I love looking at the lawn just after it’s been mowed. In this case, by me, on Monday. I mowed this side of the lawn (and it’s much bigger than this photo indicates.) Don stepped in and did the other side. Now we have to tackle the corrals and the back forty. It takes a minimum of two days to mow all of our grass, sometimes longer. And we do it with a gas-powered push mower, not a riding mower. Even if we could afford a riding mower, I don’t think we’d invest in one at this point. The exercise is really good for us.
Checking out the gardens:
The first Black-Eyed Susan (or Brown-Eyed Susan, it seems to be called both) opened up the other day. There are many more to follow. I suppose I could simply call it Rudbeckia, and solve this problem.
If you look at the upper left hand corner of the coneflower, you’ll see a little bee, nicely blending in with the flower.
I can’t stand it, this is so beautiful.
All of the hostas have blooms now.
The liatris will soon be blooming. There are more spikes than ever this year, which makes me happy.
The morning glories are starting their climb up the chicken wire fence (this is in the Memorial Garden.)
Also in the Memorial Garden – moonflowers climbing up the trellis.
Since yesterday gave us temps in the mid-eighties rather than the mid-nineties, I spent most of the day outside. I cut back the catmint to encourage a second bloom, I weeded, I tried to tame the crown vetch, which likes to take over, I cut back the wild roses near the maple tree – I did a lot of ‘garden maintenance.’ It looks a lot better out there now.
And we meandered up to the back forty,
where we picked another bowlful of black raspberries!
Sort of a perfect day for yours truly. I ended it tired, but happy to have been out in the garden, with the little bunny chomping on grass at a safe distance. Until I apparently got too close and he ran up to the back forty. He’s dining on the grass outside our living room window as I write this post.
Happy Wednesday.
Sounds like a perfect day to be outdoors and enjoy your yard. So many things blooming! The photo of Don and the berries is adorable. He is a cute and funny guy. It was so hot and humid yesterday that I didn’t do much at all. I hope today is a bit cooler since I need to get out and do some errands.
hugs,
Linda
Today is perfect, but I think hot and humid weather is coming back tomorrow. Yuck!
It did sound like the perfect day! It was very humid here yesterday…so I did minimal outside work….today too! I worked up a sweat just watering my plants this morning! But feeders are well stocked, and bird baths have been filled. That’s about all I can do.
When you say push mower…you don’t actually mean one of those old push mowers, do you…completely hand powered? You mean a gas powered mower you have to push…right? And, in that first pic…is that a lake or river across the road? I don’t think you’ve ever shown us that angle before! ;)
I edited it to say gas-powered – though we have one of those old-fashioned push mowers too – which we’ve used here and there on the property.
I only see the road in that photo. But there is a river across the street – you just can’t see it in this photo.
That first pic is a fool the eye pic! My eye was reading the house as the sky and a body of water….now I see the house! That was freaky! Must have had a little too much caffeine this morning! ;)
Cut back on that caffeine, Donnamae!
Nice that the weather is finally cooperating. We (the collective “we” meaning my husband) uses a gas powered mower as well. Seems like all our neighbors have riding mowers and use them constantly (especially during our dinner time!!), but my husband likes the exercise of pushing the mower. However, the weather has been so stinking hot and dry that he has now cut the grass in a few weeks. The veggie garden is watered daily, but it all looks stunted this year.
The exercise is such a positive, Vera.
Your comment about how you love seeing your newly mown lawn reminded me of how I love the smell of newly cut grass. I also love how the air smells after the rain and how sometimes on a cold winter morning the sun seems to turn everything a beautiful golden color. From my chair looking out our front windows the leaves on our oaks seem to be dancing this morning and though it’s nice and shady underneath them the sun is shining brightly. Oh how I love these 40 ft tall trees that looked like little twigs when we planted them 26 years ago. They were a gift from my uncle who is still in the hospital. One of the many reasons he’s so dear to me. I am still fighting allergies but determined to do something constructive today. Great post Claudia and great picture of Don. Have a blessed day!
All of those smells and sights are what makes each day special, Janie.
Sounds like a perfect day to me!! And a bowl of blackberries to boot! What more could you ask for? LOL
Have a great day!
Judy
Nothing! xoxo
What a lovely way to spend a beautiful day!
It really was!
I think it’s amazing you can do all that hard, physical work in 80+-degree temps! I can’t take the heat AT ALL. We’re in for a big heatwave over the next 10 days with most every day to be forecasted over 95 degrees…and I’m not even very far inland from the SoCalif coast, but it IS summer, it IS the end of July, so…
Don has a great head of hair on him. My husband, the same. So different for many other men…a guy across the street from us is only in his mid-30s and nearly bald; of course, look at Prince William of England; strange, how the genetics can run in families…
Back to the weather, I think you’re in for some hotter days from seeing the national news last night…so, good you felt like tackling the big work yesterday when you had a break. I try to lay low, do any errands and appointments as early in the day as I can, and use no power except the central air conditioning…and I’m so grateful I have it when many other people in my neck ‘o the woods don’t (right here in my own neighborhood, in fact [older homes]). A time for indoor projects!
Well, I don’t love the heat, but I’d never get anything done if I waited for it to be cooler!
I’m jealous of Don’s hair and I tell him so all the time! I love it when it gets longer and it gets wavy.
The heat is due back tomorrow and we’ll be back in the nineties for a while.
I think that guy hiding behind the black raspberries has a bit of mischief in his eye. And some berries might be missing!
I’d better go check on them right now!
We, too, have been watering in the early morning, and then refilling bird baths and checking the potted plants later in the day. Heat indexes to 105* the next few days. ugh. But, as always, I am happy to say it isn’t snow. (Although we do end up living inside, with all of the windows closed, and blinds shut as if it IS winter!! ugh, again. )
Anytime we can spend outside, even if it isn’t too long on these crazy hot days, is good. Glad you had a good day yesterday, hope today is a good one, as well. Also hope you baked at least some of those berries into a nice cobbler or something fun! Although that would mean turning the oven on….. so maybe over ice cream is the answer!! 😏
Don was going to use them in some pancakes, but we like eating them uncooked and just the way they are.
Sounds like a perfect day to me. And the perfect ending. I remember when my kids were little and we would visit my aunt in Michigan. She had a blackberry bush in her backyard and the kids found it so thrilling to go out there to pick a handful for their cereal or sometimes she would make a quick little turnover for them. Simple pleasures.
I think Don is going to make black raspberry pancakes tomorrow.
Today is my grandmother’s birthday. She once told me her mother used to make a blackberry pie for her instead of cake. This was not terribly far from you, in Tarrytown.
No, Tarrytown isn’t that far – charming little town! I always ask for birthday pies instead of cakes. Happy Birthday to your grandmother, Margaret.
I always had apple pie for my birthday.
My grandmother had a good run of 93 years before she died in 1984.
That’s about the same age my grandma was when she died. I miss her to this day. xo
Your post totally reminded me of a poem I used with my first graders for language arts, usually around Thanksgiving, but it’s really appropriate any time. Also made me think of how different – and wonderful – the world would be if everyone had what you and Don share together.
God sends us a little home,
To come back to when we roam,
Wooden floors and fluted tiles,
Wide windows, a view for miles.
Red firelight and deep red chairs,
Small white beds upstairs.
Great talk in little nooks,
Soft colors, rows of books.
One picture on each wall,
Not many things at all,
God send us a little ground,
Tall trees standing round.
Homely flowers in fertile sod,
Overhead thy stars, oh God.
God bless thee when winds blow,
Our home and all we know.
“A Prayer for a Little Home” by Florence Bone 💛
That’s beautiful! Thank you so much, Janet!
I’ve never had black raspberries. They look good…I love berries. It’s in the high 60’s here, and high 80’s where we went inland this morning/early afternoon for shopping. What a change in weather! My daughter found another piece of fabric for her quilt. Some of her quilt blocks will be re-designed to incorporate it. The project for this late afternoon.
We’re headed for the nineties today – our little two day break from high humidity and heat is over!
You are lucky your bunny chomps on grass…our rabbit(s) mowed down my liatris and coneflowers…sigh. Guess I will just enjoy their beauty through your wonderful pictures!
They chomp on the some of the crown vetch that spills out of the garden, but that I don’t mind. Every once in a while, they’ll dine on a young plant, but we have so much grass and so many varieties of grass (living in the country) that there is plenty for them to dine on.