Ah! such a robustly good day today out on varied terrain and good trails for a 3 mile hike skirting the reservoir. Lots of water and lots of asters today. We found “Heather Aster” a showy white aster that was new to most of us. There’s an exhilarating seasonal change in the air and in the plant life too. Both Fringed and Bottle Gentians are n bloom. (Oops, sorry no photo). Plenty of New York and New England Asters, and the Black Eyed Susans just don’t want to quit yet. We spied Fox Grapes that had climbed up into a hemlock tree. We’d never seen such big wild grapes before so we stopped and ate some: Consensus = lots of seeds, not enough grape, but a passably good flavor. I do love stones, and I found a lot of beautiful stones today. Tony gallantly carried them for me in his orange vest pocket and had some fun demonstrating how difficult a task that had been! After the hike we gathered in Joe’s back yard with our bag lunches, and our extraordinary friendship, and the toasting of chocolate filled marshmallows! You might want to give them a try:) Then, it being the first of October, so surely for bragging rights, Tony and Madge and I took a swim in the Conway pond. The photo shows Tony and I just standing in the water, but I assure you that we did swim. And it was wonderful!! I hope you’ll celebrate this wonderful and changing season too. Love, Penny 
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