My first coneflower has opened. I have scads of them throughout the property, so I look forward to this every summer. To me, they are the perfect cottage garden flower.

How did we spend our anniversary? Mowing the entire front lawn and secret garden in very hot and humid weather. It had to be done, but we were pretty tired at the end of that chore. Don cooked a great breakfast, a picnic-type lunch (veggie hot dogs and burgers) and a great dinner. We listened to James Taylor’s On the Fourth of July, which seems as if it was written for us. Several years ago a friend sent me a link to the song on our anniversary and I fell in love with it.

By the way, all those thunderstorms that were predicted for Friday? 100% chance of 2-3 inches of rain? Zip. We heard lots of thunder, but no rain. That’s the second time that has happened lately. We really, really need the rain. Sigh.

We’re taking it easy today. Don’s back is bothering him – too much lifting – so he has been ordered (by both of us) to refrain from any of that work for the next week. He, like me, doesn’t always know when to stop. I’m much better about that nowadays, but I’ve had years of experience working outside and last year kicked my butt so I made a vow to ease up this year and I’ve been pretty successful. I also made a vow to know when to ask for help and I did that, as well. Don, on the other hand, is a little newer to all of this. He’s learning the hard way, just as I did. So he’s on back rest. I’m sure he’ll walk his paths, etc., but no dragging falling trees or lifting rocks or even hoeing.

I’m reading Faith Fox  by Jane Gardam, a British writer that I discovered in Oblong Books last year. She’s a wonderful and funny writer who completely gets human nature and her characters are richly detailed.

Maybe more work on the dollhouse today. Or the puzzle (which is unbelievably difficult). Or both. It’s going to be hot and humid again, so I’m headed out to water everything after I finish this post.

Stay safe.

Happy Sunday.

Glorious day yesterday! Sunshine all day long. Sunshine has been nearly nonexistent around here (and will be again for the next week or so). I took advantage of it and worked outside all day long. The temperature was mild, birds were singing all day long, I was potting plants on the porch – I felt content.

Then I went a bit too far and mowed the back forty at the end of the day.

I always take on a bit too much. Don could write a book about me “doing just one more thing.”

But I got a lot done. There’s more to be done today, weeding, laying out the top soil, sowing seeds, and just a tad more mulching.

Tomorrow is going to be a thunderstorm kind of day and I have to take my car in for an oil change. I deliberately scheduled it for a rainy day.

Just a few pictures from around the property. I’ll take some proper pictures of the porch soon, but by the time I was finished, it was late in the day.

As I was dumping debris on the pile near the shed, I saw these lilacs off in the woods. They’re on my neighbor’s property which flows right into ours. Anyway, we’ve lived here almost 14 years and I’ve never seen these before. I walked over there to investigate. They are on a branch that is at the top of an old lilac bush – the only part of the bush that’s blooming.

Amazing!

On that section of the property – just beyond ours, there are the remains of stone foundations in two different areas. I wonder if this was connected to those long ago buildings? There are also the remains of an enclosure for some sort of farm animal.

I wish I had a photo from long ago. It would be fascinating to see who lived there. It’s all overgrown now.

I’m convinced that if I left everything to itself, our property would become completely wild in a few years. Much of gardening is about trying to control something that is, by its nature, uncontrollable.

And just off from our shed – on our property – these lovely daffodils:

So many of them!

These same daffodils are in the big garden bed but for some reason this year, there are no blooms, just leaves. Go figure. There are lots of oddities this year: reliable perennials not emerging, less leaves on the climbing hydrangea, daffodils without blooms…I’m sure it’s due to the bizarre winter we had. I wish I knew more, but as I’ve said before, gardening has a mysterious element to it and you can’t always figure it out.

Happy Thursday.