Each day sunset comes to my front yard about two minutes earlier than the day before. As the days grow shorter and the date of the state fair draws nearer, I have less time to dawdle. I don’t even have time to panic.

I simply get up in the morning, make coffee, put breakfast together, and move forward with the day. I try to keep errands to a minimum.

If it is not needed to stem bleeding, extinguish a fire, or facilitate breathing, it isn’t, technically, a necessity.

This is a time of year when I tend to improvise more and clean out the pantry of things I was going to try but hadn’t quite gotten too. Now that I do not go to the store for the sole purpose of buying dill and cumin (both of which I am in need of), I am forced to look at what other foods and herbs and spices are already in the cupboards.

Thankfully, I remembered to lay in a supply of peanut butter before this last push, and thankfully, no one in my household is allergic to peanuts.

This is a wonderful time for setting priorities and learning what is truly important. Trumpet lessons for my soon-to-be teenager are important; finishing the bag-that-refuses-to-be-finished (no matter how tempting the colors or how magical I believe the bag will be when it is finally done) has to be put on hold. Meanwhile I continue the day’s work and photograph it before darkness descends.

The photographs of early August were the easiest:

A single line, composed of nine points, not unlike the first lines to which one is introduced in geometry.

Today, however, when I was attempting to photograph the work I had completed, I very much wished I could be Inspector Gadget, a cartoon character who was a bit of a bumbling spy, but who had absolutely awesome gadgets to help him get the job done. I very much would have benefited from having arms that could extend past their normal parameters, if not for an entire day, then at least for the time it would take to photograph my growing project.

Here is what I was able to manage with my non-Inspector-Gadget arms:

And now, as the sun has set and only 33 days remain between me and the state fair entry deadline, I again take the long view: