The Pumpkins, The Gourds and The Spider

Toward the end of summer, just as the cicadas are beginning to sing us to sleep at nite, if we're very very lucky, we have a visit from a yellow garden spider. The magic of the garden spider is how much fun they are to feed and how quickly they grow! About two weeks ago, our newest redident garden spider appeared and is probably the most well fed guy in these parts. Every evening, Prince Charming and Peanut find a moth or other helpless insect to toss into the web, and voila......dinner and a show! I know it's a little bit disturbing and twisted, but if you have boys, you totally know the joys of this:)







Equally exciting to Mommy is what's blooming behind and over the top of our fences. This week we started noticing tiny gourds and pumpkins beginning to grow! For two steady months, we've anxiously watched as the leaves sprouted and then the beautiful orange flowers bloomed. The orange flowers finally gave way to almost a dozen bright green gems that are nestled under all those dark green leaves.








With the appearance of the garden spider and the pumpkins and gourds comes the realization that summer is fading and fall is just around the corner. After a rather hot and steamy summer, I think we're all breathing a sigh of relief that a new season is on the horizon. With it comes so many wonderful things like pumpkin pie and apple cider and fall festivals. It will be here before we know it, but this year, I think we're all quite ready:)