It's 88 degrees here...

...but the tell-tale signs of fall have begun to appear.
The maple tree leaves are turning:

Other trees are beginning to lose their leaves:

and those nasty Boxelder Bugs are back:

They cause no damage, but anything that swarms about my head as I walk by tends to freak me out a bit:

Oregon is known for summer weather that can extend sometimes into October. My garden is loving this.

I can smell the grapes now when I pass by:

The pears are ripening:

...and the (from left to right) cucumber, lemon cucumbers and birdhouse gourds are going strong:

I grew the birdhouse gourd plants as a fun experiment and they clearly like it here. This plant is growing up into the apple tree:

Tender zucchini is ready for the picking:

and the yellow squash is growing like mad:

These are another garden first for me:

...which is why I am concerned and confused that some of the yellow squash appear to be molding on the vine:

The red bell pepper plant is still producing. The peppers are quite small but delicious:

All my fussing about not having any ripe tomatoes has ceased. We're getting delicious La Roma and Yellow Boy tomatoes:

And we'll be swimming in cherry tomatoes soon:

So, even though fall officially started a week ago, summer in Oregon continues...

The bees are still doing their thing:

The donkeys are still running:

and when they're not running, they're wrestling:

and when they're not wrestling, they're playing ball:

The chickens are still free-ranging in the sun:

And farmgirl Roxy still gets to hang her head out the window when we go for a ride: