Aidan and I were playing in the gravel pit this evening that my mother owns, which also happens to be next to my sister's house.  Here are some shots that show definite signs of autumn on the horizon.
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A lot of people in other parts of the country are under the impression that we don't have a humidity problem in the Northeast.  Well, we do, and it gets worse each year.  Right now, at 8:30 p.m., it is down to only 95%.  But here are some pictures from earlier today.  These mountains are five miles from where I was standing and normally would be visible but they are almost obscured by the humidity rising around them.  It reminded me of coastal South Carolina in July, so I stopped to take a couple of shots.
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I get quite a few hummingbirds at my house and PB just loves them, so I tried to catch one on film from inside the house (they scatter if I open the door).  The best I could do is catch the blur that this one made-just to the right of the flowers.
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Our state flower is the purple lilac and it is also my favorite.  I have a few planted around the deck that kick off the summer.  First they bloom along with the chives, then we have the peonies, roses, and daylilies followed by the monarda, the phlox, daisies, and coneflowers, and last we'll have the hydrangeas, morning glories, and hollyhocks.  Can you tell how much I love this time of year?

Here are some shots of our lilacs as they start to succumb to the end of their growing season:

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The boys are both able to wear short sleeve shirts now-how exciting!

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Today we celebrated both Aidan and LB's birthdays-they are two days apart and G's father's birthday is on the day between them.  So there was a morning party for the five year old and an afternoon/evening party for the 18 year old.

 

These shots are just of an afternoon at home while PB was taking a nap-she was sick and couldn't get well without some sleep-and the front yard-still with winter hanging on.

 

One afternoon this week RB and MB came home with us and the older boys refused to come inside.  It was just too nice out to sit on the porch and bask in the March sunlight.

MB stayed inside with me.  Doesn't he look happy?

 

Yesterday we stopped to see GB and he and his family were not home-they had gone to visit PB and her family.  So we stopped in and all four kids were in the same place at the same time.  Those are the best of times!

 

The pictures really speak for themselves

 

On Wednesday we got a little over a foot of snow, so school was canceled.  I had already agreed to watch RB and MB for the afternoon so that their parents could make a treacherous drive to their mortgage appointment, and then JC called and asked if I could watch BB while she went snowboarding (our house is on the way to the ski area).  So I had all three boys.  Aidan and RB napped most of the time, which gave me time alone with the little ones.