Morning in the garden

   The temperatures have been in the 90s and the humidity tropical.  Although I'm not loving it, the garden is.  I went for a stroll this morning, and here is some of the garden's July beauty.



I bought this perennial at the farmer's market this spring.  It's very fuzzy all over and waist-tall.  And the blooms are going to be spectacular, I think.  Wonder what it is.

 I'm happy to share my dill with this little guy!  He will turn into a beautiful black swallowtail butterfly, which you can see here:   http://www.bugfacts.net/tiger-swallowtail-butterfly.php

"Even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these ...."  Matthew 6

  I came back into the house and saw . . .

Rosie.    "What do you mean, it's too small? Most of me fits!"

My World Tuesday

The question is always asked by the curious travelers who have crossed the Plains at Interstate speeds, “How can you live here without the mountains, the ocean, the woods?” But what they are really speaking to is their desire to “get it” right away. The sublime of this place that we call the prairie is one of patience and looking.

                                                  - Keith Jacobshagen,  The Changing Prairie


Take a look!

A fallow field of prairie grasses and black-eyed susans

Dozens of semi trailers sit idle, waiting at the grain elevator, biding time until the busy days of the corn harvest in fall

It's true -- you can hear the corn grow on days like today!

The church, tallest building in town, witness to life's most
joyous and solemn events

 

The water tower, the church spire, and the grain elevator,
silhouetted against the morning sky

Click here to travel around the world on Our World Tuesday 
http://ourworldtuesdaymeme.blogspot.com/

 

 

Pete and Re-Pete Pick Strawberries

"Little boys come in all shapes and sizes,

Shy and adventurous, full of surprises,

With misshapen halos and mischievous grins,

Small dirty faces, and sweet, sticky chins."

 

 These are my grandsons, and yes, they are twins.  Every Thursday they spend the day with me and we have an adventure.  They love strawberries and picking them themselves from Nana's garden is soooo exciting!







 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Summertime and the livin' is easy

“Summer afternoon—summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.” 

    Henry James

Bee balm, monarda, bergamot -- whatever you call it, it says hot hot summer on the prairie.

 

Something New -- Our World Tuesday

   Another blogger told me about memes ( a word I had to look up because I never heard it before) and I am going to try linking up to one today.  It seems a fun idea.  For this meme, people from all over the world write about what's going on on a given day, then all the links are gathered and shared.  If all goes well, after you read this, you can click on the URL at the bottom of the page to see what other part of the world grabs your interest.

   So.  Today in my corner of the world it is cherry picking time. 

 

   This is my cherry tree, sour cherries for pies. The birds in my yard love them as much as we do, and it is a battle every summer to get enough for a few pies.  I've tried netting the tree but the birds get under the net, get caught, and then guess who has to free them. 

  That green thing is an old cherry pitter.  The cherries go in the dish, one rolls into the chute, you whack the plunger that forces the pit through a hole in the bottom and the cherry continues down the chute into a bowl.  Theoretically speaking.  In reality, about every other cherry involves a malfunction (too small, goes right down the hole with the pit), so there is a lot of hand pitting involved.

 

   I have picked and pitted enough for a couple pies so far.  The birds have pecked and rendered inedible enough for at least 10 pies.  I can't show you a beautiful pie picture because the cherries are waiting in the freezer for two special occasions: Christmas, and my mom's birthday.  Cherry pie is her favorite.

 

http://ourworldtuesdaymeme.blogspot.com/

 

 

 

 

 



 



It's a bird. It's a plane.

It's ... another nest!

   A while back I posted a photo of a nest built by architecturally challenged robins in my rain gutter.  Well, their story continues. 

   A few days ago there was a ruckus in the backyard with lots of noise that brought me out to see what was going on. Just as I entered the yard, two brown thrashers swooped by me, chasing and diving at a pair of robins, which seemed to be fighting each other.  The thrashers were so close I could feel the woosh of air against me as they wheeled by.  I thought to myself that for some reason they wanted to chase the robins out of the yard and then I kind of forgot about it.

   Next I noticed that I was no longer seeing Baby Robin around, although the parents were still hanging out and eating cherries.

   Last night I was outside cruising the garden and admiring the tiny grapes on the arbor when a robin erupted from the leaves right by my head. 

   Here is what I found, perched atop one of the posts holding up the arbor.

   These are not brightest members of the bird world.  They built their second nest on a post that is 3 1/2 X 3 1/2 inches square.

   Baby is allowed back in the yard today and is hanging out in the birdbath as it is nearly 90 degrees.  I suspect he is the one who was being chased away and told in no uncertain terms that he needs to stand on his own two feet.  I don't know what the thrashers were doing.  Maybe the robins hired them for help.  You know how grown kids keep coming back home these days to live off their parents.  Anyway, he seems to pretending to not even recognize his parents.

   Mama is sitting on the nest in the hot, hot sun.  You can tell she is hot because her mouth is open and she is panting.  I filled the birdbaths and I hope Papa will spell her so she can go get a drink and cool off.  I wouldn't count on it if I were her. He is pretty busy eating the cherries I want for pies. 

Oh, beautiful for spacious skies . . . .

Red, white, and blue from the garden

Albino squirrel

"God bless America,
           my home sweet home!"

 

Happy 4th of July!