Our other spirea is blooming. It will bloom again later in the summer.

Okay. You’ve seen a closeup of the flowers.

Let’s step back and take a look at what this tiny little bush that I planted a couple of years after we moved in has become.

You can see the Annabelle hydrangea behind it. I planted them rather close together, having no idea how large they might become.

Let’s get an even better view:

This year, it has gone crazy. I need to cut it back, but I’ll wait until the end of summer. When I realized how much it had grown, the flower buds were beginning to show themselves and I didn’t have the heart to do any pruning. (And I secretly like seeing how far it will go.)

Cripes, it could take over the whole lawn!

It was a quiet weekend here. I did some mowing on Saturday – the corral – and I’ll mow the back forty later today. Don was at a gig during the afternoon yesterday. I do miss him when he’s gone. Everything is more interesting and fun when he’s by my side. But one thing is sure, I accomplish a whole lot more when he’s away. I did laundry, swiffered, vacuumed, and dusted. I watched part of a ball game and the men’s singles at the French Open. And I worked on a puzzle that is promising to be very difficult. A challenge!

It got much cooler yesterday and it seems to be the same today. I’m going to mail a package at the post office, drop some books off at the library, and stop at the nursery to find a replacement for a porch plant that died. Why it did, I don’t know, as I plant it every year. Just one of those things.

Then I’ll mow.

Stay safe.

Happy Monday.

Yesterday evening’s sunset. I’m not usually outside at that time, but I’m glad I was. I did have to run back inside the house for my phone, though. There is something so magical about a sunset.

It’s been in the mid-eighties the last few days. I guess summer is here (though not officially.) It’s a beautiful morning. I’ve come to the conclusion that my gardens are becoming increasingly wild. Though I try to eliminate the stuff that hasn’t been planted there, i.e., tall weeds that look sort of like the things I’ve planted, but really aren’t, it’s a thankless task. And I have to limit my time out there because of allergies and my hand, which is so much better, but still not quite as strong as it will be eventually. I pruned a lot of overgrown brambles/wild roses yesterday and though I made an effort to use my left hand, sometimes that was next-to-impossible. So, I have to make decisions as to what to be anal about and what to let go.

There’s lots of milkweed again this year. It likes to live in the lower right hand corner of the big garden bed, near the driveway. Occasionally, it pops up elsewhere, but the big garden bed has been its choice for the past few years. I remember when it first appeared in the back forty. I never see it there now. Anyway, the flowers are forming on the milkweed now. And I caught a whiff of scent yesterday, looked up, and realized the catalpa is starting to bloom. First week of June, like clockwork.

These day lilies are always the first of my flowers to bloom. This was taken in the evening, so they look a bit more orange than usual. I happened to be outside yesterday when the guy who works for the county was about to come by and cut down everything near the road. I stopped him and asked him if he could please skip our property, explaining that my crabapple had been cut down a couple of years ago and he said ” I remember that. I did it.” He was very low key, extremely nice, and we had a pleasant encounter which ended with me thanking him for being so nice. I now know when to start looking out for him every spring because the machinery is usually parked down the road from us, so I go on alert.

But that’s another chore to be done, I’ll have to weed whack that area.

Don’s sunburn is still hot and painful but it’s slowly improving.

Okay. I have to vacuum and dust and do some work outside.

Stay safe.

Happy Wednesday.