The End of the Growing Season

I still have a couple of posts to finish composing about our exploits in Lake Placid, but I've come to the conclusion that 48-hour days are still too short.

In the meantime, I thought I would post a photo of our renovated flower garden. We completely overhauled it this spring in order to improve the curb appeal of our house. It took out my knees, but we've received many compliments, so maybe it was somewhat worth it. There is still more to do, but isn't there always?

We had our first frost last night. It was very light, and the ornamental grass and zinnias didn't seem to mind.

That ornamental grass comes from some hardy stock. It arrived mail order appearing dried out and lifeless. I stuck it in the ground anyway and figured it would either grow or not. I wanted ornamental grass in memory of Blackjack, whose favorite game in the world was to escape outside, where he would immediately stop to chew the grass. Forget happy hunting grounds for that cat; here's to happy grazing grounds for him!

And here's hoping that for those of us who have adopted older children, the story of that single, brown, withered stalk taking root to become a verdant sea of grass is a metaphor for our children's lives. That even though they come to us damaged and seemingly broken, they rise above it all and flourish beyond our wildest dreams.