July 25 Tuesday.

 A GREAT night of sleep.  Woo.  Doug woke me.  I slept through a lot of the alarm clock.  I did an Eric run.  Breakfast on the patio followed and FINALLY, the paper arrived. Today I felt alive. Sleep will do that. 

It seemed my senses were on overload this morning during the garden walk.  I was aware of the stillness, the silence of the birds having gotten their songs finished before I arrived.  The morning sun was at a beautiful low angle spotlighting the flowers.  My awareness of the hibiscus so beautiful in its white and pink colors was at its best. My feet moving across the grass watered with dew became soaked through and through. It felt good.  All nature sings and around me rings the beauty of the sphere. Another magical gifted morning in the garden aware of so many gifts the garden offers.  I wish you all had been with me.   

We planted this hybiscus years ago.  There are three other places in the garden where some little animals have planted it.  My curiosity suggests letting them grow. So I do.

I moved on to a major clipping of the zinnias and calendula.  That's an every-year job just before vacation. I think it helps the flowers to take care of themselves while I'm gone. They will be full of flowers again when we return. The cucumber plants are bare. Yes, more cucumbers will be hanging low. All the tomatoes with a hint of color have been picked and a camping drawer is full of vegetables.  We will eat well.  

      These little aisle liners got a clipping depending on how the center of the flower was telling its age.  

Later in the morning, I made a run for medicine after a phone call about medicine.  No medicine. Tomorrow?  

        Colendulas come in many shades of yellow from an orange to a delicate baby soft cream color.                                             Unlike the Zinnias, they are here for just a few days. 

The afternoon was pretty quiet.  I should have cleaned but didn't.  Tomorrow, tomorrow I'll do it tomorrow. Tomorrow is just a day away.  

Tomorrow I'll do some major cutting with the State Fair zinnias making a delivery to my friend Rita now living just down the road.  I did a little more food thinking for the coming weeks.  Sweet Corn is always at the Copper Harbor grocery store.  IA b want to be ready for that. I called Kimmy for a quick chat.  Camping anticipation is growing in both families.  

State Fair Zinnias always have big blooms on tall stems often needing staking.  They earn every staking offering beautiful flowers for a long period of time. White and more yellow are found in another garden.  Planting them in groups of three demands only one stake for each group. Easy! 

One of the books borrowed from the library is titled Big Dreams, Small Gardens by Marianne Willburn.  I call this book a keeper.  There are lots of pictures with many different topics, most very relevant. The reader knows the author is a gardener who really gardens.  The last chapter's title is Cultivating a Spirit of Contentment.  Her words are what I feel when I'm in the garden.   It's soul reading.  I'm glad I found Marianne.  A few other chapter headings...Living in the Eden You  Have Created and Reaching Out and Getting Better.  I'm taking this book camping wanting Kimmy to read her words.  Here is one paragraph.  Contentment is such a simple concept.  We complicate it with what we think we need, what we think we should be, what we perceive others to be.  None of this matters in our garden.  

We had another supper of stuffed peppers which of course ended with another card game.  We are ready for the Michigan marathons of which there are many.  They might start before breakfast and end on some days after supper. We add other things to every minute of every day.  

Early in the spring, this flowerbed was "relieved" of many, many Blackeyed Susans.  I wanted something more interesting. Something with more than yellow.  They needed to go.  I transplanted a lot of zinnias I had started from seed growing in another plot.  Little did I know the color.  Would you believe that 99% of the zinnias are bursting out in reds and oranges?  There is a great punch of color in this garden plot.  Rabbit ears are in the foreground.  A large patch of Sea Oats Grass just starting to bloom also is in the center of this bed.  For a first-year new garden, it's looking pretty good. 

Another day is almost over.  Many gifts came my way.  Thanks be to God.