A miriad of distractions

The weather is gorgeous.  The annual Indian Summer that still comes as a surprise every year.  While I watch daily for the frost warnings and pray for additional heat to finish up my corn and dry my beans out a bit, we finally get some heat. 

I had a few things to celebrate.

1. The fact that all three girls were in school.  For a full day.  No early outs.  No sickness.  No field trips that I had to chaperone.  (Does that count as only one thing?) 
2. The heat.
3. The fact that I'm finally feeling well enough to cut the grass and do more the bare minimum to survive.  This morning I had a bath just because I wanted one, rather than thinking the steam might clear my sinus, relieve my headache or needing to rest my eyes. 
4. The heat. 

So, I thought I'd sit in the garden. The garden always looks better just after the lawn is cut.

I sat reading my book in the sun, sipping my coffee.  It was a lovely moment. 

The sun was shining through the flowers.  But I couldn't just read my book.  I had to look up.  It started with the wasp that wanted to test my coffee. 

 Then I watched the cabbage moths playing tag.  And a big fat bumblebee slowly buzzed past and explored the last of the blooms.   The longer I looked, the more flying things I noticed in the air.  It was fun to watch them, but I wasn't getting much reading done. 

And then I started to see the things that needed to be done in the garden and the defects in a fall garden.

The squash plants are all mildewy and the actual squash need a lot more time to grow to a reasonable size.  I did get lots of patapans and one....just one...acorn squash.

And when should I pick the artichokes?  Am I already too late? 

Obviously I was wandering around the garden by this point.  My coffee was on the ground by the chair and my book forgotten.   

My first plant of brussel sprouts opened wide instead of forming tight sprouts, but maybe this later plant will form properly.  If it has time. 

And my pole beans need to dry a bit on the vine, but they are looking lush and the beans themselves are not ready. 

I've always been terrible at relaxing in my own garden.  I do hope that I have more time to try again this week.