Back in Ithaca

I returned to Ithaca this morning, and it is so green! So much is growing - the tomatoes & basil in the backyard, the rose bushes (which have been sadly decimated by the Japanese beetles), the Rose of Sharon trees, the lilac bushes, the coneflowers (echinachia), the brown-eyed Susans, the grass.... We are really blessed by abundant rain here! (At least this summer). My tenants told me that apparently some creature has been eating the tomatoes when they start to get ripe - I hope that when I pick my cat up from the kennel today, he'll start keeping whatever animal it is away from them.