September 28, 2025

Another week seems to have shot by -  I don't know where the time disappears to, but it doesn't seem to care that we are left wondering where it went.  I have been learning how to use my cell phone for many of the activities that we are expected to handle in the process of getting from place to place and time to time.  For instance, when leaving home, we need to map out the path from  our starting place to our desired place and quite often the cell phone is able to fill in the gaps in the journey.  I do have some trepidations in letting the phone take so much of the responsibility - I'm over 85 now and have never been so very confident in my driving.  When I was 13 or 14, my father said that I was probably never going to be able to drive due to this lack of confidence.  (In those days, maybe you remember that one had to use a clutch to get from one driving mode to another.)  Sure enough, I was nearly 30 when Judy Hurley, whose claim to fame was that she had taught so many of the foreign ladies who had accompanied their husbands to Potsdam where they were graduate students, said, "I've taught so many women who had no confidence in their ability to drive, I can certainly teach YOU."  And so one day, at the advanced age of 30, after I already had a Master's degree in  mathematics, I decided to believe Judy.   I hired a baby-sitter for my two children, pulled out of my driveway, drove around the block and pulled back into the driveway.  My children looked so proud!  At least that's MY recollection of the event!

This is the week in which the colors purple and pink seem to take over the world, at least in my yard.  The New England Asters, which have taken over the edges of my driveway, are blooming aggressively (my word choice) and filled with the sounds of thousands (it seems) of honeybees.  (I'm not at all sure what kind of bee the green one is in picture 3.  But I'm waiting for a suggestion.)  I had thought that I suddenly had two kinds of Asters out there, but most sources now say that the pink and the purple flowers are simply colors that New England Asters take on - they are but one species!

We also get our fair share of Bumblebees, which is what I call any of the larger, louder-buzzing Black and light yellow Bee visitors.

These New England Asters seem to come in two predominant colors, Pink and Purple.  But my latest reading indicates that there is only one kind of New England Aster, and it can come in either color.   Maybe we should call the color choices Aster-color.  Or "Pink-ple".  And it attracts lots of different-looking Bees.  

The flowers of the season attract the Butterflies of the Season too.  A very easily-found one is the Cabbage White, Pieris rapae.  Another is this yellow one, which is one of the Sulphur Butterflies, probably the Clouded Sulphur.  Third is one of the Silver-spotted Skippers.

First, another view of a Gray Hairstreak Butterfly.   It seems to have undergone a complete color swap.  Second is a furry bee in the fast-disappearing Goldenrod.  Maybe you, like me, thought the Goldenrod was here for the long term, but like most things that come into a season, it is going out with the season too.  Third is a possible Bumblebee in these purple Asters.

A black Squirrel runs to greet me on the sidewalk.  From the friendly pose, I gather that it has thought I was Chaim, who is Mr. Almondator.  (All the neighborhood mammals run to him for their treats.)  Fortunately, the season for Raccoons and other neighborhood critters seems to have waned, which means that for the nonce we can let the aerator run day and night on the Pond.  (We're still trying to clean out most of the Algae that have gathered there over the summer.)  Before I forget to add this picture, it shows some [ordinarily] Spring Crocus coming up again!  And last, here are some tiny white flowers re-blooming!  Don't you just love it when the seasons mix it up with each other?  Well, that's what's happening now in Albion.  

More Crocus in September! 

I don't know what the Ants are doing in the fast-disappearing Goldenrod, but they surely look busy!   Meanwhile, the Japanese Anemone is fast finishing up.  This is my big "arrival of autumn" sign.  

Well, folks, here we are at the end of September.  Autumn is in full swing -- we have a lovely Summer to look back upon and a beautiful Spring to look forward to!  Love, Martha