Despite summertime’s endurance, as if stubbornly resisting the onset of autumn, extending August into September and beyond, it looks as if next week might bring cooler temperatures and even some moisture. It just might begin to feel like fall. In anticipation, let’s turn back the calendar by a decade to help welcome cooler October days with bountiful pumpkins and nasturtiums.
We cultivated no pumpkins this year, though the nasturtiums, as always, are mounded in colorful drifts. And there are other differences too that you might detect in that photograph above. if your eyes are especially good, you might notice that there are still two Hobie 16 catamarans on trailers behind the carriage barn. Those are long gone, rehomed to a farmer in Vermont some years ago.
More trees too in those days. Microbursts account for most of the absences today, but rest assured that all of those ash, maple, and cherry trees were transformed into lumber, firewood, and mulch. So the live trees may have moved on, but their spirit remain on property, repurposed as flooring, trim, and furniture.
This “eyelidded” view of the icehouse (courtesy of a maple tree, just beginning to blush orange orange against dark green) to the left of the carriage barn also appears is different today. With the icehouse rehab complete, this western elevation is today fenestrated and decked with a sunken perennial garden.
The late Bob Murphy’s truck and trailer, ramps down for his riding mower, remind me how much we miss him these four years after his far too premature passing. And with this melancholy memorial, I’m also reminded how fortunate we have been to have his wife, Pam Murphy, at our side as friend and property manager ever since. I’ve often said that Rosslyn’s heritage — even more than handsome architecture and residential sanctuary — is the many amazing people who have been her stewards and her guests. Bob and Pam rank high on this list! 
This final photograph, overcast, like the previous three, slightly damp, and dark in the familiar way of October’s earlier and earlier nightfalls, offers souvenir of another remarkable soul to call Rosslyn home. Griffin, our labrador retriever prior to Carley, lived his entire life of Rosslyn. He joined our small family during the early days on construction, and he journeyed to the great beyond at the end of 2019.
Pumpkins and nasturtiums. Humble but handsome harvests that, in these nostalgic images, highlight the passage of time and bring back a bounty of fond memories.
What do you think?