And now we are coming into my favorite time of the year in the Northeast - Fall! The days, and nights, are getting cooler and more comfortable, the leaves in the trees are turning amazing colors of reds, rusts, yellows, and oranges, and cooking becomes a more enjoyable activity as I revisit my recipes for soups and other recipes where I need to use the oven, which I avoid turning on all summer.

Every fall I bring in several plants that I have in planters on my back deck; the 2 geranium plants, 3 begonia plants, an impatient and a New Zealand impatient, a red dipladenia plant, and a red superba begonia. And then for a few months I can enjoy the beautiful flowers until late spring when I bring them outdoors again.

One of my favorite places to visit in the summer is a place called "Castle in the Clouds". The 16-room castle was built on 5,294 acres by Thomas Gustave Plant for his second wife. The millionaire shoe manufacturer (1859-1941) also included a stable/garage, a greenhouse, gatehouses, farm buildings, and a golf course. Although he lost his money in a series of bad investments and was forced to sell, the castle was bought and sold several times until it was bought by a private non-profit organization that now features the castle, the carriage house, a gift shop, an art gallery, and cafe open to the public.

Despite the extreme heat temperatures we are currently having, so many of my flowers still continue to bloom. They do need a daily water dosing; I was a bit lax in this area a week or so ago but I am now doing my best to keep all of our outdoor flowers watered, the ones on my back deck as well as the ones planted at the front of our house. I did neglect the ones out front and I can see a huge difference in the number of buds on, for example, the Lilies compared to the number I had last year. And many of the leaves have dried up which is another sign that they need more water.

I love sitting on our deck, watching the birds, feeding the chipmunks, and enjoying the beautiful day. I was sitting out the other day when I suddenly heard all this chattering and crying and squawking! Not sure if it was a couple of chipmunks fighting over the seeds I supply them with, even though it didn't sound like chipmunks, I walked to the railing, looking at the ground for who could be making all that noise.