Who Celebrates an Anniversary This Way?

 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

Bees, Bees, and a Wedding Celebration Too

Lightening bugs!! We have not yet talked about lightening bugs this season!! What is there to say, you ask? Watching a lightening bug floating around in front, or just out of reach is magical is what I have to say. A joy to behold is another. I sure hope you have the opportunity to watch them sometime in your lifetime because it really is lovely.

Speaking of bugs, it has been bee season in these parts. Because I now have so many flowers, bees have taken notice, although I was saying to Bruce that they seem to be ignoring the clover in the lawn which is not what we expected. Remember how we practiced "no mow May" when we first got here and Mr. Vespasian thought we didn't have a mower. For those new to this blog, Mr. V is the previous owner who drove by with frequency in our first year in the house on Campbell Street. I will tell you who loves clover and that is the bunnies when they show up. They are also fond of my plants that are relegated to the "not good enough" to display area.

For the record though, I do have more flowers to display than ever before in my lifetime. How crazy is that? Are you interested in what's in bloom? I hope so because here is a list of current beauties.

• The David Austin roses have had their second flush of flowers, not tons, but they seem to be established which is the first step in having lots of blooms.
• Autumn Sage
• Yellow petunias
• Double lavender petunias
• Deep purple petunias
• Orange daylilies
• Impatiens
• Salmon-colored verbena
• Zinnias ,both ones that I purchased and ones that I started from seed. You can well imagine which are my favorite.
• Geraniums
• Lavender
• Purple salvia
• Deep pink dianthus
• Scarlet bee balm
• Yellow lantana
• Hydrangea
• Rose of Sharon
• A few I cannot remember! 
• Duh....the sunflower I grew from seed opened on the first day of summer!!

Unreal, right? I have been busy taking photos of said flowers with bees in action. We might just as well start with the Rose of Sharon tree that is laden with buds and bees.

Here's the problem though. The tree is ancient and we knew it was not going to last much longer in spite of the fact that it has hundreds of buds ready to delight both myself and the bees. Bruce had shored it up with a stick,

A heavy overnight rain did the smaller branch in and Bruce had to cut it up and throw the flowers away. It was painful to watch, and even more painful for Bruce to have to saw it up using a limb saw!

More shoring and hopefully it will last until the remaining blooms have blossomed. :( 

There will be quite the void left. 

The color is just so beautiful. We have a light pink one as well as a medium pink bush about 8' tall that should last for some time. Let's hope so because the annual show has been highly anticipated by this blogger.

In a similar color family, this is Autumn Sage, a plant that I had never heard of but is doing well on the front porch. Cute, isn't it?

Friends did you see this in the evening sky last week?

Of course there is the crescent moon, Venus, and way below is another celestial body that I cannot remember, but I read about them aligning, and hoped I could see it for myself. Lots of people are keen on a full moon and there's nothing wrong with that, but for me, a crescent moon looks pretty awesome. 

Back to the bees... Kew Garden rose.

This beauty is one of the ones I cannot remember the name of, but I've got two to show. 

Do you see what I see? Probably not because not only am I seeing it bigger as I type on my computer, but I saw it in person! The damage has been done by an evil bug in the center of the bloom and that is a Japanese beetle that once I saw it, I removed it asap. A day or so later, this pretty one was  being visited by a bee,

and I had high hopes, but darn if a beetle didn't work it's way inside the bud in the next day or two. Boo hiss!

Here's one of the ones I cannot remember the name of.

Super fun, right? I have not photographed the geraniums yet, but after buying them half price, which most everything I buy is, they are just getting settled and multiple blooms are in my future!

Here is the last I will say about bees and that is we just discovered that carpenter bees have found our outdoor stairs off of the back porch.

Rather than pollen that would be sawdust you are seeing!! We bought one of those bee traps at the farmer's market on Saturday, so here's hoping that we can diminish the damage. Two round holes have already been drilled by this bee. 

Bruce worked until late Friday afternoon as did about six other guys and they finished the parsonage with a sense of the satisfaction of a job well done. A quick shower, and we were off to the Hearn's for the rehearsal dinner for the second wedding of the summer. The girl with the pretty smile is the bride, Emma, whose sister was married a month earlier.

Julie did another beautiful job of making sure everything was lovely. I was very envious of the vegetable garden down below.

I have learned a lot about a vegetable garden this season, but Harry has learned even more in a lifetime of growing plants of all kinds. Full sun and good soil are key. I think my soil is pretty good, but my sun is marginal at best. Not going to keep me from trying though! 

Eddie, Julie and Jamie's dad ,being helped up to his little house on the property.

Their home and property were fantastic for the first wedding as was the second one at the Crown, a restaurant in nearby Brasstown, that overlooks the Folk School property. The artistry in everything was so special.

Julie takes ordinary things and turns them into something that is extraordinary.

There was plenty of rain during the week leading up to the wedding, but thankfully it was nowhere to be found on Saturday afternoon.

Emma and Dan live outside of Detroit as does his family who are from Macedonia, an ancient country with a complicated history, but one thing you may remember is it was swallowed up by Yugoslavia at one time and gained independence in 1991. I did not know much about all this before I began writing,  but I'm thinking that Daniel's family probably emigrated during the war for independence. Don't quote me on that! I do know that there is a good deal of Macedonians in Michigan, so there's that.

His mother brought some of their customs to the wedding including these crowns and the ropes. Now I know why Harry had to excuse himself for a while Friday evening as he prepared for the ceremony.

Harry included all elements, as well as the bread, all of which symbolizes something.

His mother was so excited it was a joy to watch her. The little girl was pretty excited to.

What a joyful occasion. it was. I thought I had the video part sorted out but I think I was wrong. But you get the jist.

Dancing with handkerchiefs was a thing, as was a roasted pig. Who knew that having never seen a roasted pig before, that we would see two this summer? It is one more Macedonian tradition.

Then again, we have not attended two weddings in a month before, so that could sure be part of it. Eddie, the girl's grandfather is getting up in years and I believe they wanted to make sure that he was part of the celebration. Julie's twin, Jamie and the mother of the brides, along with their dad. 

Both of us were horrified to learn that on the Sunday, following the wedding, Eddie had a fall and had to be hospitalized for a few days. We were so worried ,but he has returned to his little house for now, so we will breathe a little easier until his upcoming 87th birthday.

I hope you are still with me because on Sunday afternoon we returned to the scene of the baptism to gather rocks.

Not that big of rocks, of course,  but ones to use as a border to our new little flower spot. The clear, crisp water was delightful on a warm summer (!!!) afternoon. I will admit to having never paid much attention to the first day of summer before we came here, because it already felt like summer for months. Anyway, wearing my water shoes I cooled off.

The amount of rocks in a mountain river bed is innumerable. We put them out like this. 

And I will close with the happy couple standing in the water, happy as clams. Oh wait, there are not clams in a river are there? Maybe.

Your friend,

Gail