sweet scents

From: Caroline
Sent: Sunday, July 28, 2002 7:51 AM
Subject: sweet scents

Passing by the sweet fern bushes yesterday their spicy smell pulled me back to Topsfield and the joyful expectation of a swim in the tannin brown waters of the brook. There was a patch of these bushes baking in the sun before the descent down the hemlock shaded path to the little stream which my father had dammed up to make a great swimming hole. I notice too that the Clethra is getting ready to bloom - although sweet they forecasted fall and a return to the city so my instinctive reaction was - and is "not yet, I'm not ready ".

The baby quail have replaced their fuzz with feathers which means that they are better insulated and able to withstand any chilly nights we may have. I have turned off the heat in their brooder and they seemed to be all right the morning after that cold night we had last week - I was wearing my winter flannel and had a heavy woolen blanket. So one morning this coming week The Great Quail Restoration Project will start in earnest as all the babies and the caged birds are let loose. As that pesky Rosa Multiflora has grown to chest high, their cover is assured and the special seed I planted last fall seems to be growing so I can but let them go "with a wing and a prayer".

Heaven knows what is going on in the hen house. At one point last week the Lavender Marble Egg lady had allowed someone to cuddle up next to her and lay some eggs. As I said I didn't have the heart to take them, but she seems now to think that she has tried long enough and I think it was at least two months that she had been sitting. So, guess what, she has moved into another box with a friend! The cranky hen seems to have abandoned her eggs as well. Since all my seedlings are grown up, I am seriously considering letting the flock roam during the day after I get back from the Paso horseshow mid-August. What fun Zoë will have! I will probably have to increase her food ration as she will be busy chasing all day.

Oh, and a nice surprise - having expected my new greenhouse late September, its going in this coming week.

Well, off to do a little watering - the drought continues, but mercifully the days are cool. Love to all Caroline