Late Summer and Birthday Parties

There's an odd sort of feeling that comes over some of us NW Wisconsinites as the calendar approaches September. We know that summer is nearly over, which means that fall is rapidly approaching, which means that winter will be breathing its frosty, annoying breath down our necks before long.

But late summer tends to be the hot, humid, sticky time of year. One late August it was so hot that my German Shepherd lost most of the hair on his tail - and he was an inside dog. If we had cattle, the flies would be everywhere during this kind of weather. I remember when I was a kid that my mom would constantly be hollaring  telling us to 'Shut the screen door!' so that the flies wouldn't get into the house. Even so, we had one of those fascinating fly tapes (which I loved) hanging in the kitchen during the worst of the fly invasion, which also coincided with canning time.  The good thing about late summer is that the zinneas, rudbeckia, and echinacea are committed to stick around until a hard frost. In fact, they are worth covering with old bedsheets those first few frosts just because they've given me so much cheer throughout the season. 

But the best thing about late summer is the little 4 year old grandson's birthday. He and his baby sister are such a delightful blessing and treasure. We enjoyed spending the weekend with them, and yes it is a lot better to have them only 2 hours away, instead of 9. We hauled one of our many slate boards to their house so that Daddy and Grandpa could install it on the bedroom wall for this little guy. I've never bought into the chalk paint = chalk board idea. I'm old school when it comes to chalk boards, probably because these slate boards came out of old schools. Several old schools.

The beautiful, smiling baby you see pictured above is always happy. Oddly enough, she only cries when there's a good reason, such as being hungry or teething or needing a diaper change. I never had children that were that easy, so she continually amazes me by her cheerfulness. And because I'm their grandma, I never tire of looking at those sweet faces and listening to the funny things the 4 year old says.


QUESTION:

 Sunny, cheerful disposition, generous,

Eager to please, friendly,

Loves a party

Why do my rudbeckia spread everywhere and my echinacea don't spread at all?? I'm going to have to plant more of them, I guess, but I don't understand why they need coaxing when the rudbeckia are so prolific. I suddenly realized that I'm starting to assign personality traits to these flowers. I think the canning of the green beans might be getting to me.

 Beautiful, but stingy and snooty
Introverted, aloof,

Doesn't play well with others,

Hates crowds.
Will most likely remain single.

I hope y'all had a great weekend. I'm hoping to get to your blogs now and find out!

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