Garden surprises:

I thought this endless summer hydrangea was not going to bloom at all this year, There was absolutely nothing but leaves all summer long. But a week or so ago, I noticed two blooms developing. And here we are.

Never give up, I guess!

And yesterday, as I was walking by the memorial garden, I thought I spotted something. I quickly went back and way up in the garden behind another plant was a tiny rose. I had a little bush up there that had died. In fact, I removed most of it – all of it, I thought. But there, in its place, was a tiny plant with some leaves and this:

An unexpected delight!

It’s been such a strange summer for the gardens and the trees. As I write this, it’s raining again. We had to snatch the opportunity to mow yesterday because a dry day is rare around here. Once again, the grass had grown way too long because it rains every day so we can’t mow. Mowing was exhausting, as we had to constantly stop to remove the grass that was clogging the chute. We might resort to cutting that section of the front lawn more frequently so we don’t have deal with so much tall grass. Of course, you can only do that if it doesn’t rain.

The good news: after today, we have over a week of dry weather in the forecast.

Woke up at 4:30 am this morning. So did Don. The a/c had shut off because I forgot to put it on the correct setting, It was too warm for me. Don says it wasn’t too warm for him, he just happened to wake up too early. Needless to say, we’re tired and a wee bit cranky this morning.

The enormity of the losses in Morocco and Libya is heartbreaking, I can’t stop thinking about these horrific tragedies within days of each other. Those poor people. We are seeing the evidence of climate change in hurricanes, fires, floods, drought, excessive temperatures (I’m sure I’m leaving something out of this list.) What kind of world are we leaving behind? And what are we doing about it? Not enough, and whatever we do now may be too late.

I’m in such a dark mood this morning that I could go on and on about the state of the world and our country. But I’ll stop there. Older and, hopefully, wiser.

Sometimes.

Stay safe.

Happy Wednesday.

I’m running out of photos. It’s so frigging hot and humid out there that the windows are permanently steamy and it’s too miserable to be outside. Plus, if I take my camera outside, the lens immediately steams up. We’re supposed to get storms today (we had one during the night) and the weather will break for about two days, then we’ll be back up in the nineties.

I read an article in the NY Times this morning about the abnormally high temperatures in the northern half of our country – and not only here, but in Europe, as well. This does not bode well. Global warming is a reality. Climate change is real. I’m glad Scott Pruitt resigned, but he resigned because of the backlash against his corruption, not because of his attempts to undo everything that was in place to try to save our planet. His successor has the same mindset. Big business, big oil, coal – all of that is more important to these despicable people than the future of our planet and the world that we are leaving to our children and grandchildren.

This is the first summer in which I’ve felt truly alarmed about the weather. We’ve had three long periods of abnormally high temperatures and it’s just the beginning of July. This is not normal.

The mystery plant is definitely Meadowsweet or Filipendula ulmaria. I assume it self-seeded several years ago. I’m so grateful it did. I really love this plant, and as it’s getting bigger every year, it’s become more beautiful.

I cannot tell you how many weeds there are here and it’s been too hot to pull them. I did mow the corral and the back forty yesterday. I also did some weed whacking. It needed to be done and I want the property to look nice for Don’s homecoming. But it really tired me out.

Last night, I found myself thinking that Don had a 7:00 curtain, before I remembered the show had closed. I suspect it was strange for him as well.

Today: recycling and getting things together here in the house for Don’s re-entry. Tomorrow, I head off to NYC, driving the old CR-V (wish me luck) into Manhattan.

Note the bee on the left.

I finished another book; John Connolly’s latest, The Woman in the Woods. As always with Connolly’s books, it was excellent. I’m officially reading again and that makes me so happy. Staying away from 24 hour news, taking a few minutes to catch up on the headlines, and reading fiction = my recipe for a modicum of peace of mind. I’m aware. I know what’s going on. I’m making phone calls, signing petitions, and am ready to march if needed. But the rest of the time, I need to chill.

Happy Friday.