Friends, it has been a bad year for mosquitoes despite our efforts. I suppose the only answer is the coming seasonal change which is a welcome idea for me as it has been far too hot for my liking. That said, others have it much worse, so my complaints are probably falling on deaf ears!
On the other hand, an abundance of rain has made everything grow like crazy. In my last post I mentioned how the town is adorned with hanging baskets overflowing with flowers that have to be seen to believed. So who better than me to show you a sample?
A sweet potato vine that doesn't know when to quit! Plus that new window painting....how charming is that?
I think there are maybe 40 of them, but don't quote me on that.
Even the side streets have them.
Finally this beauty!
I know what you are thinking, "you are from Orlando, the home of Disney World where the flowers grow in perfect profusion"! I get that, I really do, however, they have both a huge staff, and a huge budget, which to my mind, makes our little town's yearly display noteworthy. After a long winter, the flowers bring sweet relief!
So not only has there been an inordinate amount of mosquitos, there has been temperatures, the likes of which are mostly unknown in this part of the country.
It was crazy hot when we met David and Ann at the Labyrinth, found at the Hinton Center, a Methodist retreat on the shores of Lake Chatuge in Hayesville.
Having no recollection of ever having done one before, Ann demonstrated our next steps.
For many folks it is a spiritual practice, for Bruce and I, we were just trying to figure out what to do next. That's not to say it was not an interesting experience, but as a first timer, we just did what we were told!
It has been a different sort of summer than I imagined it would be due to my having to go to the doctor far more times than is my style. I generally stay away for as long as possible. Between that and the heat, my regular walking has mostly gone to the dogs. Finally I did take a morning walk after my monthly stop at city hall to pay the light bill. (haha) Remember that saying? It is true, however, that I do walk over and pay our bills there because it is so easy and I like to get to know the clerks.
Three very cool sightings, including this crazy weird mushroom that looked gelatinous.
Look at this scene, moss, a bird's feather and more moss, along with a fallen leaf.
Rarely do I see any great blue heron's here, but by golly on this day I just barely caught a photo of one heading down the river.
Matthew posted something about how some trees are losing their leaves early due to both drought and heat and I believe I walked across some of the same.
On that same day Bruce was meeting an air conditioning guy at Harshaw Chapel and needed something, I can't quite recall, but I do recall walking it over to him and being rewarded with this view.
It's quite lovely isn't it?
And aren't there so many things in this world that are lovely, including all of you my dear readers?
Heading home I walked in front of the museum where there is a native plant garden. Woo hoo!!
Then again, there are some things that are downright hard to deal with aren't there? Yup, it is spike ball season, AKA chestnuts that are dropping like mad.
As you know I have been recording the birds at 8AM most mornings. Every now and again I miss, including the morning of my colonoscopy, which happened to be Tuesday of this week, thus I am late in posting. I read somewhere about counting the foggy days in August and it will predict the number of upcoming snow days and that day was most definitely counted!
I will do my best to keep my whining to a minimum, but good grief that prep is absolutely horrible!! That said, after waking up at 4AM for the second dose, which was so, so, so hard to make myself drink, the remaining part was smooth sailing from the woman who checked me in,
to every nurse, tech, as well as the doctor, all of whom were wonderful! The good news is it was all for naught because it was normal, something I knew it would be so long after the event. It will take something very, very drastic to happen to me before I will EVER do that again!!
Of course that was our anniversary and while there was no formal celebration, we celebrate each and every day that we are together no matter what the calendar says.
Remarkable is what I had to say when I came out the front door, to check on the weather and look who I found on one of the railings?
That would be a Chinese Mantis should you care to know. What's more, it stayed in that same position, not moving anything for hours and hours. He might still be there except I had to water my plants and I think I must have sprayed him off?
A sweet fragrant rose is in the house.
Sharing the glass is basil that I have grown. Actually I am merely the steward of the plants because apart from putting a plant in the ground, or better yet a seed, I just take care of it and hope to do my best. Right now there is a vase of hydrangeas, zinnias and a tiny one of the dahlias, grown from seed.
When I put the geranium in the pot, I planted seeds given to me by Robin and they have far exceeded my expectations.
Two things, back to our birdies. First the good news. Goldfinch have been showing up most days, much to my delight.
And here's the bad. You may recall that we have been battling a feral cat who lurks in the huge bushes and I dislike him so much I named him Lucifer. While this cat could be a female, I'm still calling it Lucifer. But I digress. I was actually getting out my bird journal from the beautiful blue-green cabinet Bruce built for us with my eyes gazing out the window facing the bird feeder as you see it above. At that moment in time, it did not look like this....it looked horrible in so much as I screamed out loud when I saw Lucifer leap up and grab hold of the plastic tray you see on the right. Running out the door screaming, he trotted across the street with a bird in its' mouth!!!
Having tried a physical barrier, squirting water, and yelling, all of which have done absolutely nothing to deter this driven cat, Bruce got busy and raised the pole even higher to six feet. Two days in and we are good, however, I would put nothing past that cat!!!
Going without solid food on Monday was very challenging for me, maybe more so because we are a three-meal a day family. I spend a considerable amount of time preparing food, something that brings me pleasure. Instead, after playing pickleball, I went upstairs, as far from the kitchen as possible, and
read a book. A whole book aside from the last twenty or so pages. I finished those pages at 5AM after I forced the prep drink down. The main character moved to a new state and it was quite the challenge moving from Memphis, TN to Vermont. There are lots of other great books to read out there, so if you find yourself in a situation when you want to be entertained rather than think too hard, try that link to see what I am talking about. I found it at our local library.
All that to say, with all the emphasis I can muster with my keyboard, we sure have been thrilled and blessed by our move. It's been fun for you all as well, hasn't it?
your friend,
Gail
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