After the vandalism, the rest of September

September                                                                      Most Recent Posts:
Greenfield Mountain Farm                                        Black Tuesday Vandalism
Virginia                                                                  Leaving Vermont Headed South

Thank goodness for the beauty of the farm which is calming especially on foggy mornings..

I spent most of the month dealing with the vandalism I reported in my previous blog (link above).

Because this is a glass claim, the insurance company does not assign an adjustor so all the calls have to be done by the policy holder.  That would be calls to Geico where you get a different person every time you call, calls to Safelite Glass and to Duncan Glass.  All in an effort just to get the windows ordered so they can be built.  I spent time every single day on the phone about this matter and trying to get all three arms to work together.  Frustrating does not even begin to describe it.

The only bright spot came in the middle of the month when Carrie, Colin and Celia came for a visit.

   I’m not sure how much longer Colin will be using his mommy’s wooden high chair.  He turned 3 on September 1st and we are celebrating his birthday this week end.

Carrie plays the piano and the flute but here she takes her hand at my recorder

Celia took a shine to her mother’s Cabbage Patch dolls from the mid 1980’s.

Not sure if this was playing tag or what but Colin is definitely an outdoor guy.

We walked out the farm lane to the mailbox.  At points along the way we lost Colin who had stopped to do something with a stick or a rock or ?????   One way to prod him along was to race.  Of course it is more fun if he wins.

It’s so wonderful for me to see Carrie with her own children here at the farm where she was born and raised.

It’s always wonderful coming back from walking to the mailbox when we come out of the woods, into the valley and there sits the farmhouse on its knoll.

Hardly any color here yet in mid September.

On Sunday, there was lots of work and play to be done  outside with a wheelbarrow before we got dressed in our fancy duds to go to David’s sister Robin’s daughter’s celebration of marriage.  (get all that?)

Ashley and her husband Tanner had all their marriage plans and reservations cancelled by the closing of their venue during covid last year.  When it was clear it couldn’t just be postponed  they had a VERY small ceremony and this gathering was to be with all those who had been invited to the original wedding. 

Somehow neither I nor Carrie got pictures of the 4 of us all dressed up but Carrie did take this one of Celia and I walking up to the gathering.

There was a formal acknowledgement of the marriage where finally Ashley got to wear her wedding dress for us all.

And a lovely dinner and dancing afterwards.  This was as quiet as Colin was the entire night.  It was not an occasion for a 3 year old.

Next morning Colin got to open his presents but he’s such a whirlwind that every single picture I have of him is a blur.  This is the best one.

More birthday debris although the birthday boy is no where to be seen only his bean bag toss.

The rest of the month was more attempts to get the RV repair show on the road amid enjoying my closest neighbors and the beauty of the farm.

Looking out the window one morning I saw a group of them down on the farm lane.

They were in no hurry as they wandered around, across the lane and eventually through the gate, the field and down into the woods.

Once they hit the tall grasses, you can hardly see them.  Fields will be mowed soon.

I closed out September with a visit to my favorite local hiking spot, the Ivy Creek Natural Area.  I’ve written about it at some point every year since I began this blog so I won’t go through the history of this farm turned natural area again.

Several of its 11 trails are along the creek.

Others wind through rhododendron and mountain laurel thickets which sadly of course are not in bloom in September.

Areas not along the creek or through the thickets were lovely paths through the beautiful woods where I saw much of Nature’s artwork.

I’ll close this post with some of what I saw.

It’s difficult to tell just how big this fungi was in the first picture so I put my hand on the tall stem.

Dinner plate.

Such amazing intricacy even from a distance.  But up close is even more striking.

On the other hand, these beauties are tiny.  I’d might never notice them without their striking iridescent color.

Sorry I wasn’t here to see the exploding of this puffball mushroom

What’s it remind you of??

More log art.

It has definitely been a good day for a variety of fungi and beauty in the woods.