early bird

By 9 a.m., I have fed the animals, plucked 400+ spent lilies, pulled some weeds, knocked down a bunch of mosquitoes and whipped up some batter for blueberry muffins. Into the oven they go!

I tell you, there's something to be said for jet lag!

I keep thinking that the flowers today wont wow me as much as they did yesterday because, well, I've seen a variation on the lily theme now for several days in a row. What's there to astonish? Well now! Plenty!

Breakfast, of muffins and local berries, and very prized, considering (major crop failure this year) -- Georgia peaches.

Ed and I take a park walk again. The goal is to stay on grasses so that a barefooted stroll is pleasurable. That means we skip the woods and stick to the prairie. Which is fantastic at this time of the year! (A sudden appearance of Michigan lilies!)

I watch the swallows do their swooping flight over the purple and yellow flowers and I think -- this is too beautiful for words. (Nor do I have my camera, but no matter -- a phone snapshot will jiggle my recollection and your imagination.)

In the afternoon Snowdrop is here, but it's a brief visit once again. She has softball practice in the evening so I basically run us through our routines (she wont let go of any of them!) at blistering speed!

Pick raspberries! Read a couple of chapters from current book! Eat lots of fruit and blueberry muffins!

And then the farmette lands grow very quiet. Ed is out biking, the house is empty, the hens are hiding, the cats are prowling in the fields. I sit back and think -- such a string of lovely days! All this and blue skies and none of the scorching heat that's settled over the south. How are we so lucky!