August update in English

August means back to work, back to school, and an end to the white nights. The evenings are noticably darker – daylight is dwindling with five minutes a day, and this will continue until the winter solstice. But – no reason to whine about what we can’t change. In August we can enjoy the most spectacular sunsets from the part of our garden that faces west.

Enjoyable – but still a bit sad, too.

August is the last month of summer, and autumn (such an evocative word – full of the glorious fall colours and the smell of woodsmoke) is on the way. In August the hedgerows are full of wild flowers making the most of their last chance to flower this year. I picked these sedum by our grass field last week.

Even though August means the end of summer it is a month that is just so full of energy. Normal life is starting again. The laziness of July is over for good.

August has also meant an end to most corona restrictions. We are back at work in the office. But corona has changed the way we work. Many of us still work from home a few days a week, me included. Now with a fully functioning home office, a great view, no transportation, and dogs around all day – what’s not to like?

And speaking of dogs, Maggie passed her working test last week and is now ready to train for the field trials in October. Such a clever little dog, she is. And her ‘dad’ is pretty clever, too. It is team work after all, so all should be honored.

Rosie is now 11 and totally deaf, which is why we really appreciate the spaniel training that includes a lot of sign language. Come, sit, stay, good dog – all can be said with hands, and she gets it and reacts promptly. She is a wonderful, beautiful, and brainy dog. She’s just getting old. Sadly…

What else have we been doing in August? Well – we visited the beautiful garden of Claus Dalby, a Danish garden guru who has written numerous garden books of the truly delicious kind. He has a book coming out in English in the USA next spring – look out for that.

Here are a few photos:

And cooking? What has been going on the kitchen? First of all we’ve been eating zucchini. If you have zucchinis in your garden, you will always be looking for new zucchini recipies and I’ve found and made a few new ones this year, too. This one – the stuffed zucchini with the crunchy top is really worth trying.

And the panko/parmesan zucchini fritters are great with anything. The spicy chipotle dip works great with these oven baked, crunchy fritters.

I guess that’s all for August. Now comes the time for browsing webshops for spring bulbs and seeds, starting some knitting or quilting, making a list of books to read, checking out new recipes, and lots of other wonderful autumn/fall activities. And we can still look forward to bright, clear, and sunny September days.

Have a great September!