Guess who...

These pictures are just too cute and I'm sorry that they didn't work in yesterday's post. So I deleted it and am trying again...

Benjamin and Alexis were here to visit Monday and what fun we had. One highlight was capturing water spiders off the surface of the pond (and they are fast) so that we could examine them under the magnifying glass as well as any other bugs we could find. Ben enjoyed the many monarch caterpillars but you would have swore Alexis thought they where snakes or something...definitely not her cup of tea.

Please continue to remember their mom, Heidi, in your prayers as she is recovering from her stem cell transplant so that this precious family may be reunited soon!

a rainy day...

I never thought I would be so happy to have a rainy weekend...the drought parched land around here really needs the moisture and so far we have received about 3/4".

I love seeing the raindrops send ripples on the pond surface, the beautiful droplets poised on the flowers and even on this monarch catapillar.

But this is my favorite photo of the day...because if you look closely you can even see the droplets on the petals reflected in the pond.

Good Morning Butterfly...

Way up in the sky
The butterflies fly.

While down in their nests
The butterflies rest.

With a wing to the left
And a wing to the right
The sweet little butterflies
Sleep all through the night.

SH-h-h-h they're sleeping.

The bright sun comes up.
The dew falls away.

Good morning, good morning
The butterflies say.
(author unknown)



This guy was very cooperative in getting his photo taken last night. I hope you enjoy...I especially liked seeing the "fuzz" on his back!

Dew drops...

“Man's life is like a drop of dew on a leaf.”
Socrates


When the ground looks like this...the raindrops on blossom photos that I love to take are not happening this year. With yesterday's high humidity we had a good amount of dew this morning so I tried to capture the dew drops but this is one I think I need practice on. The leaves in the first photo just sparkled and my shot shows what appears to be white dust :-) Yup, time to pull out the ol' manual...

Love...

I have a garden of my own,
Shining with flowers of every hue;
I loved it dearly while alone,
But I shall love it more with you.
(Thomas Moore)

Today, thanks to my sister, Jan, and brother-in-law, Gary, I got to share my garden with Bernie & Theresa two of my faithful blog readers. It was great to meet you and I do love to show the garden to others. They presented me an awesome cast stone made from a rhubarb leaf that I will share in a future post. Thank you!
Today's topic is love and the favorite flower of today is the only one I have with love in it's name. "Love Lies Bleeding" amaranth, another heirloom plant you can find under "Burpees Heirloom Seeds". I love it because it is very tall and showy and the birds just love to eat the seeds off of it. I save the garlands and decorate the garden Christmas trees with it each year.
It is gorgeous up close - almost like a string of beads.

But here is the main reason for today's "LOVE" topic...today is our 31st wedding anniversary and I am as proud to say "I love Jeff" today as I was way back when.

Some love quotes for you....

Love one another and you will be happy. It's as simple and as difficult as that. ~Michael Leunig
Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same. ~Emily Brontë
Love is the greatest refreshment in life. ~Pablo Picasso
Love would never be a promise of a rose garden unless it is showered with light of faith, water of sincerity and air of passion. ~Author Unknown
You know when you have found your prince because you not only have a smile on your face but in your heart as well. ~Author Unknown
Love puts the fun in together, the sad in apart, and the joy in a heart. ~Author Unknown

Beautiful tigers....

Aren't these guys beauties? The favorite flower of the weekend has to be the good old fashioned tiger lilies. They are so easy to grow and really hold up their heads in my hot and dry garden when other plants are drooping from the heat.

Another scene from "what I did on my summer vacation"...there are 10 lighthouses in Door Co. and we managed to see half of them.

Well rested...

We took some time off this week to ride and camp, hike and relax in beautiful Door County, Wisc. With the islands of Green Bay on one side and beautiful Lake Michigan on the other, it is a fun destination that I hope to visit again someday.

While we were gone, MN experienced high heat and higher humidities but we had it made with great temps and cool evenings around the campfire. With all the heat & humidity, the gardens grew like crazy and everything survived thanks to Nathan coming out to water. THANKS NATHAN!The peninsula is known for it's cherry orchards and there are many of them as well as roadside stands selling sweet and tart cherries. Good thing, I'm a cherry loving gal! Oh and did I mention the six wineries that offer tours and tastings :-) In Door Co. even the cheese has cherries in it...Yup, it's a good thing, I'm a cherry loving gal :-)

A cup of blessing...

"Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything that is beautiful; for beauty is God's handwriting - a wayside sacrament. Welcome it in every fair face, in every fair sky, in every fair flower, and thank God for it as a cup of blessing."
Ralph Waldo Emerson


I haven't really paid too much attention to R.W.E before and English (with the grammar and literature that accompanied it) was not my favorite subject in school but his quotes are really quite good. I am reading a book about contentment and his quotes are sprinkled all over the place. So instead of today's favorite flower let me tell you about my favorite time of day...the hour before sunset and watching the sun set. The work is done, it's time to unwind and just relax before ending the day, and the sunset is a different and wonderful light show each night. The almost setting sun makes for a whole new perspective in the garden. A lowly daylily comes aglow...
Horizontal beams of light hit ordinary plants making them look extraordinary...
Then the sun sets behind the trees to the west and the whites still have enough light to "pop" in the late evening garden.
And then most nights I go around to the side of the grove and watch my rural unobstructed sunset which almost always is something like this...yes, I am content and thankful to God for my full cup of blessings.

This time...

"This time, like all other times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it."
Ralph Waldo Emerson
A shady spot on a hot afternoon...the relaxing sounds of running water...a wren's song...and a new book arriving in today's mail - I knew exactly what to do with "this time" and yes, it was a very good one :-)

The favorite flower of the day is "Kent Beauty" oregano which is an ornamental marjoram. This one is pretty hard to find and I had missed it for a couple of years before finding it once again at Thomsen's this spring.

It looks so great trailing over the side of a pot.

Cousins...part 2

More cousins that were important parts of Jayme & Scott's wedding day - of course there are many more and we were honored to have them all there, I just didn't have my camera handy...sorry!
The garden is looking great these days but as you can see from the brown lawn in the background it is very dry here...we need rain soon.
My favorite flower today is the lisanthus. I just love this annual from it's rosebud looking buds to it's beautiful blooms. It is an excellent cut flower though I don't always have the heart to cut a stem when they last so much longer out in the garden. These were a little hard to find this year and I ended up going to Thomsen's Greenhouse in St. Joseph, MN. The list of available annuals is hard to beat :-)

Cousins are cozy...

Cousins are cozy wherever they're from;
They feel like your family whenever they come.
Some people have many; Most people have some.
Cousins are cozy, Wherever they're from.

Jayme has 33 first cousins and we are so happy that most of them made it to the big wedding celebration. Two really went the DISTANCE and it was great to see them there. Above is Jayme's cousin Chris, his wife Megan & children Lucie & Ryan along with his parents (my sister) Laura & Ralph. They are the California delegation who flew into town early for more time with family - thanks guys!
Chris & family got the prize for traveling the furthest distance :-)

Next is cousin Jennifer who flew in with her boyfriend, Ed from Brooklyn, NY. How wonderful it was to see them since it has been several years! Jennifer is a wonderfully talented girl who is currently auditioning in NY - we know she is going to be famous someday!

One last shot of Lucie dressed up in her party dress :-)

Something old...

We've all heard the "something old, something borrowed, something blue" about brides at weddings. A quick google search led to this definition of the custom.
"Something old" symbolizes continuity with the bride's family and the past and Jayme did several things to bring in the memory of grandparents as well as a precious childhood memory.

Look closely under her left hand and wrapped around her bouquet stems is a yellow hankie. She is the 4th generation to own it...it was her Great Grandma Bessie's and then her Grandma Alma's who both passed away before she was ever born. My mother gave it to me for my wedding day 31 years ago (the second shot shows it in my bouquet hand) and I gifted it to Jayme for her special day.

Grandma Mary passed away in 2005 and Jayme honored her by wearing one of her brooches on her sash. Later, she danced with Grandpa to "Waltz across Texas" which was "their song" - you can see the flood of emotions and memories in Grandpa's face.

Lastly, is the "leaf" she is holding out in the photo...Jayme was reluctant to give up her childhood security blanket in her early years so Jeff & I used to tease her about walking down the aisle with it someday. It finally fell apart and I saved the bits and pieces. I couldn't resist and crafted her a leaf to tuck in amongst the real ones out of the slippery outer binding :-)

My favorite flower today is another "something old", the orange gem marigold. It is a marvelous plant to have along side a path as just a little brush with your leg or the hose releases the most wonderful citrusy scent. I buy it as a package of seeds from "Burpee's Heirloom Seeds".

Favorite...

My dictionary defines favorite as "liked or preferred above all others"

Every time I am outside - I always pick a daily favorite in the garden so I have decided to share a few with you over the next few months. Today's favorite is once again the pineapple lily. It is now in full bloom which is not quite the September bloom time the package stated. I purchased it as a 2 pk of bulbs (only 1 grew) from Menards this spring. Hopefully, this bulb survives it's winter storage in the basement and I will have it for years to come as it is quite a striking bloom.

Just can't resist showing you a few more fun wedding shots - "a walk in the park" and "one step forward". This group was photogenic even in the hot, humid afternoon weather.

I saw Red...

Today as I was weeding the garden I saw a flash of red. I didn't think much of it as we have the pretty red house finches but after a few minutes I heard a "chirping" I hadn't heard before. I looked up and it was a cardinal. Cardinals are very rare here in my garden...in 20 years I have only seen them about 4 times so it was quite the treat to have this guy stay all day. I ran to the house for the camera and took about 100 (well, maybe that's a slight exaggeration) photos and even managed to capture him taking a bath :-) What a wonderful experience this afternoon was!
a cool drink...
a splishing and a splashing...


and a little scratch behind the head :-)