We spent some time this past weekend driving south along the Mississippi River. On a beautiful fall day we drove to Wabasha and helped some friends with their grape harvest. With the warm sun, the smell of grapes on our hands, beautiful scenery, and good friends and conversation we picked Marquette grapes for about seven hours. After a delicious dinner-feast (coupled with the best wine!), we drove further south to Winona and spent the night. I got out of bed early, anxious to explore a town I hadn’t been to before. As the sun rose on a beautiful morning, the old bridge crossing the Mississippi River was silhouetted against the clouds that were streaming across the sky. After a couple of hours the clouds increased, the sun disappeared, the wind came up, and it started to rain. Luckily we had indoor activities planned – a visit to the Minnesota Marine Art Museum (a hidden gem, worth a good 2+ hour visit) and the National Eagle Center in Wabasha. It was a busy weekend, but one filled with new sights, good conversation, great company, and new adventures.
Hard at work
Everyone is busy getting ready for fall, including the bees. The asters are in full bloom in our backyard, and they seem to be a magnet for the bees. It’s exciting to see all the activity; I wonder at all the flying and flitting around that they do. It was fascinating to observe this one bee as he moved from bloom to bloom, stopping for short while and then moving on to another. Our summer-like weather has yet to turn over to fall temperatures, so he’s like all of us – busily trying to get all those jobs and tasks done that we’ve put off hoping that summer would last longer than September.
White cosmos
Earlier this week I found myself at the Munsinger Clemens Gardens in St. Cloud, Minnesota. It was late in the day and the sun was getting lower in the sky. These beautiful gardens are located right along the Mississippi River. I’d been here earlier in the year when the tulips, daffodils, and iris were brilliantly proclaiming spring, but now it seems that the flowers are bravely holding on to our last bit of summer. They bloom as if the days were still long and the nights were still warm. They dance in the setting sun and promise that although fall is almost upon us, they will return with their lovely faces and welcome us to warm weather again next year.
From fair time to fall time
The surest sign of fall is the end of the Minnesota State Fair. With perfect temps and blue skies, the fair set a new attendance record this year. Living just a few blocks away from the fairgrounds has its good and bad — lots of car traffic, people everywhere, the sounds of the shows at the Grandstand, and the fireworks every night. Now the neighborhood returns to its usual routine, and we slide into fall. Already there are spots of color in some of the trees. The temperatures slide a little bit cooler in the evenings, and the sun has lost its intensity. The Canada geese are flying again, cruising over our rooftop as they commute between the agricultural fields at the university and Como Lake. The summer flowers are fading and the fall mums are evident in gardens and on entry steps. This morning the children were standing at bus stops waiting for their first day back at school. All the familiarities that tell us the seasons have changed.
Concord grape harvest
The end of August signals the start of harvest time for many fruits and vegetables. Our small garden has done well, yielding a bounty of cherry tomatoes and fragrant and delicious basil. But over this past weekend we harvested concord grapes. Our one large vine gave us way more grapes than I’d ever imagined. Their sweet scent filled the kitchen as we worked. They are a beautiful color when picked, yet once they are squeezed and the seeds removed, their juice is a rich, deep maroon color. As careful as we were, our hands took on this same color and smell. We now have a scrumptious concord grape sorbet in the freezer, and a collection of freezer jam waiting for us to unleash the smell of late summer when the winter snow is falling.
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