Sunny Hues

 Yesterday morning's sunrise...

as the equines were out happily grazing in the morning fog.

As I cleaned the dry lot of the previous night's manure, 

I heard the sound of a flock of blackbirds overhead.  You would not believe the size of this flock.  It was the biggest I had ever seen.   It was easily a quarter mile long and half as wide!

I was thankful that no bird poop fell from the sky while this flock passed over my head.  It was, most definitely, a magical moment and another indication that summer is soon coming to a close.

We've had no rain since last week's hurricane remnants, so it was time to water what remains in the garden - tomatoes, peppers, a second crop of sugar peas, sweet potatoes (who, happily, are regrowing their leaves after some hungry bunny munched them all off!) and of course, the loofa gourds!  I am so excited to harvest these loofahs!  New ones keep forming every day.  I am hoping that cold weather stays away long enough for all of them to grow as big as these...

The loofa vines have grown over the top of the arched trellis, with the sunflowers growing right behind them... reaching up, up, up towards the sun. 

 I started these sunflowers from a pack of seeds and they have grown in yellow, rusty red, and every color in-between.

It's that time of year when the morning glories begin to creep up the fence around the garden.  These too, come in all shades of pink-purple and white.  I know that they are incredibly invasive - and each summer I spend a bit of time weeding them out of my garden.  But, I do love them growing on the garden fence!

I cannot tell you how happy these Queen Lime Blush zinnias make me... I will definitely plant these again next summer.

I've made two batches of soap this week:

orange/calendula

and autumn-spice oatmeal soap

with several other scents planned in the coming weeks.  These bars will need to cure for 6-8 weeks before they are ready for use.  I may have some for sale this year.  Future scents will be pine/sweet grass, lavender, and a special round sea salt bar.  I love my recipe - it gives a luxurious foam.  I also have a couple salves and some rosemary/mint hair serum in the making.  Rosemary encourages hair growth.  

My knitting projects continue - sadly, I cannot show them to you because they are gifts.