saturated sunday

 

It was not raining yesterday when these pictures were taken.

This year I've become very aware of the aroma of milkweed.

It's lovely, and stops me in my tracks at least twice every day, as I pass the plants growing next to the path to the barn.

Daily trips with the little hay cart have been rerouted to prevent a collision with the one milkweed plant growing in the shorter path.

Spiderwort is providing surprises:

I've now seen four shades of purple on individual plants.

Here are two:

And a single spiderwort plant blooming white. 

The palette of the barn gardens is about to change.

Daylilies on the brink of blooming:

After several years of trying, the precious thornless raspberries I've planted in the terrace garden seem to have come to terms with the tough soil and light conditions here, and are not just surviving, but growing. They are currently doing as well as can be expected in a subtropical rainforest.

(This snap makes my mouth water.)

Wishing you all an excellent week ahead.

And wishing us all a bit of moderate weather.

I don't know anyone who doesn't need it.

~~~~~

spiderwort wednesday

~~~~~

ordinary extraordinary life

The middle of June! Time is getting away from me lately.

Each day contains some of the same ordinary elements:

weeding, planting, more weeding, goat chores, home chores, seasonal chores, watering the gardens, more weeding.

Every little thing takes me a long time, but it's all good.

New perennials in a new raised bed:
white coneflower, english lavender, harebells,
and a pink coreopsis.

Heliotrope - the scent is amazing.

One of the white spiderworts has returned!

Bonus: pumpkin from the "leftover seeds" box.

Asian cucumbers, soon to be transplanted.

.

Piper and I have been out for short walks most days, and sometimes I carry my sketchbook into the woods. I don't look for something to draw; I look for a combination of landscape elements that will make it physically possible for me to sit with a sketchpad for 15 minutes or so, and then - this is important - stand up again.

Once I've found such a place - that's the hard part - I sit.

And then I look around for something to draw.

That's the easy part.

While I focus on ahhht (I'm from Massachusetts), Piper runs loops around me. She explores the area. Then she chooses a Lookout.

Here she is perched high above me, on a slope:

And for the first time in over a year, she actually allowed me to take her picture. She didn't immediately duck her head or turn away at the sight of the camera.

We were serenaded by a redwing blackbird,

perched in the branch of a fallen tree, out in the pond:

We also saw a pair of Great Blue Herons, and the next day we saw one in another part of the wetland. Last year, I saw two in the same area and hoped they would nest nearby, but I never saw them again.

Fingers crossed for this year!

Birds are such a chirping, swooping, fluttering gift. Yesterday, when I was distributing hay on the Upper West Side, I saw something I've never seen before in my life: a Scarlet Tanager. Even if I'd had my camera, I wouldn't have taken a picture; it was a moment to savor.

But if he becomes a frequent visitor, I'll try :)

Meanwhile, after hearing my neighbor shouting "Go! Go away! Get out of here!" early yesterday morning, I think the bears may be about at last.

I've removed the biggest bird feeder, leaving just the hummingbird feeder, and smaller hanging feeders that will only be up during the day, when I am at home.

So we won't be seeing this for a few months:

Squirrels: the Tiniest Bears of All

~~~~~

snaptest

I'm testing a new camera.

So far, the results are inconsistent.

In a batch of snaps taken between house and barn yesterday,

fewer than half turned out as planned.

Azalea explains,

"Surprises are all very well in their way, but we require consistency in some areas. In photography, for example, we have very clear ideas about the images we seek to record."

 "Or, for a more pertinent example where consistency is critical,

let's talk about the supply of carrot pennies.

Yes, let's talk about that."

Ahem. Yes. Thank you for that insight, Azalea.

(Stops typing to scribble "carrots" on grocery list.)

I must set aside time for a careful test, under various conditions.

It's on the Weekend List.

I hope it will be a long weekend,

because it certainly is a long list.

Meanwhile, here's a picture of Fern (left) and Tansy (right),

choosing the Perfect Spot to lie down atop one of the old wells.

These girls turned 5 months old last week!

To refresh your memory,

here they are on the same well cover, in May:

Time flies.

As do baby goats, remember?

~~~

I hope your Saturday becomes a day to remember -

in a good way.

~~~~~

flowers and rain

~~~~

newsflash

Guess what I learned at the Annual Plant & Bake Sale

that benefits our town library:

Spiderwort also comes in white!

I bought four pots of blue and two of white

(donated from local gardens)

and got them all into the ground

before the rain started this evening.

What I didn't do - as you may have noticed -

is take pictures when there was still enough light

for taking good pictures.

Normally, I wait til I have decent snaps before posting.

But this is different:

I felt you needed to know about the white spiderwort

right away.

Good pictures may come later.

After it stops raining.

~~~~~