could use it.



September 29. Blue skies shining on me, nothing but blue skies do I see . . . Well, a few white cottony puffs are up there as well. The thunderstorms predicted for Sunday never came. They got postponed until Monday morning, and they never came. Now they say Thursday . . . There was not even any dew on the grass this morning.

When I was a child, I thought Berlin's song was a happy one. In my more mature (or older) years I realized that it was not. Rueful and sad, like A. E. Housman.
This morning I decided to show you the views looking out of my house this time of year. On the left, out the kitchen window. On the right, out the office window. Of course the screen has muddied them up a bit.
This spider lily popped up among the morning glories to the west of the yard . . .
. . . and these volunteered way off down in the woods by themselves.



Not having the predicted rainstorms of yesterday, both the spider lilies and the golden rod are still very much with us. But I suspect their days too are winding down to a precious few.



September is almost over. What with the OLLI-sponsored Hungarian supper at the Pie Lab tonight, the need for yardwork tomorrow, a funeral in Jasper on Wednesday, a foraging expedition to Tuscaloosa on Thursday, thunderstorms (yet again!) predicted for Friday, looks like my week is going to be full enough. Perhaps this is as good a time as any to close down this chapter of Autumn in Sawyerville.

But we do have things to look forward to. The changes in the gingko as fall moves along. The gradual turning of the leaves, not as spectacular in west central Alabama as in the northern states, but still nice in its own way. October's bright blue weather and the gray moods of November  (or possibly the other way around: fall can be unpredictable). So until we meet again, blessings and cheer to one and all!