Indian Summer

We have had such consistently good weather, we haven't even closed the windows in a couple of weeks. We've had sun, cool nights, and temperate days. Although fall is spreading yellow through the fields and some of the trees are changing, there is still an awful lot of green out there when I look out the office window.

However, our walnut tree - always one of the first to toss in the towel on the summer - is looking pretty sparse, and the violent thuds of walnuts hitting the house on their way to the ground are sounding less frequently. Brian learned something the other day about walnut trees that makes me feel slightly better about my failed (although admittedly meager and erratic) attempts at gardening in the back yard. Apparently the peel that surrounds the nut-shell of walnuts is extremely toxic to many other kinds of plants, so most seeds that fall (Or are planted. By me.) underneath a walnut tree will not grow. Our entire back yard is underneath our walnut tree. But, since it provides us constant entertainment in the form of an abundance of squirrels, I suppose I don't mind its herbicidal ways.