… but you could have fooled me, as we’ve had a very warm weather week and temps will climb to 80 F (26 C) today!
Last Saturday, on the last weekend of Summer, I added two layers of clothing and even broke out the gloves – I’ve never worn gloves on the 19th of September. I don’t usually wear a coat, nor do I turn on the furnace, before Autumn’s arrival, but I made an exception since that morning we tied a longstanding record of 38 F (3 C) – brrrrrr!
That brisk weather quickly moderated and now we have Summer-like conditions once again – go figure.
The cicadas are very loud this year. I did some yardwork last Sunday and the noise was almost deafening at times with their continuous buzzing/rattling sound. The invasion of the 17-year cicadas does not happen until 2021 (and no, their arrival was not cancelled this year due to COVID-19). I swear that thousands of cicadas must have converged into the trees in the ‘hood. Have you ever seen or heard cicadas? If not, you can see what they look like (ugh) and hear the noise (OMG) simply by clicking here – it’s a long video but interesting and the buzzing noise I referenced can be heard at 1:40.
Enough of bugs … how about some pretty blooms and butterflies?
Before Summer took that brief pause, I went to the Taylor Conservatory & Botanical Gardens, hoping to get a few more shots of blooms and butterflies before the cooler weather settled in.
I also hoped to see a hummingbird or two hovering about the Cannas, or on the Cardinal Flowers, but I was out of luck. There were no hummers at the Cannas and this year, no bright-red Cardinal Vine was climbing over the top of the mesh-like Conservatory structure like it usually is. Perhaps next year?
By the way, I managed to get a few shots of Hope, the female hummingbird here at the house, but the photos were taken through the screen door and it was drizzly and gray. I believe Hope is still here, having seen her buzz by the other day; I asked her to send me a postcard when she arrives in Florida or Mexico, whatever her Winter destination of choice is, so I know she arrived safely and I can take the feeders down.
A little bit of eye candy to close out your week.
Nothing says Summertime like beautiful blooms and butterflies. The Botanical Gardens never disappoints.
Cabbage Whites, while not as colorful as some butterflies, are every bit as dainty as they flit from flower to flower.
Suddenly there were five butterflies enjoying nectar for breakfast.
This is a Painted Lady butterfly.
A second Painted Lady arrived as I was ready to leave.
Here’s a collection of flowers found inside the Conservatory.
Sayonara Summer … we miss you already. Only 268 days from today ’til Summer returns. Hurry Summer!
Linda Schaub
WALKIN', WRITIN', WIT & WHIMSY 
It’s autumn…goodbye summer! I like autumn too, esp. The changing colors of nature, pumpkins, etc., but the transition takes time.
Lovely photos of flowers and the Cabbage butterflies! How lucky that you saw 5 in one plant area. Butterflies are my favorite, second to coffee.
Happy autumn and stay well. 🙂
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Autumn is my favorite season too – the colors, smells, the beauty of the leaves. If only it did not mean Winter is on the way. Glad you liked the Cabbage butterflies … even though they have no color, I find them very dainty and they sure showed up in the purple flowers. I can see why you like coffee better than butterflies Esther – it looks like you were up at 3:00 a.m. – I hope it was an uneventful reason?!
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Sometimes just plain white is beautiful, especially against a background of color! It’s insomnia that keeps me up…ongoing thing that makes me drink more coffee. It’s a bad cycle that I need to break. 🙂
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I never noticed you post so early in the morning. When I first started interacting with other bloggers (in year #4 of blogging), I had several fellow bloggers from the West Coast of North America like yourself, but a few overseas in the UK and Sweden. One Swedish photographer checked WP before going to work – there is a six-hour time difference. He and I would have a back-and-forth re: comments …I’d be up way past midnight. I have to stop that too. Every week I say I’ll shut down at 10:00 a few nights a week – it does not happen. Last night I couldn’t keep my eyes open and had to do just that.
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It is wild how I stay up so late or early at night! I should go to sleep but the later hours are so so wonderful to have silence and be by myself. This backfires on me since I’m tired the next day, but it’s a hard habit to break.
I know what you mean; the time difference makes it interesting to connect with other bloggers!
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Yes, I can see that this happens for you – your wind-down time and time for yourself and total silence. I do get that. I told myself that I have to get more sleep though – going to bed at near midnight then up again at 5:00 is not ideal. Once it gets darker in the a.m. before the time change, no use to get up as early, but surviving on just 5-6 hours’ sleep is not good. I instituted a rule of going to bed earlier but I don’t always follow it.
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Getting restful sleep is tough! I always hear that 7-8 hours is good for health and a balanced life, but that gets chopped up when life happens. I try to make up for sleep by taking a nap, but that doesn’t seem to make a big difference.
I hope you are able to get more sleep. 5 hours seem short. Just need to stop all the world and sleep. I know; easier said than done!! I struggle with this on a daily basis. The best prescription may be “rest” and
“sleep,” which are both hard to do in our wound up culture.
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You’ve had all the unsettling weather events swirling around you not to mention the health worries associated with possible relocation during wildfires and COVID. Enough is enough already. Before blogging, I did get at least 7-8 hours’ sleep every night. I know I am spending way too many hours at the computer – it is not healthy. Two years ago I got frozen shoulder from sitting so much. I raised the laptop onto a “riser” and got a wireless keyboard and frozen shoulder takes a while to go away and will eventually go away on its own. I was not going to do physical therapy – my mother had it and the PT did no good and we got the hot packs and rented a TENS machine and it had to run its course. Now I am fine, in fact it feels 100% but I could not put my arms up in the air, behind my back nor slide into my heavy Winter coat. Even a blanket on the bed could not be moved or pulled up with my left arm. And if I moved it overnight, it woke me up. I tell myself every week to go to bed earlier, but I don’t follow my own advice.
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Your photos are amazing. I particularly liked the butterflies. We don’t get many different kinds in our yard.
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Thanks Anne – glad you liked the photos. It is always nice to visit the Botanical Gardens and see the flowers inside the Conservatory and on the grounds … it’s a sure thing you’ll see some butterflies there. I follow the Gardens on Facebook and they posted to come visit this weekend before they take everything down. We have temps around 80 degrees this weekend, but come Monday those temps are back to normal.
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We’ll be fairly warm tomorrow, too.
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An unexpected treat before the onslaught for us.
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Lovely butterflies and flowers, two of the few things I love about summer. Your pictures are fantastic and take me back for one last glimpse of the sunny season. We’ve had some chilly nights, too, but this weekend is going to be warmer. Opening and closing the windows as the temps change. 🙂 I hope Hope finds her way south soon.
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I will miss the butterflies and flowers too Barbara. Our butterflies are still around as we are also enjoying warmer weather this weekend. Then by mid-week, temps will be below normal. The rollercoaster ride for weather marches on. I hope Hope leaves now too before it gets too cold here in Michigan.
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268 days until summer. Well isn’t that longterm planning! I like the colors in the flowers. Around here it still seems like summer when I look at nature, but at night it is cooler like it’s autumn. Talk about a mixed message.
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Yes, I thought I’d put a positive spin on it Ally. Outside the flowers bloom and are at their peak and our weather feels summery. It’s going to be 80 all weekend, then the bottom drops out and we are below normal by midweek. We’ve had our last Summer fling I guess.
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We didn’t have cicadas this year. We cut down a ginormous birch tree and I wondered if that had something to do with it although we have other large trees. I missed them.
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It could be the reason. I was working outside and when I next got online, I looked to see if this was the “invasion year” as the noise was so loud. I like the noise in that it reminds me of Summer – it was deafening that day though. We have temps in the 80s this weekend, then Fall will kick Summer to the curb and come barreling in by mid-week.
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Dear Miss “Sayonara Summer”……………………………..I did notice how loudly the cicadas have been the last several evenings………………………..I like the name “Hope” that you have given to your visiting Hummingbird……………..I already put my hummingbird feeder away for the season………………..I have visited the Taylor Botanical Gardens before but only in the springtime……………………………..the close-up flowers are gorgeous!
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I don’t know if it has something to do with the really warm weather this week or not – it was amazing last weekend when I spent a lot of time outside. I am glad you like the name “Hope” Ann Marie – I originally named my visiting hummingbird “Homer” then realized it was a female – I never noticed before as I only saw her back, not the lack of ruby throat. I am going to put my feeders away for the season after this weekend too – we are having a big change in the weather by Tuesday/Wednesday I hear. The Taylor Botanical Gardens are taking down the flowers after this weekend – that’s a shame. Those were some beautiful blooms there Ann Marie. Lots of TLC by all the volunteers.
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What a nice ending – the countdown days to summer brings hope!
Love the photos and that cabbage white is a beauty!
Also – went to check out the video and it said “error”
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Hi Yvette – I just checked the video of the cicadas and it is okay, there must have been a glitch. It is very interesting. But thanks for telling me – I have had it happen before. I like the Cabbage White butterflies too – they are delicate and noticeable among the purple flowers. Yes, knowing how many days gives us lots of hope – I would put Spring as a countdown but we often have snow and ice in Spring.
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🙂
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A beautiful assortment of butterflies and flowers! I hate to see them go, but do look forward to the beauty of fall.
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Glad you liked these butterflies and flowers Rebecca. I have one more set for next week, likely Friday, and that will be just a few but includes that Swallowtail butterfly with the barely-there wings. I am glad for a little cooler weather as we had such a hot Summer … we had a real cool-down the beginning of the week, but it was just gorgeous today. I am right there with you – I love the beauty of Fall.
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I was just telling my husband 2 days ago that when I sit out in the evening in the cabana that the cicadas are so loud I don’t stay there very long. There are one heck of a lot of them this year! I had to look up the Cardinal Vine, I have never heard of that before. Such beautiful pictures, I wish fall lasted forever!
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I am glad you are enjoying the cabana Diane and you know what … you could get some Cardinal Vine to go onto the cabana. It is a quick climber and when I was at the Botanical Gardens last year, they had planted it on one side and it grew up and over the metal dome structure which is huge and then continued down the other side. It did that on its own just over the Summer. The volunteers there told me it really draws the hummingbirds as it has red trumpet-shaped flower. Those cicadas were nice to hear at first – thinking Summery thoughts, but then they were louder and louder til the noise was like you said – almost deafening. Fall is so fleeting here … last year we got snow in November.
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Hello LInda.
Yes, autumn is here. We had also “warm” few days ago 22°C / 71.6°F. This weekend will be also warm. I do love your photos. Your close-ups are fantastic. Thank you.
Happy weekend.
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Thank you Matti … we had 80F (27C) today and absolutely wonderful weather. Another warm day for tomorrow. I am glad you like the close-ups. I was lucky to get close without spooking it/them. Enjoy your weekend as well.
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The flowers and butterflies are just gorgeous. You know, I hardly saw any butterflies this year. I must have been in the wrong places maybe. Those cicadas are something else, they are so strange looking. Like they are from a different world. 🙂
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I can’t say I saw all that many butterflies either Sandra … the marsh where I got lost had Purple Spotteds on the ground, actually sitting on the dried up mud which was a little different. Those cicadas look really strange – I see them or their carcasses show and they give me the creeps.
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Booooootiful! Last rays of summer as we slip into autumn
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Thank you Michael. It is a great place to walk around – after this weekend, they will take it down. It is all done by volunteers.
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It is pretty summery here in PA too. Highs in the 80s through Tuesday, then a cooling trend. Sigh! I hate to see the end of summer.
My grandsons and I sometimes amuse ourselves by looking for cicada “skins” on the trunks of trees. there are a lot of them this year!
I read somewhere that you should take your hummingbird feeders down soon so as not to tempt the hummers to stay north longer than they should. I don’t know what the date would be in your area but if the flowers are still blooming, you should be OK.
Thanks for the eye candy! Great shots of flowers and butterflies.
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I think this is the last summery weekend for us too Laurie. It got to 81 today and it was very humid when I walked this morning – just like a Summer day. I ended up taking the hummingbird feeders down today as we are having rain and colder weather the beginning of the week. I didn’t see any nectar gone nor anyone at the feeders the last few days, so I’m sure she is gone. I wouldn’t want her to stay and it gets ugly out.
I Googled as I was sure it was the 7-year invasion after hearing the buzzing all day. I haven’t seen any “skins” in the yard for a while – I used to find them when the oak trees were still out back, but we lost them to carpenter ants. The video was pretty interesting and showed the cicada shedding its skin. Not good if you’re squeamish – I will bet your grandsons will get a kick out of it.
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I’d love to capture butterflies …
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When I bought the Monarch Butterfly Kit (milkweed with several Monarch caterpillars and a mosquito net over it), I went out and bought a butterfly net. I had this notion that I would see it hatch and carry it out in the net, or maybe my hand, to set it free. It did not work out that way. The caterpillars ate all the milkweed and my neighbor had a kit too – we both had to get more milkweed twice for the caterpillars and we finally gave up and gave the set-up to the woman who kept rescuing us.
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You can thank the moon for us having seasons. It hit us many a year ago and knocked or axis off kilter by 23.5 degrees! All the other planets have seasons as well. Check out how long the seasons are on Neptune!
https://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2000/interplanetaryseasons#:~:text=Every%20planet%20in%20the%20solar%20system%20has%20seasons.&text=Extraterrestrial%20seasons%20are%20hardly%20noticeable,planets%20in%20the%20solar%20system.
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That was interesting Wayne – thank you. I think Jupiter was pretty close to Earth, but yes – Neptune – yikes! I could not deal with Winter for that long being the Winter Weenie that I am. Now Summer … that would be great, Fall even better.
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fly to Neptune in it’s Spring and stay till the end of Autumn!……but you’d only have 123 years
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On the bright side, you wouldn’t have to keep changing warm weather/cold weather clothes, no planting flowers, raking leaves all that time – everything will be status quo.
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I think during the summer time I’d need some very warm cloths as the average temperature is minus 295 F,plus I would have to worry about raking anything as there are no trees or land,the planet is pure gas.
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So much for that idea. I missed the temperature as I was concentrating on the season length … even in Celsius, the temp would not be too appealing. No shorts or flip-flops on this planet then.
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It would be warmer dipping yourself in liquid nitrogen!. That’s the stuff they dip roses into and than shattering them to pieces!
I think the coldest it’s ever gotten on Earth is – 160?
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That’s incredible – I can’t imagine that temperature. Look at Death Valley recently – it was 130F recently and people were driving there just to stand next to a big digital thermometer to take a selfie.
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The Gold-Loks zone is where you always want to be……not too hot,not too cold! But If I had a choice I’d rather be colder than warmer! All I have to do is put on warmer clothing but in the heat you can’t do much!
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I agree with you Wayne – my favorite season is Fall, even though it means Winter is not far off. Summer is nice for me as I know I can go out anytime without worrying about snow or ice … the ice is what is the worst thing for me. Even with the crampons, it is the worry of taking a fall and breaking a bone. I have been at Council Point Park in the month of October, and the mist is coming off the Creek and creates a very slippery pavement – not quite black ice, but coupled with the slick leaves and I have slid and almost wiped out a few times. We had rain yesterday afternoon for the first time in at least 2 1/2 weeks. It’s been a glorious run of good weather, even when it was chilly a week or so ago.
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well you’ve certainly have taken advantage of the nice weather!
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It has been gorgeous – this morning it was sunny and nice too, but in the 40s!
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Beautiful Fall weather! Take it in and fill your boots cause Fall storms are in the mail!
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Funny you say about the Fall storms Wayne as we were supposed to just have rain off and on this afternoon and evening. Now they are saying our very gusty winds and sudden cold could cause hail and some bad weather after sundown and they were warning to stay off the water due to deadly water spouts. I may be shutting my computer sooner than I anticipated tonight.
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I created that bad weather and sent it your way! I assume you use a power bar? It should protect your computer from any surge current.
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Thanks a bunch – I’ll send it right back to you. I have a surge suppressor which is supposed to help if a power surge happens after a power loss, but it does not help if there is a lightning strike. I don’t have enough room to put a power bar anywhere … I have so few electrical outlets in this hours. It’s ridiculous and some of the outlets have to be blocked by furniture. Really an electrician should come to the house and put more outlets in to be honest.
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Linda, those butterfly pictures are breathtaking! I hope you get your postcard!
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Thank you Joni – I planned on this being the last butterfly and flower post for this year, then decided to take that long walk (today’s post) and take the butterflies and wildflowers and put them into a separate post which will be this Friday – just finished it up now. I hate to see the Summer end. We have rain right now for the first time in two weeks. I took down Hope’s feeders yesterday as I knew it was getting colder – I think she’ll enjoy her fun in the sun and forget all about me. 🙂
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Yes, a rainy week ahead…..I’m almost caught up in Reader now, after reading for 3 nights late. Now I need to get some writing done!
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I think that is the first rainy day in two weeks, maybe longer. And now “the real Fall” may be here to stay. I am still behind in Reader three days – I’ve been behind for over a week now.
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Cabbage White and Painted Lady Butterflies you could be in the UK – it is a small world.
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Yes, it is Andy. Those beautiful, delicate creatures are admired by both of us some 6,500 km/4,000 miles away from one another. Now if only we just could get some of your cute Robins!
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Although the days are still summery here, the mornings and evenings are refreshingly chilly. It will be a while until I break out my sweaters, though. Lovely flowers and delicate butterflies… what a nice combination.
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We had very summery weather the last week, after a chilly week before that. But I think we can kiss summery weather goodbye now. We have rain right now, the first time it has rained in well over two weeks – it’s been a nice weather run which has been great for walking. I like butterflies and flowers too Janis. This Botanical Gardens will take the Conservatory flowers away after this weekend. It is all volunteers who run the Conservatory and gardens.
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Fall’s definitely arrived here in the Pacific Northwest. It’s still warm during the day but evenings and mornings are crisp. Lots of crickets here. I love hearing them. Your butterfly and flower pictures are wonderful. I didn’t see nearly as many this year either. Also fewer birds than in years past.
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The cicadas have been especially loud – wait til next year when the 7-year invasion hits. The crickets I don’t hear so much but their chirps are not constant like the cicadas which can go on for hours. Thank you Sabine – I am glad you liked the butterflies and flowers – I really love going to the Conservatory every Summer. They will start taking the Conservatory apart this week – it maintained by all volunteers and that is a big job, just the watering alone. They also give guided tours and have tea socials every so often.
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I’ll have to check if we get cicadas here! It’s great that you have so many different walking and exploring ventures near you.
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Yes, try to find out if you do Sabine – I wanted to find a video that showed them with their unique look, how they shed their skin (you find skins everywhere, hanging off tree bark, rose bushes where they slough the skin off) and the noise … it is like thousands of tiny rattles. We really do have a lot of parks around here. This is the second or third year in a row that I have added a state park sticker to my driver’s license, yet not visited any state parks – we have three that are not too far away … more parks where people go camping. Maybe next year – I did try three new parks this year.
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Beautiful blooms, Linda. I’ll miss summer, but I am ready for a lovely fall.
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I feel the same way Pam – the endless heat and humidity there for about six week starts to get to you after a while. I am ready for Fall as well.
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💃💃💃
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Your pictures are beautiful but I am starting to get enthusiastic about fall.
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