I've been remiss in updating the refrigerator dilemma.  We did purchase a new Kenmore Elite.

I love it.  There's a little more room in the upper and definitely a more spacious freezer.  Has a drawer and a slide shelf above the big bottom bin.  The slide shelf is great for freezing flat bags of our garden basil, spinach, and kale .

Got my third CSA bag of fall vegetables Tuesday.

  Fresh watermelon, red onions, a squash resembling a pumpkin, all in the same family, a bag of salad greens, and two eggplants.  Wednesday night I made eggplant Parmesan using gluten free bread crumbs and the jar of Cabernet spaghetti sauce we bought at the John Campbell Folk School Art Festival on Saturday. Nothing like the taste of garden fresh vegetables.

It seems our hummingbirds have migrated south much earlier this year than other years.  I saw the last female perched on the back porch feeder on Tuesday and none since.  The feeders are still out, will remain out for at least another week for any travelers. 

The pineapple sage finally bloomed.  The hummingbirds love the red trumpet flowers and normally the flowers are in full bloom from August on supplying the birds with natural nectar.  This year they were late and the birds left early.  We're still in a drought.  The creek that supplies fresh water for the cardinals and other wildlife is dry.  Our land is like concrete and cracking.  We're wondering how colorful the fall foliage will be with drought conditions.

We're so glad we didn't have to go through Hurricane Matthew.  Surprisingly, it heightened our level of anxiety for days but as soon as it passed Daytona Beach, we could feel all the stress leave.  This afternoon grey clouds from the disturbed atmosphere sat over us with only a 20% chance of rain and there's no rain in our forecast for the next fifteen days.