LATE SUMMER IN THE CITY and COUNTRY

It's been hot -- for here in western Oregon -- reaching the high 90s on a couple of days last week.  It doesn't even reach those temperatures until mid-afternoon; mornings have only been in the mid-70s at the highest.   That's not bad compared to most other places in the country.    It's all relative.  Still, I'm grateful for our air-conditioner.    A/C isn't necessarily a given around here.    

 

 

 I walked the path along the top of Fern Ridge Dam one morning.   You can tell we haven't had rain for a while.  It's dry out there.   Bill is working on a project at "the barn" (our daughter and son-in-law's).  The dam road is in walking distance of their house, so he let me out at the far end and I got a nice morning walk with different scenery before spending a few hours visiting.

 

We never seem to leave their house without something from the garden.   On this day, it was a huge bucket of cherry tomatoes -- as sweet as candy.    It would be more than enough just to have the time to visit, but these were a lovely bonus.  Nothing tastes as good as a homegrown tomato!  

 

 

 

Their young hens have started to produce.  Cyndi says the first few times the eggs they lay are small.  I guess they have to practice.  I'm  fascinated by the natural  Easter Egg colors.

 

This is from the normal, every-day walk in our neighborhood. Apparently Eugene has gypsy moths again -- There are insect traps in a few yards and along the river paths.    Summer flowers are just about gone and I didn't see many of the Autumn ones  yet -- it's kind of an in-between season.    The tree with the sign is on the parking strip in a residential neighborhood.  

 

 

It's a notice that the City is going to remove the tree because it is diseased.  It says they are going to replace it.   Interesting to know that they won't just come in and chop down trees  -- they will let you know first and, apparently, in plenty of time.    (It says it will be removed after July 28 -- I took this picture earlier, but the sign was still there yesterday.)  

 

 

The birds were just the usual suspects.    I see mallards every time I walk in the neighborhood.  The Western Grebes, the scruffy scrub jay, and the ever-present Canada geese were on the dam walk.

 

 

This was on a different day out at the farm.   It was an informal family gathering and a gender reveal party -- these three (our great-grandsons)  now know they are expecting a sister!  The "smoke" (some kind of powder) in the middle picture came out of a baseball hit by one of the big boys.  It looked pinker in real life -- that's how the announcement was made to all of us.    The family is excited and we are happy for them.  (Our family leans toward boys.  We have three sons and one daughter; four grandsons and two granddaughters, and  five great-grandsons (two others are cousins to this bunch!)  So pink was kind of exciting.)   

 

 

Even if it's hot, Fall is definitely in the air!  The smell of apples ripening on the trees always makes me think of back to school and canning and making jam -- all the Autumn stuff we don't do any more. (I'm not actually sure if anybody is going to do the back-to-school thing here this Fall.)    In any case, all those things are fun to remember.    And I like seeing the seasons change.   It's a different world and a new normal, but life is still  good!

 

Thank you to the hosts  of the following sharing opportunities:

MOSAIC MONDAY;  NATURE NOTES;  THROUGH MY LENS;   OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY;  SIGNS SIGNS;  MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; THANKFUL THURSDAY;  SKYWATCH FRIDAY;  FRIDAY  BLISS;  and  SATURDAY CRITTERS;

 

 

 

Comments

[riitta k]

Gorgeous tomatoes & late summer impressions - cute kids. I'm so late in commenting, as I am exhausted due to clearing & renovating my home. This is going to last for a few weeks! Hopefully I'll survive.

[mae]

It’s scary to see all the signs that summer is almost over. We feel shut-in now, can’t imagine how winter will feel. Are you going back to Florida?

be well... mae at maefood.blogspot.com

[EileeninMD]

Hello Sallie,
It is fun to gather with your family. Love all the birds, especially the Grebe and Jay. The tomatoes look yummy. Congrats on the great-granddaughter..It will be nice for the boys to have a sister. Thank you for linking up and sharing your post. Enjoy your day, have a great weekend. PS, thanks for visiting my blog and for the comment.

[Anu]

Hello. Lovely post. Wonderful photos. Colors of eggs are awesome.
Thank you for sharing. Have a great weekend.

[Gaelyn]

I'm drooling over the homegrown tomatoes. How fortunate to have fun family visits and come home with garden fresh as well. Congrats on the new girl coming.

[Peter B.]

I love the shot of the little one holding the bat upside down. Precious memories! Those tomatoes look delicious.

[Aritha]

I love your photos. And the apples photo is nice above all.

[Linda Walcroft]

Delightful post! You are fortunate to have grandchildren.

[EileeninMD]

Stopping back to say Happy Belated Birthday!

[Colleen@ LOOSELEAFNOTES]

We already had our heat wave. Now we can feel fall in the air. We had Araucana chickens that laid green eggs. One of the best tasting eggs with golden yokes

[Himawan Sant]

I was impressed by the three different colors of the egg. Never thought before that if eggs of different colors were put in one container, the combined appearance of the colors would be so beautiful.

Greetings.

[Iris Flavia]

Please do not hate me but high 90s sounds wonderful to me!
Wow, the egg colours are awesome! The squirrel :-)
Yes, here they put it in the online news when chopping down trees. No idea why? I´ve never seen a person lying there (cars can´t park there).

Ohhhh. Now is that good or bad to have three big Brothers??? LOL.

[betty - NZ]

Another fine walk full of things to photograph! My mouth is watering looking at the basket of tomatoes :)

Your link is a wonderful addition to 'My Corner of the World'!! Thanks for being here this week.

[DeniseinVA]

Hi Sallie, this is a very pretty area to walk around. How exciting to hear that you will be getting another granddaughter and a very cute way to announce it. Fun to see your family enjoying themselves. I enjoy your collages. The tomatoes look delicious and I thought those were dyed eggs at first, very pretty! I remember our area was sprayed for Gypsy Moths years ago. The first leaf dropped off the tree yesterday. It's as though they know that Fall is in the air, and the weather is a tad cooler here in my part of Virginia. I am looking forward to Fall. Thank you for another great post. I loved the last sentence.

[Jim, Sydney, Australia]

The eggs look great.

[Tanza Erlambang]

Love cherry tomatoes, little bit sweet....and fresh egg is my favorite...

As usual, thank you for sharing your beautiful photos.

[Photo Cache]

Hello, long time. We beat your 90F with our contant 100s, sigh. Then we got weird weather with lightning and thunder. Lightning sparked some wildfires. So here we are in Cali battling the virus and wildfires, sigh.

On a good note, I've been harvesting buckets of cherry tomatoes too, our first cherry tomato plant.

Take care.

[Lady Fi]

What a lovely walk - and visit! Those cherry tomatoes look absolutely delicious. And happy birthday today!

[Veronica Lee]

Those cherry tomatoes look amazing!

Loving your photos as always, Sallie!

[NatureFootstep]

you had a wonderful morning walk. Loved to see the cherry tomatoes they look so tasty. And what wonderful colors of the eggs. That is something you don´t see every day. :)

And then the birds, love the grebes they are favorites of mine.

Take care!

[Su-sieee! Mac]

I'm with you, Sallie. Life is good even with the new normal of wearing masks and social distancing.

Not having children, I live vicariously through friends who do. Grands and great-grands, very awesome!

I'm drooling looking at the picture of the tomatoes. They're so red, no doubt, they're bursting with flavor. Lucky you!

[Bob Bushell]

Beautiful weather, beautiful pond life, oh yes, it's nice to be out. But, the weather is too much.

[bill burke]

Nice mosaics, Sallie and I love your photos. Congrats on the future new arrival. My daughter said the temps in Portland reached 100 one day last week. Way too hot for me. We are experiencing some humid weather right now. It began last week and it will be ending hopefully this week. Thanks for sharing and have a wonderful week. Stay safe and stay cool!

[Rain Frances]

Oh I love the photos of the tomatoes and the eggs! So colourful! My tomatoes are really late this year. I found a tomato farm so I'll be buying them to can for the winter. Fall is definitely in the air! I have a hankerin' to make some jam now! :)

[Sami]

Congratulations on the future great-granddaughter, how exciting.
Those home grown cherry tomatoes and the pastel eggs are a treat.
Beautiful collages :)

[Amy Franks]

Love free range eggs, we buy them over cage eggs. But it must be nice for you to be able to have family gatherings with the fine weather there.

[Sandra Nachlinger]

I live a little bit south of Seattle and as the summers get warmer, I'm more and more thankful we had air conditioning installed. Many of my friends don't have that luxury.
Thank you for sharing your beautiful photos. Those tomatoes look yummy.

[Beatrice P Boyd]

Hi Sallie, the heat has let up here in nashua, NH since the weekend and now it feels more like fall, soon we may see New England foliage! It's wonderful to turn off our Ac and open the windows in our mill apt and we have nice breezes and the Nashua River below. Those tomatoes and the eggs were such lovely colors, almost too good to eat :-) but sure to be delicious. Congrats to your family on the soon-to-be newest member and she will surely have several brothers to look up to. Nice that the city of Eugene will replace trees cut down because of the moth invasions. And, many thanks for your visit and comment on my blog. I would like to include your blog on my side bar so I can return for visits and also others may visit.

[Sylvia D.]

Sallie, I love the Easter colored eggs. I have another person I follow which has chickens laying these eggs! Have a great week. Sylvia D.

[Debbie]

those fresh eggs are so beautiful and they will taste amazing!! as will those pretty tomatoes. i have only received a few tomatoes from my garden, the squirrels have eaten the rest. i have never had this problem before and as you can imagine, i am not too happy about it!!

how nice that they will be replacing the tree. when one comes down, one should always be planted!!!

it's been super hot here as well. the pool water is 92 degrees, not refreshing at all, not that we have any time to enjoy it. i am ready to say good-by to summer and i am also ready to say good bye to 2020, i have not enjoyed it one bit!!!

[Dawn aka Spatulas On Parade]

Yum fresh tomatoes and eggs, nothing better.
Congrats! Another girl to help even things out.
Dawn aka Spatulas On Parade

[Alan Bates]

They do similar notices of tree removal here in Tulsa. Cutting trees in parks and other public areas tends to unite the left and the right here so the city provides lots of notice.
A/C is definitely a thing here!!
Congrats on the new baby that is coming!!

[ellen b.]

How exciting to be expecting a little sister for those boys. fun. Those eggs are so pretty and there is nothing like a tomato fresh off the vines! How nice that you are close enough to enjoy family.
Nice mosaics. Stay cool. We are getting upwards toward a 100 today. eeek!

[Stevenson Que]

Sally! I nearly jumped off my seat with those colorful tomatoes! HOW LOVELY! They look fresh and flawless! plus those eggs of different shades on the shell, love them! Takes me back to pastel easter egg hunts :) Sending you hugs dearest Sallie!

[Sondra]

Congrats on the girl....And I loved all the fruits and veg and eggs in your post we all need to get back to being sustainable. Im guessing no Florida this winter?

[David Gascoigne]

WhenI look at those wonderful tomatoes, Sallie, to say nothing of the eggs, if I lived close by I would shamelessly knock on your door and beg!! We too have had a hot summer, but thankfully the last few days have not been quite so oppressive. Hot weather and David don't get along well together. I can hardly wait for the cool freshness of autumn and even a cold wind in my face. Being in a permanent sweat is not my idea of pleasure.

[Lavender Dremas]

Pink is very exciting! I'm so happy for you! My husband and I have 5 sons and 1 daughter....and 5 grandsons and 1 granddaughter. Isn't that funny how that worked out...well, so far! heehee! Love your photos of a beautiful place to live. What? No bugs? Hmmmmm!!!! How much fun could that be? lol

[Cathy Keller]

I do so enjoy your posts! I can't complain aout the heat here in southwestern IN for this summer has been mild even with the humidity! For that I am truly grateful! Thank you for this enjoyable post!

[Wally Jones]

Thoroughly enjoyed this post, Sallie!

What a lovely collection of images. Home, family - THAT'S what it's all about!

[Martha]

All of your photos are fantastic! Those tomatoes made my mouth water. Congrats on the pink, that's awesome! Have a great week :)

[Angie]

Sallie - so much about this post to enjoy - I am always drawn to food pictures so I loved the look of the apples and cherry tomatoes! It has been hot here, too. Today we are going kayaking with the whole family - being on the river is an awesome way to beat the heat! Thanks for linking up to Mosaic Monday!

[Jennifer A. Jilks]

My goodness. I'd left, and came back to your post. I forgot to congratulate you on the newest to come!

[Jennifer A. Jilks]

Those eggs are a hoot!
Great photos, all.
I'm so grateful for our A/C.

[Diane]

Lovely set of photos. Have a good week and stay safe. Diane

[Maggie Bryant]

Congratulations on the soon to arrive new great grand daughter, woo hoo!
We're seeing signs of summer coming to an end, even though it never really arrived if you know what I mean? Trees are putting out berries for the birds and leaves are beginning to fall. The SP reported that the lane behind our home has plenty of blackberries
so I may be making bramble jam this week once it stops raining.

[// Heidrun]

Indeed, it's hot and humid here too. Today we have some rain.. it's to less. I enjoyed reading. Thank you for sharing.

Stay healthy and well.

Happy MosaicMonday

[EileeninMD]

Hello Sallie,
It has been very hot and humid this summer, I am looking forward to some cooler days. Great photos of the dam, I hope you have some rain there. The tomatoes look delicious, the eggs are pretty colors. Love the Grebe Scrub Jay, Ducks and geese. It is great to see your family outside having some fun. Take care, enjoy your day! Wishing you a happy new week!

[Hazel]

It's been very hot here too, but I have a/c in my lounge and one bedroom. After a recent storm, my WIFI was down for a while.
Your photos and Blog read like a holiday trip, so it is good that you can do so much and get into the countryside easily! Lovely to see and read🌞🍀

[gillena]

Lovely photos. Happy Monday

Much🍒love

[Florence]

It’s hot here too and i am thankful every day for air conditioning. I well remember the summer days growing up without it and some nights it was just too hot to sleep. Fans were wonderful but air conditioning is vastly better.
I agree with you about the homegrown tomatoes but my gardening days are over. Fortunately, my neighbor has an abundance and shares Tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini (of course) , and okra.
Texas is having a terrible resurgence of Covid-19 so most school districts are at least starting online.
Stay well my friend.

[Amy Franks]

I do'nt envy you with the heat, I"m not looking forward to Summer coming in November/December, we have a heat pump in our house which will no doubt be on each day for air conditioning.

[Carol]

wonderful mosaics and images - have a great week!