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My first visit to my sister’s cabin in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado… We cooked outside on the campfire and hiked the steep hills all around. I shot the view of the hills with cloud shadows and the hills with the long tree shadows in the evening light from our campfire.

The mountain wildflowers were abundant, but their quiet beauty was only obvious after close inspection. The blooms were small and the colors soft. These cacti and wild anemones surrounded the cabin and the hills we hiked.

We visited the remote mining towns nearby and I especially loved the small Victorian houses reclaimed and updated for weekend homes. The chopped wood around one dear little house created privacy and wind protection.

The last photo is of my sister Mary with her beloved dog Spirit. He never leaves her side. We were gathering wood for our campfire down the hill from her cabin. This visit was a precious time with Mary in the great outdoors of the rugged Rockies.

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I’m home from my Nebraska trip where I gave a talk and did a signing event at the new Falls City Library. I was completely impressed with the elegant and beautifully designed building inside and out. No wonder all of Falls City is so proud of their new library.

The success of my event first belongs to Kathy Martin who organized and oversaw every detail and also to everyone at the library and all the others that helped Kathy. I was fortunate to realize much fruit from Kathy’s work and her excellent support team. A special thanks to Jo Crawford for the photographs!

I met and visited with close to a 100 people. For me it was so nostalgic and it seemed like the years since my growing up in Falls City melted away. I just had a wonderful time!

As I mentioned in my talk that I gave before the signing, I loved growing up in Falls City; the simplicity of life and freedom for me in a safe, small town was instrumental in the development of my creative and artistic life.

The ties with the friends of my youth are powerful and have sweetened over the years. My heart is full of the love and friendship that I received from old friends and new friends.

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Harvest lasts a long time here in the Willamette Valley in Oregon because of the mild climate. At Saturday Market the stalls are overflowing with produce and now there are new cool weather crops like radishes and lettuces to enjoy.

The table of peppers was my favorite – so beautiful – and ready to add to tasty harvest chili.

Sometime around Labor Day is a good time to trim back lavender. In colder climates I believe this trimming is recommended to be done by Labor Day. There is a little more leeway for my lavender at the beach because of the very mild climate.

The deep purple lavender heads were still so beautiful it was difficult to cut them all off, but I knew that this trimming would keep my lavender plants shapely and healthy. My labor was pleasant with the air pungent with lavender perfume.

Now I can look forward to another year of elegant and luxuriant blooms.

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The lilies and dahlias are blooming together in the front yard.