What’s up in the gardens on this first day of summer?
The bee balm will be in bloom very soon. I can’t wait for those splashes of vivid red in the big garden bed.
Bees are everywhere. This one was working very hard at something on the end of that leaf. I was fascinated but I could never quite figure it out.
Roses keep blooming.
The pink spirea is fully in bloom. Clouds of pink everywhere.
Post petals, this is what remains of the clematis bloom – along with a bug and a gossamer web.
Dame’s Rocket with little bug.
New Dawn Rose buds.
A spider web, stretching from boxwood to boxwood.
The camera becomes my third eye and I’m always surprised and delighted by what it discovers. It truly is my favorite time of year, despite being sleep deprived.
We’re on the countdown, my friends: T minus 4 days and counting. A big birthday on Friday for Don and Little Z. Oh that little boy, we love him so much. We talk to him most every evening, conversations where word games are played, giggles erupt, and a besotted aunt and uncle sigh with happiness. He’s going to be five years old, you know. Don is going to be, ahem, sixty-five.
This was waiting for Don on Father’s Day, along with a card from Winston, Riley and Scout.
I matted and framed Shanna’s sketch of Scout. Don was very pleased. Shanna managed to capture the twinkle in Scout’s eye, that look that said, “I’m game for anything!” If I had to describe Scout with just one word, it would be JOY. In caps.
We miss my dad. We miss Don’s dad. And we miss my brother, dad to three wonderful children – now adults – and the seven grandchildren he never got to know. Father’s Day is bittersweet, indeed.
Anastasia closed its run in Hartford yesterday. Next year: Broadway. I know at least two of the readers of this blog saw it and loved it, which makes me very happy.
Happy Monday.
Wonderful photos. I do enjoy your third eye. Big Birthday’s coming! I hope today is a good day. Sweet sketch of Scout.
hugs,
Linda
It’s hot, Linda! Yikes! We sat on the porch this morning, because it’s going to be much too hot after lunch. Have a good day.
Beautiful thoughts and photography, as always. Perfect matte and frame, as well. I’m so glad you love it.
We love it so much. Now to frame the machine embroidery!
Good morning Claudia, your garden is just lovely and I just love the sketch of Scout. I also have bunnies in my yard. There are two new babies this year that just love my beans and peas I planted. Looks like I need to put some netting around them. Last year they didn’t bother any of the veggies growing they just munched on the clover and the wild strawberries in the yard. Work will be ending the season at the end of this week. We have been cut short a week this year. I will miss working in the garden center and getting first pick over mark downs. I have had some health matters to deal with this past month and still have some things I have to go through but everything is turning out to be good. So that is a blessing. Can’t wait till the unveiling this week, it will be a big surprise! Have a wonderful day
Hugs
I’m so glad to hear everything is turning out okay, Nancy. Take care of yourself! Boy, the more I think of it, working at a garden center would be a really neat job!
Such pretty flowers in your gardens Claudia. The drawing of your girl captures her perfectly. It has felt like summer here in Central Florida for a long time despite rain most days. Just finished pulling my washer and dryer out to clean behind them. One more thing to mark off my long list. Today is my sister’s birthday and her husband is surprising her with a trip to NYC. Can’t wait to hear how she reacts. She’s never been there.
Oh, what a lovely birthday surprise for your sister! It’s going to be hot there (if they’re going this week..)!
Lovely pics! I spent yesterday with two of my sons, doing yard work. It was hot…but so worth it. The yard and gardens look great! Because of hubby’s hip surgery, he was unable to help…but he was in charge of the grilling. There is always sadness that comes with these holidays….I was happy for my husband that he got to spend time with two sons…but sad that my own father and FIL will never be with us again.
I bet you are excited for Friday…I think we all are! Enjoy your day! ;)
A mixed blessing kind of day, Donnamae. I understand. I am excited for Friday and I’m making a list of last minute things to do before the unveiling!
Claudia, your photographs do wonders for me. Thank you.
You’re welcome! That makes me happy!
Beautiful pictures!! The gardens are so very pretty right now. Nothing is straggly yet!!! I love just walking through the yard.
Well, everyone is excited for the unveiling, for sure!! Will be such fun!
Have a good day. Stay cool. The humidity is ugh here today.
It is here, too. We have an Air Quality warning!
Aw, Scout! What a wonderful keepsake. You have an excellent photographer’s eye, Claudia. I love the essence that you capture.
Thank you so much, Wendy!
Your photos are incredible. Like in a nature book.
I don’t think I realized you were an auntie so many times over!
The sketch of Scout is simply wonderful.
Hope you’re cooler today; we were already 95 degrees at 9:30am; ugh.
I’m an auntie of 11 nieces and nephews and 8 great-nieces and nephews, Vicki.
No cooler – going to 94 degrees today! And humid, besides.
Well, how lucky! You are rich with family.
Sunday was HOT…but simply unbelievable on Monday here in SoCalif; we reached 110 degrees and it stayed that way for a few hours. I’ve been here all my long life and I don’t recall it ever, EVER being that hot. I’m not even far from the ocean. Actually, it felt scary. I thought, if everybody overpowers the grid with a/c, we’re doomed. It was advised we not run appliances from I think 9am to 9pm or something like that so, other than the a/c with a few other electric fans, we stayed inside, with everything (including lights) off. I was in Palm Springs once when it was 117 but, you know, it was the desert. I’d lived in southeast Texas those few years and we never got to 110 there. My husband is tall and really thin; the heat rarely bothers him but, yesterday? Even HE couldn’t stand it. At least we weren’t humid.
I felt SO sorry for outside pets. I obsessed all day about my neighbor who’s been putting his large-breed dog in a outdoor pen ALL DAY while they have workers at their house (remodeling). I’ve become attached to this dog and I felt he would die of heatstroke (he’s also a black-haired dog; black dogs get hotter, I know, because I’ve had several). It was all I could do to not involve the authorities but my husband (balancing the facts with feelings…also in the name of neighbor relations) said that while he and I would never do that to a dog in severe heat, they were within the law. It’s our understanding they start the day with food and water for the dog (although I can’t see it from my eye-view); the dog is accustomed to being an outdoor animal, the pen has a partial roof and is a very large pen (which even houses a dog house I gave them) but, you know, it’s also got a concrete flooring next to a concrete wall and the heat pouring into that would just make things worse. I don’t even know why these people have a dog in the first place; they barely interact with him. And he’s a really wonderful creature. I’ve found that with dogs like this, they have no expectations, such that with the slightest acknowledgement, they are grateful. (I had a dog once who’d been tied to a short chain for the first three years of his life, completely ignored; we took him in as a rescue, so I’ve seen the temperament firsthand of dogs whose abuse is neglect.) Anyway, I secretly give this black dog a few healthy biscuits over the fence every day (I’d asked first, a long time ago, if I could hand out treats; the owner said sure, but I don’t think the wife likes it when I do it; I think they’d rather I mind my own business). So, the dog was loose and alive this morning for a little while at 7am and he lingered longer than usual for a pat on the head from me…but I find myself feeling I cannot continue to be friendly with these people; I would never put an animal through those kinds of temps, especially in a confined space. When I moved to Texas, my vet advised we keep the cat indoors from May to at least October, due to the heat. It was no easy feat because he wasn’t compatible with our four dogs inside the home, but I turned over a whole bedroom to the cat. (It had been my husband’s cat before we were married and the cat was accustomed to being outside, which is never a good idea for their safety.)
I’m ranting, aren’t I. I think you feel the same as I do about a pet’s comfort and safety. Like a lot of things, I think the laws are inadequate when it comes to animal rights. There are people out there who look at dogs like property whereas you and I look at them as our children.
As you may know, we have wildfires in Azusa (L.A.) and Santa Barbara further north. We were probably 12 degrees cooler today, Tues. But it’s supposed to get very hot again for the weekend. JUNE, no less!
Rich with family, but five of those nieces and nephews are my estranged sister’s children and she has cut us off from them. We have no way to reach out to them. And one of them is my godchild, as well.
I feel the same way you do about pets. They should be inside, safe and in cool temperatures. I obsess about those things, too. People like your neighbors just should not have pets. Why bother if you’re not going to treat the animal as a member of the family?
I don’t have the quantity of family as you do but it’s probably worse to have them and have it be so sad and awkward. Sometimes I’ve felt uneasy about not having children as my advocates as I age but I’ve heard far too many stories of adult children ‘turning’ on aged parents (not really the right word but, you know, wanting not to be bothered; just wanting ‘the money’) and not ‘being there’ for them anyway (so, no guarantees). You think none of any of this kind of stuff would ever happen in your own family but look what has happened for you; I’m so sorry you have the estrangement.
My husband and I are making another big push to ‘get rid’ of a lot of my deceased parents’ stuff; have done it in increments over the past three years; the house is just too full of their things and our own. My parents hadn’t moved in 60 years, so their accumulation is overwhelming although they weren’t hoarders or unkempt or anything like that…although, as Depression-era kids, they did save things with the idea they’d need this or that somewhere along the way; just nothing cleared out for so long and never downsized. We already have 20 boxes packed for the charity donation pickup next week. We’ve been working hard! So emotionally-difficult to do this. Yesterday I found the waffle maker from the 50s; remembering all the Sunday morning breakfasts when I was a kid. My mom’s address books…all the people in them are gone now. So many memories…the ice bucket we’d get out for special occasions when Mom and Dad would have a little party in the 60s. I hate having to be the one to tie up the loose ends and eradicate the things of someone else’s life…but it’s my life, too. Yet, it has to get done, by somebody, and that somebody is me. I wish my parents hadn’t left a lot of it to me to do; what am I saying, they left ALL of it for me to deal with and we’ve been buried in ‘stuff’. For instance, my brother’s been dead for 25 years; my parents were younger then. They would have been physically able to ‘clean out’ but didn’t. A lot of his possessions they could have gone through so that I don’t have to be doing it. I realize it was hard for them but it’s hard for me, too. I know I sound grumbly and a lot of adult children get stuck with this kind of thing; probably most do. But to never move anything along since you were in your 50s… (I just find it all so physically and mentally draining – I’m in a lot worse health than they were at this age to have to be tackling such a huge task.)
I guess all we can do Claudia is love who’s closest around us and just cherish what we’ve had and what’s right in front of us.
Shanna certainly did NAIL that portrait of Scout. It was the first thing I thought when I saw it – and she wasn’t even my dog! But that is definitely the Scoutie we’ve all come to know as readers of your blog! The twinkle is most definitely there!! And what a thoughtful gift – perfect for a heartbroken momma & poppa. Something tells me that before there were a few inevitable tears – 💔 – it made you both smile…
You’re right, Janet. It did both! We cried and smiled. When Scout died, we talked about commissioning a painting of her – then Shanna’s gift appeared. An answer to a prayer.
Bee Balm is one of my favorite flowers..I was fascinated with spider webs when I was a kid..I guess I still am amazed at what one tiny little creature can do…I’m very excited for the birthdays to get here…When I look at Shanna’s drawing it’s like looking at Scout herself…I don’t know how she did it but the look on Scout’s face is just perfect…If you ever do decide to have a commissioned portrait done..I know a great artist in Pittsburgh that is excellent at animal portraits and does them and other art for a living…I am sure she could even do a painting of Scout, Riley and Winston together! I have some of her beautiful work here in my home and love seeing it every day…
Thanks, Nancy!
Beautiful garden, the spider web freaked me out. The one bug I can’t deal with is spiders. What a wonderful Fathers Day gift from the furbabies
Cindy
I sort of love spiders, Cindy!
I love all the pictures in this post, especially the pink spirea looks amazing!
Thank you, Susi!