Finished reading: The Nation That Never Was: Reconstructing America’s Story by Kermit Roosevelt 📚 This fascinating book argues that today’s American government is not descended from the Declaration of Independence and the 1789 Constitution, but rather from Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address and the reconstruction amendments to the Constitution after the Civil War.

Season change

Today is one of those days where I acknowledged the changing seasons. The patio umbrellas were packed away. The row cover and bed covers we had been using to extend the gardening season were rolled up and stored. The screen door in front was changed out for glass. The Nash was parked in the machine shed until the next camping season.

A Nash RV trailer is stored inside a barn behind a green metal gate with grass in the foreground.

October morning at The Farm.

A peaceful rural scene features a gravel driveway running alongside a fenced grassy field where a horse is grazing, with trees and farm buildings in the background under a clear blue sky.A sunlit gravel path is surrounded by trees with green and yellow leaves, a rusted metal barrel stands on the left side.

Finished reading: Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo 📚This is the second book in the series after The Ninth House. It was as good as the first. Great characters and power of friendship are what stuck with me.

Finished reading: Lost Lambs: A Novel by Madeline Cash 📚. I thought this book was a bit silly in the beginning, but I’m glad I stuck with it. A funny story celebrating a dysfunctional family.

I found a friend while picking raspberries.

Garter snake in a raspberry bush.

Today’s strawberry harvest.

Three dishes filled with strawberries on a countertop.

I happened to look up as we were covering the garden plants for the night (frost protection).

Long rows of clouds in an evening sky

Digging a hole on our farm, in this case for a new blackberry bush, often turns into a treasure hunt. Today’s treasure is a 2.5 foot iron bar that was likely part of some farming implement of the past.

A rusted iron bar next to a ruler.

Finished reading: The Librarians by Sherry Thomas 📚This is an enjoyable read. There’s an ensemble of well developed characters involved in murders and romances. This is apparently the first book Sherry Thomas has written in the cozy mystery genre, and she pulled it off nicely.