GARDEN BLOGGERS' BLOOM DAY -SEPTEMBER

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There, that's it - a collage of what's left in the garden in September :

Top row : Limelight hydrangea still going strong; Sweet Autumn Clematis join the show, Ah, the ornamental grasses glow, mums, phlox and sedum all in a row , bee balm, plume poppy and chinese lantern , oh my, chartruese enters stage right, followed by asters, and blackeyed Susans.

MY FIRST GARDEN

Carol of May Dreams Gardens has invited everyone to write about their very first garden.

You'll love this Carol as you are really into vegetables. At the ripe old age of 10 I was handed the duty of tending the family vegetable garden. Do you know how much fun this was to a 10 year old who just wanted to play dolls ? Well, let me tell you, it was work with a capital W.

An Alabama summer is like no other - a hundred degrees in the shade. But it's a dry heat as they say in Arizona. Dry heat ? Is that something like sticking your head in an oven ?

But, luckily we are also in the States bordering the Gulf of Mexico and usually are blessed with ample rainfall.

So I learned the basics of vegetable gardening - hoeing ( Carol's favorite pastime ) , weeding, fertilizing and harvesting. We start early in Alabama - February or March can be warm enough to plant Spring Onions and Cabbage.

All Summer the vegetables kept coming and what was not eaten was preserved with an average of 100 or more jars of each for winter consumption. My two sisters and I spent many summers canning jars of green beans, pickles, corn, tomatoes, sauerkraut, beets, peaches and apple butter in the cellar.

My childhood revolved around the garden that fed our family of five. By the time I finished high school and headed for the Windy City I thought that I left all that behind. But I am a daughter of the soil and so to the soil I returned.

I was destined to be a gardener but now that I have a choice, I do it for the sheer pleasure of it.

SUMMER RULES

Every Labor Day I hear people say that this holiday marks the end of summer. I, for one, am not ready to let it go even though the ' skeeters on most evenings drive me indoors.

This week the weather will be Fall-like with temperatures in the 70's during the day and 50 and 60's at night. I love this in between season with its cool and warm weather. The trees haven't begun their Fall color yet, but everyone seems to be preparing for the envitable - the end of Summer.

Summer still rules, there are chores to be done in the garden, more lazy warm evenings to cook and eat outdoors in. My mate is drawn more and more indoors , sports nut that he is, the Chicago Cubs and the return of the Superbowl Bears are occupying a lot of his time.

Summer is a state of mind. In the deep of a Chicago winter I still think of her . I wish Summer was as eternal as it is in my heart and mind. I actually know people ( mostly from Chicago ) who love winter. A season when nothing grows and it's hard to even be outside . I can hardly comprehend the love of it.

If I had my druthers it would be Summer year round.

WHAT'S IN A NAME ?

Chicagoans in general have a dislike of New York City and being called the Second City. So when mega-Macy's took over the beloved Chicago Department Store Marshall Field's last year many protests were heard. As a matter of fact, much to my astonishment, four protests have been organized since then.

Taking over Field's is one thing, but putting the name Macy's on this Chicago icon ? That didn't sit well with many people who swore never to enter the store. The Field's name has stood for service an quality for over a century and a half . "Give the lady what she wants " was Marshall Field's motto. Marshall Field's was more than just a department store, it was a destination for many families to celebrate at Christmas and other special occasions. It was an integral part of the Chicago landscape.

The one year anniversary of the takeover was September 9 and no one expected anymore protests but a grassroots group called Field's Fans Chicago was organized and is protesting and calling for the return of the Field's name on that day in front of the famous Clock on State Street. I visited their website and was amazed at their determination to have the Field's name restored. They pointed out that customers demanded the old coke back when new coke was introduced, Chrysler divorced itself from Daimler, etc. and that Macy's should recognize its action as a major corporate blunder.

I asked my sister who works at Field's, now Macy's, about how business was going since the takeover and she said it was way down. I read that last month Macy's posted a 77 percent decline in second-quarter profits. Fieldsfanschicago is encouraging Chicagoans not to shop at Macy's or Bloomingdale's . I wonder if this was one of the causes for the sales slump.

What is Macy's reaction ? They plan to hire Donald Trump and Jessica Simpson for national ads starting this Fall. Not two of my faves. Everytime I see The Donald I want to get my scissors out and give him a free hair cut and Jessica, well I think she needs to be a more positive role models for our young'uns.

What's in a name ? A rose by any other name would smell as sweet ? Not this time and place. A lot of Chicagoans I know won't even step foot in the former Field's.

Good luck to the die hard fieldsfanschicago.

YET ANOTHER BENEFIT FOR GARDENERS

That's moi with mother Ruby. Sorry, no color photos when I was born. You can't see it from the black and white but she was a rosy cheeked Irish lassie who never used any kind of cosmetics . She is 37 years old in the photo and has no wrinkles.

The reason I mention wrinkles is that the cosmetics industry hypes anti-wrinkle creams as if they were a magic bullet. I haven't seen many 60 or 70 year olds in their ads which is probably why we don't see really age appropriate women in their commercials.

Unlike my older sister Wilma who is loyal to one expensive skin care brand, I've always been one to buy whatever was on sale at Walgreens or Osco. I'm cheap I guess but I cringe when I see the department store prices for a jar of cream - $100 on up !

I get compliments on my skin ( thanks, Ma ! ) and when asked what brand I use I answer " WOIS , or whatever is on sale. " $20 a jar is the max I'll spend. Told you I was cheap. I also think that a good moisturizer whether $20 or $300 will do the same job .

Which is why I recently let out a big hoot when I read that a test conducted on a $300 jar of French facial cream and Olay's Regenerist moisturizer ( $20 ) showed that the Olay brand had better results. Hee, hee.

Tests have also shown that people who garden a lot have better skin because the exercise and sweat is good for it. That must've been my mother's secret because she worked outdoors a lot. And, oh yes, she wore a bonnet to protect herself from the sun.