moving on

The weather has been uppermost in our minds: you can't ignore it. Hot, clammy, oppressive. Still, these things pass. We are lucky: the heat wave didn't settle in for a protracted visit. Today, after tumultuous ups and downs, after rains, and some sunshine, and heavy storms, it all retreated, as if it had lost its battle to dominate. This time around, we won. (I sit this evening by an open window, a cool fresh breeze making its way inside...)

Several notes on this on the one hand calm, but also tumultuous week: I realize that my calm isn't everyone's calm. I feel sad about that: while I'm counting lilies, I hear from friends who have serious issues before them. Two of my closest friends have sick children and grandchildren. My mom, too, has had a mixed-bag week. I think things are finally settling down for everyone, but I do want to note that even in the calmest weeks, I track your worries. No one is free from them and this week, some of you have certainly had your share.

In my garden, I usually find the peace that I wish was within reach for everyone. Though even here, it can be tricky. Although I go out to do my clearing and snipping work very early, these last mornings have been oppressive nonetheless. And the bugs! Oh, the bugs! The mosquitoes land routinely on any exposed skin. And the horse flies! Damn things buzz around your head, driving you nuts!

Nonetheless, I stay firmly in the thicket of plants, bugs and clammy air. Beauty rarely lands in your lap without effort on your part. I wait all year for a lily's one day of magnificence. I am determined to give each flower a beautiful frame in which she can be admired. That means each day, I snip off spent, wilted blooms. Each photo that I post here is without the distraction of yesterday's droopy flower heads.






Today's pretty girls:
















(Mixed in with true lilies)






This morning, I snipped off a record breaking 800 spent day lily blooms. True, I spent a long time searching for that 800th one! (I was stuck on 799 and I canvassed the flower beds several times before I found one more that had finished her glorious day of flowering.) So, 800 day lilies bloomed here yesterday. And today's show is all new. Isn't that remarkable?


(Front field...)






(Big Bed...)






Breakfast is very late, because Ed is determined to go have his cholesterol checked at Walmart's at 10 in the morning. Why? Well, it's free and close by. Reasons enough for him. (In this regard, we are healthy thugs: we both have good cholesterol and low blood pressure.) Anyway, breakfast is on the close to noon side of things.






Reminding myself to keep moving, despite the heat, I take out my bike for a quick but vigorous ride. There! Now I can settle down to my book reading. Tomorrow, I return to a slightly more demanding schedule!


(looking out, from the porch)