July moments

Ed left early today. 6:30 and he was gone. A work project requires his attention and his head is definitely in that world right now. Before going off, he put a brick by the coop so that the chickens would be trapped inside until I decide to let them free. Which wont be for a while because we finally decided to do a mosquito spraying. The stinky "natural" stuff, but we have no illusions -- we are disturbing the insect world with this and no assurance that the "beneficial bugs" will survive it, makes us feel any better. (They also dont spray the flowers so that the pollinators will continue their work.) Still, the mosquitoes are impossible right now and I thought that if we could at least put a dent in their breeding here, we wont lose the whole summer to them. And at least the next couple of days will be very pleasant! There was a summer, equally wet, equally full of mosquitoes, where we agreed to spraying every two weeks for several months. (I convinced myself that we weren't harming the good guys.) We wont do that this year. Maybe just today. But there you have it -- we need to push them away to the periphery.

You would think that I would wait to snip lilies until after the spraying. But no! I do it before. Does that make any sense at all??

Well, to me it does. I want the dust to settle, so to speak. I dont want to be in the thicket with the bugs, but I also dont want to be in the fields when they smell of garlic. (Ed claims they do, for a couple of hours.) Besides, I like breakfast to be the reward for hard work. So I do that work -- over 500 lilies snipped today! -- and just as I finish, the truck pulls in and they go about chasing the bugs away. I can feel the mosquitoes packing their suitcases as I write this.

My photos are still from the moments when I am slapping myself from all sides. It's a pretty day out in the garden otherwise. Take a look (only five photos for you from the morning! That's precious little, when you look at the abundance out there -- so many opportunities to indulge your senses!):

Breakfast is very late. Lilies, spraying, chickens -- farmette work.

(on the porch, but alone today)

It's otherwise a short morning for me because I have to take care of stuff surrounding my mother -- papers need to be signed by her whether she likes it or not! (Hint: she resists. It's a struggle to get her on board.)

And then eventually I pick up a big chunk of the young family and bring them to the farmhouse. I haven't seen any of them for too long! And because the mosquitoes have been chased away (for at least this short moment), the kids can really get into the garden and get familiar with the flowers that grow there.

(each kid wants a solo picture first)

(my daughter's here as well...)

Oh, it's good to have a mosquito-free day!

It is, of course, awesome to have the kids here again. The reading, the play, the snacks -- so familiar, yet so deeply special.

But I'm glad I have a ready soup in the fridge for supper. Ed comes home, I throw a salad together, reheat the soup and sit back to exhale. The energy levels are always the last to return! 

with love...