Life is good

There are signs of the change in season all over. Some, like this snake skin we found draped across the bottom of one of the columns, are fairly obvious (yes, the columns need paint, we are working on that, old houses need constant attention, it is part of their charm). Another, less obvious sign is the, at this point, small addition to the girth of the cat. Around here, kitties tend to fatten up for the winter.

Changes in the seasons tend to inspire me. One of my recent projects is this necklace. I have hunted out the animals one or two at a time over several years. Part of the fun is the hunt, another part is remembering all the places we found them. Some came from a lapidary shop in New Orleans, some from Asheville as well as many other places. All the animals are either semi-precious stones or bone.

As late as the season is, some things are still in bloom. I took this photo when we went for a walk the other day. I love this bush, the leaves are different colors and the flowers are so delicate.

Here is another sign of fall. This vine climbs on an old bit of fence in the yard. We don't have any need for the enclosure and the vine looks nice so we leave it alone. Soon, all the leaves will be red.
Last week I mentioned the wild grapes, this week I got a photo before we picked. There was only a double handful, they sure are good. My marigolds are blooming again. I particularly like this photo.

Another wonderful thing about this time of year is Camping! Once again, the temperatures have dipped far enough to make sleeping outside pleasant. This little yellow flower was near our camp site last night. We have camping down to an art form. The van stays partially packed so we don't need much more than half an hours notice to hit the road. Our favorite camping sites are within thirty minutes of the house. Love living next to the National Forest! We practice no trace camping.

The van is quite versatile. This was our cozy nest last night. The temperature was perfect, I actually put a sweatshirt on when we first got up this morning. The bed folds back up into a bench seat. There is plenty of built in storage and there are two tables (we only use the one). The van is a classic 1985 Volkswagen Westfalia. Westfalia refers to the interior package. It converts to sleeping arrangement in just a few minutes. When we lived in Britain, we owned a VW Van with a "Devon Conversion" It took forever to set up the bed! It is also a lot harder to find camping spots over there so we did not keep it for long.
I just finished breakfast and have run out of tea so I suppose I should hit publish and get some school work done. I am working this weekend so I hope everyone has a happy Labor day.

Kat

p.s. let me know what you think of the Autumn banner at the top of the blog.