the new normal

July is so abundant! When I look at the grocery shelves, I'm in awe. So much fruit, so many veggies! How can you sample it all? And of course, when I look out on my flower fields, I have that some sense of explosive growth.

It is the month of the daylily. Such a curious flower -- bloom a day and be done. One day, that's all you get. But oh, is it a day of beauty!






Does the frog know to get off before the flower wilts and folds in, taking away his resting place?






The lilies in great masses aren't as spectacular  as some of the other flowers. For one thing, if you don't pick off the spent blooms, there's a lot of dangling nonsense from the stems.

Today, I gently force myself inside the main  bed just by the front porch and deadhead the lilies.






And I stake some of the asters and the sunflower-like heliopsis.






It is wonderful working in the yard without the threat of a rooster.






The girls follow me around (Isis is still cautious when they get too close to him)...






... and honestly, despite the stickiness of the summer heat and the occasional appearance of mosquitoes (we are having a relatively tame summer so far as far as they're concerned!), it is a most wonderful morning.

Breakfast? Yes, of course, somewhere in there we have a porch breakfast. Yes, sublime. It always is.






In the afternoon I play with Snowdrop.






Storms pass through, but we find a window for a walk.






... By our lakes. I look at them with different eyes now. A boat at the edge of a storm, a duck on the water -- the Adirondack recollections are still very fresh, very vivid.






In the evening, Ed suggests we go out for dinner. No -- it's a kind thought, but I'm very tied to the farmette right now. By the end of the day, I want to stay within her folds.

... with my flowers, hens, and popsicle loving guy. Hey, at least I made these -- watermelon popsicles, easy breezy recipe found here.