Good Days, Sunshine (Really).

Some good does come from all the heat and sun, as long as I can keep up with the watering. I am trying to maintain a happy attitude.

There are quite a few arms of the Sungold that look like this now. Ready, set, eat tomatoes! :)

Flash is a chill cat. Taking life easy. So should we all.

Oh, and connected with absolutely nothing else in this post, this lovely '03 VW Jetta is now mine. It used to belong to Rich but he got a different one and wanted to sell this one, and I wanted to stop trying to drive the Van from Hell, so here you are. Reliable transportation and all the free time I could want, look out now!

An online friend was passing through Topeka and stopped at the Blackbird for a short visit. She gave me this lovely bead creation and little dish. It was a fun visit but entirely too short.

And then there were clouds, last evening. And even some lightning and thunder even. But did we get rain? No. We did not.

Chill.

First, the Moon was looking pretty cool yesterday evening. Moving on toward first quarter. Today, a lemonade ice bar was just the chill I needed. Icy, sweet, good. Mmm.

Already Wilted.

Please, Sol. Take a break. I think the high was over 100 F here in Topeka today, and all week promises to be nearly the same, with lows only going down into the mid-70s. Not really worth trying to turn off the AC and open the house to the night air. And so it goes.

Rain.

All My Little Green Friends

Yes, while I was gone, Ms. Monarda was busy blooming away. She's getting taller every year! Some year I may come out and find her taller than I am.
This nice green friend is the little pineapple sage plant I was given this spring. It likes it out here in my potted garden.
Some of the basils, including the Holy Basil I got most recently.
The Sungolds are starting to come in bit by bit. I guess I should pot up a few more plants of these next year. I'm always impatient to eat and eat them!
The lemon balm bloomed while I was gone, even though I'd asked it nicely not to. So it got a severe haircut, and... Now its essence has been captured and I have lovely lemon balm tea. My new favorite summer drink, and I obviously need a bigger patch of lemon balm, as well. Something to do for next year!

I Don't Know What-All

I'm about a week behind here. This was the Monarda on June 10, blooming herself silly. And there were bees working it; not bumblebees but these carpenter bees. They have really been loving it this year. Beezy. And were we going to get any weather? I dunno, but these were nice. From the movie theater hill looking west from Topeka. On June 13th, Rich and I flew to Pennsylvania. On June 16th, we were finally home, after driving his newly purchased car 1200 miles to home. It's good to see this sight coming over the bridge.

Show of Color

Ms. Monarda fistulosa has shown me her color as of a couple of days ago--June 7, the first bit of bloom is opening. Soon the whole patch will be full of color and scent, and bees and butterflies will happily gather again. This is two weeks and two days ahead of the date she bloomed last year. That's typically the way things have gone this Spring--everything is about two to four weeks early because of the warm winter and early heat. I wish that also meant Fall would be early, but probably not.

Sun Salad

This tiny salad has my first Sungold tomato of the season, and some of the basil I cut yesterday. It makes my tongue tingle with living energy to eat things so fresh and good!

Catching Up Again

My apologies, the formatting has changed and I'm not quite up to speed yet. Cricket, on 05-24-12. Cricket is one year old today (06-06-12). Happy Birthday, little girl. Meanwhile, out in the garden (05-30-12): Ms. Monarda is developing her blooms. Still not blooming as of today but it's getting there.

The sage, on the other hand, has pretty much finished blooming and has in fact developed little black seeds that you can clearly see in this picture from 05-30-12.

Then a series of striking-looking clouds from that same day, after we got out of the movies around 7 p.m. Good viewing from the back of the Hollywood 14 to the west. And back in the garden again, just yesterday: Two new basils join the crew out back. In the back of the pot, a cinnamon basil, and in front, a Holy Basil or Tulsi. I hope to get more of this one, it's very powerful medicinally. And look, we have a tomato! The Sungolds have started to arrive. This one that I pictured yesterday is joined by another not quite as ripe today, but definitely on its way. And I cut some regular basil yesterday to put in the salad to eat the tomato that Kris grew.

Summer Ladies

The flowers of summer are coming out in force here now. Not the least among them are some named for ladies. Well, not completely, but I think of Stella as a lady no matter what they said about her.

Stella! The Stella d'Oro lilies are out and glowing in the sun. She's the star of her own show, for certain.

And these happy Black-eyed Susans, in the sun and grass near the Discovery Center in Gage Park.

Stella and Susan, ladies of the Summer, you are welcome.

What Rain May Come?

Still waiting for rain. Doesn't look like much of that will be happening tonight, it's all going south of us again. In the meantime, some of the sunset cloud color.

At least it was pretty.

Getting Into It

I finally did something about having some more growing things around this summer, and have now these various things in pots out where the monarda, sage and lemon balm are, to keep them company. One pineapple sage, one Thai basil, some scraggly little oregano, a tiny baby dill plant, a fine tall basil plant, one rosemary plant, one clump of "French cooking thyme," and one Sungold tomato plant that already has not only flowers but one itty bitty little tomato already set on. So this is how my garden grows.

And then, there was a little butterfly, a skipper, posing not on a lovely bloom but on the metal label of a garden stake. Not very glamorous, but holding very still for me!

I believe this is a female Tawny-edged Skipper, Polites themistocles. Mama Nature knows I could be wrong. There are 23 kinds of skippers in Shawnee County that I know of, and I have looked at pictures of every one of them.

Mothers' Day in the Park

Well, technically it was the day before Mother's Day, but there were certainly a lot of mothers in Gage Park. Mother birds, that is, with their cute little babies. The water birds always seem to be well past the ugly stage before we ever see them.

First, a mother Wood Duck took a break on the dock, preened, then posed prettily for me.

The Canada Geese at West Lake in Gage Park seem to have no fear of humans at all. They let us get quite close to them and their goslings.

A gosling nibbles on the grass.

Across the narrow end of the lake, a mother Wood Duck with a total of six ducklings. The little ones are very fast swimmers!

A Great Blue Heron joins the picnic.

The heron has his eye on something. Hope he's not thinking of duckling for dinner.

Family Swim. I think this is the cutest pic.

I wanted to show the ducks, geese, and heron all in the same picture. Then I discovered that, though you might not see it that clearly, in about the middle of the picture there is a snag--with a turtle sunning herself on it!

Fast little wood ducks.

The three goslings. It was a cool, perfect afternoon to be in the outdoors and to appreciate all the wildlife we share this space with, even right in the middle of the city. Happy Mother's Day to all.