IN Carmel

Zinnias on the way! Church day and we did church.  In fact we both did choir.  It was harder than I thought it would be.  There is so much to remember like time signature, line ones notes are on, and more.  The notes were really tiny, so it seemed.   Remembering I'm an alto and not a pew singing soprano was just another thing.  Surprise, Surprise, Surprise.  Straw flowers just beginning to show off. There was lunch and then an afternoon of taking it easy with one exception.  My church friend Dot asked if the garden was open tomorrow and I said sure.  She's almost a neighbor living a mile south of us.  So she's visiting around 10 tomorrow.  So the snippers came out getting rid of Day Lily stems that the deer created.  They are so creative and if that is to continue, they will need to find another yard full of Day Lilys.  All of mine have proven to be pretty tasty.  So there was an hour or so of work that just hope...

First.  We were fortunate to be at the Meijer's Gardens when a Chihuly special showing of beautiful glass was exhibited.  There are some perminate displays but the special exhibit will be there until November.  Today you will see some of what we saw.  I woke up this morning with my mind set on resting.  Woo.  Yesterday was a full day and doing a lot of nothing this morning was the message buzzing in my ear.                  My descriptive words.  Big cubes of glacier ice creating their own piled together sculpture. I did make a garden run but nothing happened.  It was just a run...no slow walk come to think of it.  It was a bit cloudy and later on there was lightening and thunder.  After a very long pause of at least 15 minutes the rain came.  It felt a bit like camping weather.  And after another long pause there was even more rain.  So I'm happy to say that eliminate...

                                                                     So many sculptures massive in size.   This will be short on words and maybe long on pictures.  I'm going to share wonderful sculptures.                                                                                            Beautiful colors The morning started at 5:30 with the alarm telling me to rise and shine, which I promptly did.  And so did Doug since he thought he wanted the car.  So after you know what, he drove m...

 Another good start to the day with a morning in the garden.  The temperature was wonderful and being with so many colorful flowers was a pleasure.  Yes, the garden is starting to bloom in more than one place with just a few spots where color is gone until next year.                       A little difficult to see the two leaves with two distinctively different shades of green. Some day lilies received their yearly trim that will bring new growth and perhaps a flower or two  before frost.  Most of the Holly Hocks have entered their ugly stage with tall leaning stems and few flowers only at the top. Their once upon a time beautiful leaves now are eaten full of holes which is the usual after blooming.  Cutting must come later allowing the seeds to dry on the stalk. There was other dead heading that keep new buds coming and there was a major effort to water everything that was near the house...

 Well, today had some interesting things to report.  Well, I would say it wasn't particularly the same old, same old day that you usually hear.  But close, perhaps, Dee!                           YES, It's the beginning of State Fair Zinnia season.  My favorite time of the year. One of the almost first things to happen was snipping three Dahlia flowers so that more could be coming along behind.  I arranged them along with some Becky Daisy's and a few other things including a spring of Rosemary.  I texted my good dahlia friend Kathy to see if she was home.  The arrangement was meant for her.  Nope.  She was painting at church.   So off I went with flowers for her discovering that I had arrived about 30 minutes early.  She's had a week not wanting to repeat. Those happen to all of us. So painting would be a big help. The crew of church friends arrived...

 Today started a little slow and I just made an effort to keep it that way starting with all the things that start the day.                                           The first Tipsy on the second Tipsy plant.  Just a little softer in color.  I made it to the garden wondering if critters ate the tomatoes.  They didn't.  One more ripe tomato made into the house.  Then the morning work was a little bit of a lot of things.  The late coming sunflowers and Mexican sunflowers got a good drink of water and the weed that were around them disappeared.  I'm not watering weeds for sure.  The flowers usually are late comers making themselves noticeable for late summer and fall.                                      ...