Our neighbor thought the vine was a weed growing on one of her bushes, and started to pull it down. "Stop!" I cried. "Look at those flowers!" Late in August, running into September and the first days of fall, the sweet autumn clematis, a wild flower that is the ancestor of all of the lovely hybrid garden varieties, spreads a pure white frost over fences, dead trees, hedges, and banks, such as this one in front of our house. Every year the vines appear in the midst of the hostas. We try to direct them and refrain from pulling them unless they get really feisty. Our reward is a sight like this, and sweet perfume in the air all day and night. Driving through neighborhoods we see it running amok on all kinds of structures. It grows on our back fence, too, but Norm accidentally took a lot of it out this year when he was attacking the honeysuckle.
These flowers would make a wonderful bridal bouquet, except that being wild, they wilt pretty quickly when picked. We are enjoying other fruits of our garden: raspberries and tomatoes are both at their peak. The zinnias we planted after the 4th of July are blooming now, too.Tomorrow the roofing crew comes to re-shingle our garage. We woke up this morning to the drone of the conveyor delivering the new shingles. About an hour later, the company called to tell us they would be here!
After reading so many accounts of "Ike" destruction, including a whole neighborhood in our former town of Ferguson that was flooded by an uprising of Maline Creek, we feel undeservedly fortunate at our little trickle of water so easily taken care of. Not to mention having power. And Internet.
We've decided not to panic at the financial markets, either, although both of us have IRAs full of mutual funds and bonds. What goes up must come down and vice versa. Yesterday our financial advisor called to tell us the bad news that the Lehmann bonds in my portfolio are now basically worthless, but after the bankruptcy is settled, since it's "senior debt" (I assume that's for how long I've had them, not a reference to my age!) I will eventually get some of my investment back. It's a small amount of the whole IRA so I'll continue to look for income opportunities as other bonds or CDs come due. Actually, I'd like to find out how to invest in one of those companies that make windmills for the wind farms that are going up everywhere, including Norm's home of Thomas County. Talk about a growth industry. But I'm just looking. I don't have any hot stock buying tips for today...or any time in the near future.
1 comment:
Investing in a company that makes windmills is a great idea! If I had money, I would definitely do something like that. After college. For sure. I feel lucky too about having zero damage. I wish I had the time to volunteer and help out with sandbagging or whatever they need. Studio Art has me so very busy.
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