IN Carmel

 It's been with perhaps one exception a pretty uneventful day.  The one event happened this morning with another Monarch finding it's way into the world again.  Beautiful in all the ways that Monarchs have.   This little guy...(NO thickened line) sat around long enough on the swamp milkweed for me to get a few pictures.  And then it was time to say goodbye.  I'm thinking the neighbors would say crazy lady.                                                                                       I'm blessed to see these flowers every day.                                          ...

 It was a butterfly morning.  The first thing that usually happens is hanging food for the birds.  And today the second thing that happened was checking to see if the butterflies had emerged.  Nope.  nothing going on.  But it didn't take long, perhaps an hour when both chrysalis split and the butterflies started their interesting emerge.  I grabbed the camera and started taking pictures.   When emerging they are folded. up with their tail touching the top of their heads.  When more space is available they unfold. It's an amazing watch. It reminds me of dancers that can do unbelievable moves.   This little lady is very wet.  She needs to dry off and allow her wings to gain the ability to pump up to flying size. Both butterflies this morning were females.                                           ...

                                Yesterday I posted a yellow Colendula,  Today you get to see an orange one.                                                         Another clematis picking up blooming steam.                                                                                       The plant is not  as big as the first one posted but just as beautiful or even better.                     ...

 An experience I could do without.  Sometimes there is no choice.  So a few details.  Last night as usual in bed by 10 which started with a good sleep.  By 11 I was wide awake with a chest that felt like a blood pressure cuff was doing a squeeze job under my sternum.  Bummer.  A decision to head North again was made with the results being, NO results.  Two nitroglycerin pills fixed the problem and back home again by 3 receiving the emergency room routine that included blood work, chest x-ray, and more.  So there will be follow-up calls next week with a few doctors.  I  will add the blood pressure numbers were over the moon again which might have caused the squeeze feel.  It's time for an answer.  The first Calendula.  A beautiful yellow with a tinge of orange is found painted on each peddle.  I'm always impressed with how clear and pure-looking Calendula color is expressed.  So today's activities?  I wo...

You have had a little peek into areas of the garden. This afternoon I took a lot of close-up pictures of some flowers that are blooming.  It's getting exciting in the garden.  Tomorrow the first Colendula will be out and about!  It's a wonderful little workhorse with one drawback.  If not deadheaded it forgets to bloom stopping in its tracks. It's peddles are eatable and fun to put in cookies.                                  This clematis has been around for many years.  It's really prolific this year.   I will say this morning's start was like none other.  Before seven I was in the car delivering another chipmunk to the woods where I'm sure he met many other friends recently delivered from our address.  They say that chipmunk families can number two or six or something in between or even more.  So the current family that moved in here I ...

 A beautiful morning with a tricky but easy crossword.  Wordle still is to solve.  I've tried 4 different words and still have only two letters.  I've got to do more thinking tonight.   This morning I found another place that needed some work.  It once was only ivy.  I cleaned that out and added some plants. I think there is nothing harder than taking out ivy by pulling it.  But it works. I gave it a haircut this morning and piled all the old off with a trip to the g. can.  Doug and I are full of mite bits.  They itch like crazy.  Mites are found in all the grassy stuff we eliminated the last few days.  Cream used for poison ivy helps a whole lot.  Getting rid of stuff that needs to be pulled is just one of those nasty summer garden jobs. The mits are horrible.                                 Another liberated area with...

 A great day to do it again.  When healthy, every day should see a positive contribution to something!  I started the day with "What needs to happen today"?  And once again I only looked outside.  There is a wonderful little flower that creates interesting seed pods balls called Love In A Mist. I posted a picture earlier in the year. It's an early bloomer that self-seeds.  I helped that process with a whole lot of extra seeding done by hand last summer.  They were everywhere but starting to look a little ragged.  This morning the garbage truck took a lot of them somewhere.  Not all but a lot.  It was time to clean up, read up, spruce up, and make a change.  So now some of the space they occupied looks like this.                                                        Eigh...