August has arrived and so have the blackberries!

It has been a wonderful 2 weeks at the Roost - hot, but not nearly as hot as here at home!

You could see the humidity even at sunrise

The butterflies were everywhere!

We had 2 different flocks of turkeys to visit....a group of adults that frequented the backyard

And a set of babies in the front - with a bonus of a beautiful pileated woodpecker!

The zucchini that we stock in the ground as an afterthought has flourished!

And my dahlias are growing like weeds!

And I finally got a chance to pick some blackberries.
They went from this....

to this.....

to this!

And I forgot last time to take a picture of the great new napkins that my neighbor Donna brought last visit

And just as an aside...can you tell how traumatized Suzie is about having the house to herself now??????

Lucy's birthday

Sunday was Lucy's birthday, so we all went up to spend the weekend at the Roost (her choice!). We did a lot of porch sitting, since the weather was cool and windy.

Tom and his loyal minion....Last weekend, we picked up my new china cabinet for the kitchen - what do you think?
I love it!

And I forgot to take a picture last time of our housewarming gift from John and Patty - it's a large trivet that we plan to hang on the porch near the table.

Sunday morning was cool and foggy and I went out for an early walk to see a beautiful sunrise. I saw 5 deer (2 adults and 3 babies), and a beautiful red fox.

I found a few new wildflowers - Viper's Blugloss.....

and Boneset.

There are lots of others blooming, but that's all I took pictures of!

Wildflowers!

We took our mothers up this weekend, but I didn't take any family photos. Early Sunday morning, I took a walk with my camera so I could identify the wildflowers blooming right now.

And, of course, Beatrice had to check me out and see if possibly I had any apples....

The grapevine is looking really good


with lots of tiny little grapes...



The Rhododendrons are starting to bloom

I had the hardest time identifying this flower - growing between the rhododendrons down by the creek - and guess what it is? A wild raisin!

And out in the fields - common yarrow

and Tom's favorite - Bull Thistle

Oxeye daisies

Fleabane

Moth Mullein

your basic Buttercups

And last but not least - it looks like it will be a bumper crop of blackberries for this summer!