Autumn Begins — Checking in

Happy Fall! The photo above is a red abutilon flower on my porch backlit by the afternoon sun. I love the light this time of year.

I wanted to give a little update about SSS and what’s been going on in my life.

SSS Site: If anyone noticed that the SSS site was down for a few days (Sept 21-24), the reason was a web host transfer that took a little longer than planned. If you emailed info@sonomascentstudio.com during that time and did not hear back, you might want to re-send your email.

I will probably replace the SSS home page soon with a notice about closing and I will restrict access to the rest of the site. I’ve left the site up while deciding what do with SSS, but some people miss the messages on the site about the closure so I will restrict the site to the home page and put a message there.

SSS Company Sale: I was communicating with someone who wanted to purchase SSS. In the process of working on the sales contract, I learned about some changes to tax laws that mean I need to sell SSS over time instead of an all-cash, all-in-one-year deal. I was not able to work out that sort of plan with the people who had made the offer, so I’m not sure what I will do now. I am in no hurry because I’ve been working on my health (my wrists are improving all the time!) and working on cleaning up. I’m still interested in finding the right person to carry on with SSS or to take over some of the top-selling scents, but I’m working on other things in the meantime.

SSS Remaining Bottle Sale: All the bottles I had offered in previous blog posts are in the hands of people who requested them. I don’t have anything else for sale at this time, but if that changes I will post again.

Family: Four weeks ago my sweet Dad fell and broke his right upper arm (humerus) clear through. He has weekly doctor appointments for x-rays and adjustment of the brace, and we’re hoping he can heal and avoid surgery.  Today the doctor referred him to a specialist for another opinion because the injury is borderline for whether surgery needs to be done. We’re keeping our fingers crossed. He is right-handed, so this has been very challenging for him, and he is not the sort of person who likes a lot of down time.

Photos: I’ll finish this post by sharing a few pictures I’ve taken this summer. First up is a picture of a monarch butterfly in the garden, taken yesterday. The monarchs will be migrating south (Pacific Grove in CA is one spot in which they gather).

Here is my new garden gate. We replaced the old wooden gate this summer because it had deteriorated too much to be latched and couldn’t be repaired anymore. This iron gate won’t shrink/swell in the summer/winter so it should last much longer. So easy for me to use too!

Here are a couple photos of one of the fawns that has been living here this summer. We’ve had one doe with two fawns and one doe with one fawn. They love to eat acorns this time of year (the acorns drop to the ground in fall). Low res pics because I was too far away, but still cute.

I had a great crop of tomatoes in June/July (Sweet 100 and Early Girl) and now I’m getting another crop of the cherry tomatoes this fall. I’ve already frozen lots of tomatoes to use later, so I’m juicing some of this crop. They make amazing, thick, tomato juice. Yum.

The juice collects in one bowl and the seeds/skins collect in the other bowl. I’ve set up a juicing/food prep station in what used to be my lab. Unlike the kitchen sink, the sink in the old lab room allows my chair to roll under, so it is easy to use.

I love this time of year, as long as fires don’t strike. Fall is fire season in CA, and we’ve already had serious fires in 2018 even before heading into fall. Hoping we do not have a repeat of last year.

I will post more when I can!