The First Day of Fall!

Hi, everyone!

Today is the first official day of fall, but fall things have already been happening. James and Thomas are back in school, and that makes them tired when they come over for dinner!

Last Friday, Grandma and Grandpa took me to the Point to see the sun set over land, instead of Lake Ontario. It was cloudy, so we couldn’t tell where it set!

On Saturday, we had a pretty sunrise! Grandma was surprised to find wildflowers in bloom when she kayaked Clark Creek!

Grandma takes me to Highland Park a lot in the spring, but I’ve never been there in the fall. Today was a pretty day, so we decided to go see what’s blooming in Highland Park right now! Instead of walking down the hill, Grandma took us along Reservoir Avenue first. There’s a big valley right across from the reservoir! We saw a big oak tree with broken branches and decided it needed a hug!

We were headed to the tulip bed and the Lamberton Conservatory, but we had some other adventures first! The Rochester Public Library had a bookmobile parked across the street! There was a water main repair going on, too!

The tulip bed gets replanted with other flowers after the tulips stop blooming. Some of those flowers were past bloom, but we liked what was left!

Outside Lamberton Conservatory, we saw the volunteer gardeners doing fall clean-up. I always make sure to say “thank you” to them! There was a great big groundhog burrow entrance in the garden. We looked, but the ground hog didn’t come out.

There were flowers in the seasonal display area at Lamberton Conservatory, but some of them were past full bloom. We stopped to see the turtles, and a little white button quail walked right by!

When we went through the door to the tropical area, we met a tortoise right away! The sign said that Frank was allowed to roam, because he didn’t get along with the other tortoises. The red hibiscus was in bloom! I have a friend like that in Hawaii, so I was glad my pride had a chance to make friends with this one. We stopped to see my favorite croton plant, then we met Rob, another tortoise. His lunch was delivered while we were watching!

In the desert room, we said hello to my favorite barrel cacti. Then we found another colorful plant. There was a turtle right by the exit door. We followed the sign and made sure he didn’t come out with us! There was a big quail right by the door, too!

Nothing was blooming in the places I like to visit in spring! The buckeye and horse chestnut trees were dropping nuts on the ground! The magnolia trees were leafy green and had flower buds for next year. Most of the lilac bushes had dry-looking old leaves. Two of them seemed confused about the season!

Just when we thought there weren’t any more flowers outside, Grandma spotted a patch of autumn-blooming crocus! We made a detour to see them up close!

When we got to the pansy bed, it was ready for winter. The trees in the apple valley had nothing but green leaves. A little further on, we found some hydrangeas in bloom!

In springtime, the reservoir is our first stop at Highland Park. Today, it was our last. Now we know where the last flowers of the season bloom in Highland Park!

Love,

Lion-san