Nothing makes me happier than the day after Labor Day when the weather is fabulous and folks come out of hiding. Cronig’s needs to set up a coffee bar; I spent most of Tuesday there gabbing with old friends.

I received a stack of catalogs in my post office box. Most were from bulb companies. At first, I tried to complain but then realized that some of my favorites were sold out when I finally got around to ordering last year. Hopefully, I’ll make an order soon. I love the allium variety called Albopilosum. It blooms late, lasts quite a while and comes back reliably for years. As in most of my purchases, I’m a person with brand loyalty. I don’t even care when I’m accused of a closed mind.

I spent a couple of days over the weekend tending to long neglected tasks. One was the tackling of the wild morning glory and Japanese knotweed. It’s remarkable how quickly they take over a property. The knotweed is actually pretty right now — blooming happily. It was covered with all sorts of pollinators, mostly honeybees. I found a bag of rock salt from years ago. My daughter soaked it in water and poured it over the aforementioned false bamboo. It killed it in less than a week. I was happy that I don’t ever poison. I have limited hope, however, it will be back next year, most likely.

Two other very aggressive fall plants are the Autumn clematis and porcelain vine. Both are pretty, but need to be worked with a whip and a chair for some sort of control.

Autumn clematis has a lovely jasmine scent. Porcelain vine, also known as pepper vine, sports teal berries in the fall. It spreads by those berries so be careful.

None of my family members like eggplant. I’ve been known to hit it with the handheld blender and sneak it into tomato sauce. The Beetlebung Farm stand has some beautiful eggplant for sale. I bought a large amount, sautéed it with onions, peppers and garlic. I then made myself a pizza of it on the frozen cauliflower crust. I ate it all myself and enjoyed every bite.

Sadly, I had a row of lettuce flower go to seed. I cut the heads of the seeds and planted them. It will be fun if I get a new crop.

When I harvested the potatoes, I kept them separate in relation to variety. I want to do some sort of unscientific study, i.e. which taste better and last the longest in storage? Some of the spuds were very small — not much bigger than marbles. I separated out the really small ones to replant next year. I’ve had good luck in the past with this practice. I may even try planting a few now to see what happens. Nature does seem to take care of us when we give her a chance.

Hopefully, the 1878 law known as the Posse Comitatus Act will win the day in court against DJT sending the military into American cities. We all notice he only threatens blue state cities. Supposedly, they are full of crime. The data shows otherwise. Some red states have much higher rates of violent crime.

But, hey, why let facts get in the way of a good back story when you are actually breaking the law?