Well, here it is Monday already. Today is my "catch up" day with Shenanny. She has been washing clothes and trying to get some things ready for the Saturday yard sale that she and Robin plan to have. I hope she gets more clutter out of this house so I can have room to run and explore. She needs to get the excess out of the spare bedroom as I can't get under the bed or around it to play. I love to get under beds and under buildings. They are good dens, and all canines need dens.

We took a nice walk this am. She loves to walk around the gardens and fields and observe the miracles of nature. Later, she says we will go to the woods. Right now, the snakes are still out, and the field is full of corn right up next to the woods making it hard to get there.

Here is what we observed yesterday am. She had written it down and forgot to post it. We observed about the same things again today.

"We walked around the corn field. It looks ready to harvest. Walked around the gardens, too. They are FULL of bright smiling morning glory blossoms today....blues, purples, pinks and white. Zinnias and marigolds are dying back. Some of the pumpkins are rotting and composting back into the soil. Gourds have mostly shriveled up because of the lack of rain. The last tomatoes of the season are waiting to be picked and savored. Sunflowers are bowing their bountiful heads while the blue jays gobble their seeds. A few four o'clocks have their fushia blossoms, but they are pretty well spent with the black seeds scattered all over the ground. Cosmos are still bright and standing strong.

Autumn can be a depressing time with all the dying back, but it is also a most beautiful time."

Here's a short verse which mirrors my sentiments:

There are flowers enough in the summertime,
More flowers than I can remember --
But none with the purple, gold, and red
That dyes the flowers of September!
-- Mary Howitt (1799-1888)

Shenanny hasn't figured out how to post photos here yet, but you can see LOTS of her PHOTOS here:

http://community.webshots.com/user/shenanny

Catch y'all later.

Love, Ellie, who is loving life here in the Shenandoah Valley