The weather has been unusual this summer. I think anyone in the Midwest will agree with that. It makes me wonder what our winter weather will be like. It was cool and wet this summer, will it be cold and snowy this winter? I can’t predict the future, but if I could, I’d say cold and snowy.

This time of year, is called “Indian Summer.” I really don’t know why, but it is the last time the vegetation can grow with abandon, and it gives it one last try.

For many years I have had a basil crop along the fence in the backyard. I do very little with it. Right now, it is chest high. Sometimes I make pesto. Mostly it seems to be for the bees and butterflies and other critters. It reseeds itself and comes back each spring. I am just in charge of watering it and walking around it as it falls over, smelling like heaven.

The other day, my husband was getting ready to mow and he said, “I am going to end up hitting your basil, it is leaning over and in the way.”  It has become so tall and unruly that it is a menace. I went out and used some small 2-foot-tall fencing to help hold it up out of the way. It didn’t work. Then my husband came out with a sign that we’ve used many times over the years. It is a “For Sale” sign that he turned around and wrote “Free Plants” on and we put it by the curb when I was trying to clean out another overabundance of vegetation. Those were at least in pots. But I loved the sign. It did help get the overabundance of basil out of the way—and it said it all. If you want some basil, come get it!

Oh, while I was out tending to basil, I saw my first Monarch butterfly of the season. Soon it was joined by another. I guess it’s migration time. That too makes me think of fall and what is next for us. Cold and snowy? Time will tell.

What are you reading, writing, growing, or creating this week?