“Though the calendar says autumn is here, the faint scent of summer roses still lingers in the air. It is so with life: One gift appears but another fades.”

The publishers of my “Birds of North America” calendar had no source for the Sept. 24 quote. The page drew my attention because the bird of the day was a male Painted Bunting.

Painted Buntings are long gone. Some summer hummers still hang in the air. Waltzing fireflies outcompeted the competition on “Dancing with the Stars” on the Monday night of the debates (if you ask me). 

Butterflies swim above my blue mist flower, intentionally planted to provide butterfly nectar. Remember Barbara Coldwell? (They moved to Pennsylvania a couple years back.) Barbara invited me to see butterfly multitudes on her large display of blue mist flowers several years back and sent me home with a bunch of clippings. Only when I added to hers some well-established nursery specimens and God provided plentiful rainwater did my garden show a bountiful display of blossoms that brought breath-taking splendor.

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This year, this first week in October brings to Mountain City, just four days apart, our largest annual events for meeting and greeting and getting to know one another – and having fun together, Neighbors Night Out and Fire & Ice. By the time you read this, NNO will be an event in the past.

Fire & Ice, on the grounds of City Hall, was cooked up in Amy Hilton’s living room during a Loving Mountain City brainstorm, not long after Loving Mountain City was born. The festival occurs on a fall Saturday when Hays is not playing at home and when Island Texas (our local band that plays Texas music with a Caribbean flavor) doesn’t have a paying gig.  Thus, this year it’s this Saturday, Oct. 8. It’s fun.

Coolers are welcome at Fire & Ice. Contestants for fire (salsa) and ice (ice cream) competition are needed! To participate, email lovingmountaincity@gmail.com ASAP. The printed material says “October 1st.” But, LMC extended the deadline. There’s no entry fee. The winners walk away with a cool trophy.

Fire & Ice starts at 4 p.m. Bring lawn chairs. Games, crafts, bouncy house, hamburgers and hot dogs (limited quantity), raffle. Local vendor booths. 

For more details, visit the Facebook page of Loving MountainCity. 

Both households of Brownlows on Maple play in Island Texas. It’s run by Jeremy Brownlow. 

Skip Brownlow, whose house is near Live Oak Drive, recently killed a coral snake on the front lawn. 

Jeremy Brownlow and family live near Juniper. There, Skip’s granddaughter, Marley, came upon a coral snake while she headed barefoot to her trampoline. It slithered away. 

Hope to see you at Fire & Ice.

Hope to get tidbits from you ASAP.  ptom5678@gmail.com (subject: TIDBIT) or 512-268-5678. Thanks. Love, Pauline.