Back to summer we are! Wise are those who did not rush to put away clothes for warm weather when we got a brief reminder of cooler weather last week. Fashion dictates that one is not supposed to wear white shoes after Labor Day. How foolish! Today is a typical summer day that calls for sandals or lightweight sneakers.

In two days, three people have expressed the hope that the return of warm sunny days would ripen their tomatoes. It will probably help and that most popular garden crop may keep providing for tomato sandwiches and sliced-thin pieces for platters or salads.

What a treat last week when friends Lois Clark and Roselyn McNish arrived for a visit, bringing lunch and two special trays of slides for afternoon watching! Both are photographers of highest esteem, and have literally hundreds of slides accumulated from years of travelling all over the country. They called ahead and asked what I’d be interested in seeing. “Nature,” I replied. They both immediately said they had some great slides of orchids. Their other suggestion was a tray from their visit to an alligator farm in Florida. They show these and many others, professionally, at lectures to clubs and groups.

Neither of my friends knew I had recently become interested in orchids, thanks to my friend Caroline Edwards in Florida. She has encouraged me to get a couple of orchid plants – a different interest for anyone who is semi-housebound. So I was delighted to have a chance to see the beautiful slides my friends brought. I had no idea there is such a great variety of orchids. They require a little TLC but their blooms last quite awhile, and if you purchase the right plants, you can get some to bloom at certain times of the year.

Lois and Roselyn took these slides at the “Fairchild Gardens” in Coral Gables, Florida, where they have a collection of plants from all over the world. They have a special exhibit each year around Valentine Day. They also have a collection of bromeliads, so you folks who winter in the south might enjoy a stop at the gardens.

I can’t honestly say I’d like to visit the alligator farm in an island area near St Augustine. I was interested in the slides, but have no special desire to get any closer.

These friends brought a lovely “indoor picnic” lunch, topped by a homemade chocolate pie! How nice to have someone else’s cooking, and they left what we didn’t finish so there was another lunch treat the next day!

My daughter Susan really hit the jackpot with her crop of tomatoes this year. Planted among her flowers and shrubs, they are producing perfect specimens and are providing great sandwiches. Another treat!

Two people – one a reader – sent me a copy of a news item about the problem of too many deer in areas where they cause problems. They destroy crops, lawns, and shrubbery, and cause numerous accidents with motor vehicles. It is very difficult to condemn the likes of Bambi, but the problems are serious and authorities are trying to figure out ways to reduce the population in ways that animal lovers will accept. A recent report in a government magazine notes that an average of 15 accidents a day are caused by deer in Connecticut. The state also has the highest rate of Lyme disease in the country – an illness caused by deer ticks that can be transferred to humans. It is clear that several states need to relax hunting regulations to combat this life-threatening increase in our deer population.

Apparently the hummingbirds that have been visiting my feeder have left for their long journey to winter homes. It is earlier than they left here last year.

A nature writer for a nearby daily paper reported seeing large flocks of hummingbirds flying south while he was doing a hawk count in New Haven last week. He noted that more of these tiny birds than usual were counted as they left our area. I’ll leave the feeder up a little longer in case a migrant stops by, but the regulars have gone until next April or May.

The words that closed out last week’s column were from “The Fisher’s Boy” by Henry David Thoreau.

Who wrote “If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you”?