Summer Does Not Knock Politely Around Here

Here we have two magnolia blossoms growing on trees across the road from the church next door. They're pretty high up which is why the picture isn't great. Eventually, they will begin putting out blooms lower down which is when I will occasionally snatch one although I always feel incredibly (and uselessly) guilty when I do. The guy whose trees they are lives way back on that lot and I doubt he ever sees them. I couldn't pick the man out of a line-up of two. 

I took a little walk today. I actually got out of the house before noon but it was still already hot as hell. Our spring has passed and summer is rudely pushing its way through the door and all the windows. 
But I wanted to get some more things done outside so I got the walk out of the way and then I hung some laundry and then I took the compost out along with coffee grounds and eggshells. Those I sprinkled around tomatoes in the garden. I was quite shocked to find a few things out there which I had completely missed yesterday. 

Isn't that just the prettiest little bell pepper? 

And the squashes are all having babies at the same time. I am so hoping that this year, with them planted in the growing bags, we won't have such a problem with the squash vine borer but only time will tell. I'm pretty sure that we will get a few, at least. 

Now this next picture is of something I was not surprised to see. 

I have been waiting for it to show up. It's the first open blossom on the rattlesnake beans. 

The potatoes are looking so good that I have the urge to dig around under them to see if we've got any potatoes yet but Glen should have that honor. He's the one who's done all the work on them this year. And the tomatoes really are putting out fruit. Just lovely green globes of shiny little tomatoes. May their promise not be false.

I spent a little time out there amongst the vegetables spreading another bag of oak leaves for mulch. The leaves smell like a sort of tea when they've been baking in the bags they were brought home in and I find that a most pleasant scent. 

And then I had to come in and rest and cool off which I did but I really wanted to go clear some more in that old kitchen bed and eventually I went back out but I just couldn't handle it for more than an hour. I cut back some of the lower branches on the Japanese Magnolia while I was out there. The poor tree needs some serious attention and some of the trimming is going to require a chain saw. I used my loppers on what I could but that wasn't nearly enough. 

Oh! I made a movie! 
About bamboo and how a stalk of it can escape attention until it's big enough to be part of trans-Pacific sailing vessel. 

And that is the Japanese magnolia that it's growing through and above. 

I didn't get nearly as much done in that little kitchen yard as I wanted but when I've done all I can do, I know it and I had. I also discovered that yes, I do have powdery mildew on my phlox, verified by my Plant Snap app and I think I need to pull all of that too which is almost as daunting an idea as the idea of pulling up all the crocosmia. It's growing everywhere and yes, I did plant that and no, I never minded it spreading and was actually happy to see it happen but I did not realize that I was creating a vector for plant disease. Why can't the plants I detest get a fungus? Or a pest? 
Sigh.

Well, anyway. I'm tired but it's a good tired and I'm pressing tofu for my supper. Last night I had salmon and asparagus and it was so damn good. Tonight will be a tofu and asparagus and other-vegetables stir fry. 
Tomorrow is pottery, and on Thursday, my baby is having a birthday. Jessie will be thirty-six and this is unimaginable to me. Somehow, I can be more accepting of the fact that I am swiftly aging into my dotage than it is to believe that my children are not, well, children any more. Even though I know they are not. And I love them as adults. 
Still, our babies will always be our babies, I guess, and that is the way of it. 

Here's a picture of a handsome man who says he loves me. 

I should probably say a handsome, happy man. 

I love him too. 

Stay hydrated, y'all. Know your limits and respect them. 

Love...Ms. Moon