Hi folks,

I’ve had an unusually high number of animal run-ins recently. Barred owls, stray dogs, orb weavers, snakes, and too many yellow jackets. Even my neighbor’s cat, Marlin, has decided to come over to visit almost every day and make himself at home.

The animals know it’s time to soak up the last warm rays of sunshine. Autumn is arriving a tad early this year.

Eating/ Drinking - Juicy, fresh tomatoes from the farm dressed with olive oil, Banyuls vinegar, s&p, draped with boquerones (cured little white anchovies), paired with sherry. Kai pairs it with Valdespino Fino ‘Inocente’ made from a single vineyard (which is very rare), and it’s one of the few fino sherries still fermented in oak casks. It’s also pretty readily available and affordable! Perfect late summer afternoon snack.

Listening to - Courtney Barnett, Avant Gardener. Australia’s best musical export since Nick Cave. Very apropos video, as I’m currently learning to play tennis! 🤣

Reading - Villa Coco by Andrew Sean Greer. If you want a whirlwind trip to Italy in a funny, fast-paced novel, this is a treat. I gobbled it up quickly.

Watching - How to Get to Heaven from Belfast, a hilarious tv show on Netflix. Three Irish friends rehash their past while trying to solve the mystery of their childhood friend’s death. I couldn’t get enough of this.

Noticing - The temperature dropping at night and warming up during the day means morning dew. I love watching the little beads on spider webs in the morning light. Some plants like alchemilla mollis collect dew drops so nicely on the edges of their leaves. Don’t forget to close your car windows at night now, or you’ll wake up to a damp car in the morning.

Autumn garden tasks that we are working on this month:

• Dividing spring-blooming perennials. Do this soon so they have a chance to settle in before the frost!

• Seeding hardy annuals for early spring blooms. Things like stock, sweet peas, cornflower, and Icelandic poppies are so cold-hardy.

• Order your seed garlic and spring bulbs if you haven’t yet. They will need to go in next month.

• Deadhead and feed the dahlias. They will keep blooming for another few weeks if you take good care of them.

Free community classifieds section

If you have something to share - a service, an event, an offering, or maybe even something for sale for the general Western Washington area - you can send me a couple of sentences ‘ad’ and a link. I’d love to connect my community with your work!

• Seattle Men's Divorce Support Group - a place to belong and process while traversing the lonely road of divorce. Meets Tuesday nights on Queen Anne for 8 weeks starting September 29th.

• Beeswax Candle Dipping Workshops on the Fabled Flora Farm Sunday, October 4th, from 2-4pm and at Christianson’s Nursery, Saturday, November 21st, 2-4pm

Sending you cool evenings and, spidery-webby mornings,
Emmy and Kai