Home: Savoring Indian Summer

EARLY FALL AFTERNOONS seem custom-made for outdoor entertaining. Warm days inspire the kids to go swimming and eat homemade ice-cream sandwiches. Evenings are just cool enough to grill ribs without breaking a sweat. So it only makes sense that when September arrives, the Bryn Mawr family of Nanette and John Ballbach practically dwell in their backyard. The sweeping green space — recently redesigned by Robert Nonemaker of Glen Mills-based Outerspaces — is laid out in a gentle oasis of alfresco living rooms. A landscape with Russian sage, feather reed grass and white ‘Becky’ Shasta daisies surrounds a patio of Pennsylvania flagstone. Clematis climbs a weathering white-oak pergola. The Ballbach children, Graham, Whitney, Chandler and Tucker, splash in the free-form, waterfall-adorned gunite pool. And when friends visit — in the following pages, Christi and David Schug and their daughters Hannah and Grace — the dining table in front of the Chester County fieldstone fireplace becomes the place to celebrate the gentle season.

Cocktails

FOR THE ADULTS
Cranberry Clara
Serves 1

2/3 c. ginger beer
2/3 c. lager beer
1 Tbsp. cranberry juice
Ice
Orange wedge

To a pint glass, add ginger beer, then lager. Top with cranberry juice. Then add ice. Garnish with orange wedge.

FOR THE KIDS
Candied Orangeade
Serves 1

1/2 c. orange juice
1/4 c. ginger ale
1/2 lime, juiced
Ice
1 Hammond’s Candies
orange or key lime
tea sipper

In a rocks glass, combine orange juice, ginger ale and lime juice. Add ice and garnish with tea sipper.