Thursday

 Let's start with something beautiful. 

                                                    Blooming in my neighbor Kathy's yard.                                                          I've seen the leaves for years and this week we've been gifted with a Calla Lily.  Beautiful, beautiful.

After a long day of Wednesday work, with what seemed to be at least 100 bites, I promised myself a Thursday of doing very little work would happen.  There was a problem with that.  What time Thursday was that to begin and what was a little work. The missing specifics happen often.

There was a good night of sleep after a complete covering of anti-itch stuff.  Woo.  Lots of itchy bumps everywhere for sure.  There was breakfast including a delicious French Vanella milk added to the coffee.  There was a thank you for empty traps although later in the morning Doug reported otherwise. He made the trip. The early mornings are so quiet and peaceful with the sun painting a beautiful garden picture. The usual walk with a cup of coffee is more than rewarding. There is always music in the garden. But one must be silent to hear it. That's one of my favorite thoughts.

And then of course, my mind went through the list of things I wanted to happen at some point in the garden.  Out came the clippers and the garden cart and I took a necessary snipping to the Artemesia.  It gets so floppy, not standing tall as the summer progresses.  That doesn't need to happen I learned years ago and never did anything to eliminate that problem.  A snipping would do it.  So, I filled the cart with the tallest and those at the front of the bed.  I moved on to bloomless lily stalks.  Cut down a "tree" that had emerged.  How fast can that happen when not looking?  Really fast. More ground was raked and stuffed into the already full cart.  

Yes, I know you have seen a picture like this one many times. The stuff in the cart is different!   I'm grateful for the big blue trucks that empty the big blue bins that are filled weekly at this house.

I rounded the corner in the garden and found that the deer had made a third attempt at eliminating a Hosta along the path.  So, the shovel came out and I eliminated it first. Ha, ha, deer.  Beat you to it.

        This picture shows you about a fourth of the plant.  There was way to much munching last night.

 Cleome will fill the space.  Cleome self-seeds and becomes stickery as the summer moves to fall.  

Where they were living.

                    Ready, set, grow.  Five will fill this space more then I can say.  It won't take long.

Deer will leave them along.  There will be no fourth stop to eat at this restaurant.  It went bankrupt and was demolished. I thought of buying more vinca, but cleome will do the job and they are FREE!

This morning, I found something very interesting in the garden.  A plant emerged called Sea Holly.  I bought it at least 10 or maybe even 15 years ago.  I guess it went dormant.  I forgot all about it.  AND IT'S BACK. Go figure.  Google if you want more information. It has a thistle looking flower with a lot of blue coloring.  I wonder if all the spring rain brought it back for another visit?   I wonder if the blue color develops like it does in Hydrangea?  There are lots of questions. I'll be googling it tonight.

                                    Where have you been since I saw you so many years ago?

A neighbor was walking past as many do in our neighborhood.  She has the beginnings of a great garden, and I invited her in to see everything.  And she did.  She wants to bring her daughter soon.  My instructions always are.  Just come.  No need for calling.  No knocking on the door.   Act like the garden belongs to you.  It's open 24/7. I'd be delighted to find just about anyone walking the garden.  If I miss the looker, that's not a problem for me. Just come if you would like to explore. I dropped Cleome at her house but like many in Carmel, I think they are off to see the fireworks. We choose to be home.

By 10:30 it was time to put everything to bed.  I had a cart more than full ready for the B Blue.  A few things needed water and that happened.  The chair was calling.  And I sat.  

I thought today would be a house cleaning day.  It's midafternoon and so far, I've moved the sweeper to the middle level.  That's it.  Motivation is a little sparce in the cleaning world.  It was not sparce when it came to catching 40 winks.  Funny how that happens.  

News Flash.  The kitchen floor has been scrubbed with other kitchen places looking a bit fresher adding new flowers.  The bathroom floor has been scrubbed, and the rugs have been washed and dried and back in place.  The dining room carpet was swept clean after a sweeper plug was discovered and cleaned out.  Some other things have found their home again either where they live or in the waste basket. Outside/inside doors have been washed.  It's a miracle sort of afternoon.  I call it done, finished and over and out for the day maybe month which sounds better!   Enough housework for a while.  

Supper was another good salad meal. Hot weather brings that to the menu.

                                         Yum, yum. Easy to make with no heating the kitchen. 

                                            For sure those are not my hands.  What is he doing?  

                             Someone in this house has a habit of dropping his supper on the floor.                              I get a chuckle every time.  Tonight, there is a clean floor to eat off of.  I could make him try that.                                 Then there would be no dropping. Funny how the iPhone was close by.

Cleome were moved to their new home. The Fever play tonight and I think I can watch them.  I'm expecting another great night of sleep and I would add Blessings abound once more for me this day. One of the blessings being energy to "fight" another day. How sweet it is.