City Views, Country Dreams

Good afternoon from New York.

September has been speeding along since my last post, and along the way I have added a birthday to my record.  I am now 70 and cannot quite take it in.

Keeping to my promise, I did return to visit the dahlia farmer's stand and brought back a bunch of pink dahlias, to admire and sketch.

Even with careful diagonal re-trimming of thick stems and daily changing of water in the vase, dahlias do not last too long.  And so I enjoyed taking lots of photographs of the blooms and buds and making many little studies, showing the flowers' life stages.

I filled several sketchbook pages with graphite and colored pencil drawings and wondered why I don't draw more often.  It is great fun to concentrate on discovering how dahlias are constructed.

I do plan on using some of my photographs as reference for yet more dahlia drawing.

Work is also continuing on my major knitting project, the fair isle jacket.  The sleeves are done and the fronts and backs are nearing completion.

I've also been reading wonderful books by Robert Macfarlane and Nan Shepherd inspiring me to spend more time outdoors.  Lots of walks have taken place on some the recent cooler days.  

Even though peaches, plums and tomatoes are still available at the farmers market, I have also begun sampling this years' apple crops.  Each apple farm seems to have a slightly different variety of these delicious fruits.

My plan for future market visits is to always try at least one variety that is new to me, along with gathering together some of my traditional favorites.

Autumn in New York is a time when lots of cultural activities begin their season and the city provides a feast of opportunities.  I am looking forward to sharing some of these with you all.  Meanwhile, I thank you for your visits and kind comments on my prior post.  It's grand to hear from you.