Where it’s at: September 10

I’m back in Iowa after eight days of travel, moving from friends’ house to friends’ house, checking out gardens and kids and all kinds of things that grow.

I returned to rain, and snuck out back to the garden between showers to see how things were growing. “I think the season’s pretty much over,” Steve said as I headed out the back door, but I have hope for the green tomatoes still hanging on the vine and the dozen or so peppers that emerged while I was away.

There’s one swiss chard stalk growing, too. Can’t forget the swiss chard.

But, as I poked around in the tomato vines looking for signs of ripening, a fat buzz sounded in my ear, and I looked up to see a bumblebee whirring by. It dipped in and out of tomato blossoms and pepper blossoms, never stopping to rest more than a split second, as determined as I am to ignore the small red leaves in the grass and the chilly temperatures that signal the approach of Fall.