Saturday morning Breakfast Smoothie - Banana, Mango, Kiwifruit, Almond Milk, and a slice of walnut bread toasted.
It has been such a busy week here with the Independence Day celebration on the 4th, Bob's birthday on the 5th - which seems to have gone on for several days due to restaurants being closed over the holiday - along with five other birthdays among friends near and far. Yesterday we drove out of town to meet friends for lunch and went back to their lovely home for an afternoon cuppa. They were formerly our across the street neighbors who moved away 19 years ago - still great friends and enjoyable company.The July weather pattern continues with its usual oppressive daytime heat reaching close to 100F, nights not much cooler. Thank goodness for air conditioning. Rain here around us has been nothing more than a 5 minute late afternoon shower now and then, not much help in keeping the gardens going and green. We took a drive to the local 5-acre 'sunflower field' where the city plants 200,000 seeds annually, but it was still just a huge swathe of tall green leaves, no golden blooms yet, whereas my little garden patch is lovely with the tallest sunflower now around 71/2 feet high, it's flowerhead still in bud!
Hang on ---------- I'll run out and take a photo with my phone!
So, just took these pix, so humid and overcast outside - not the best weather. The tiny yellow flowers are my neighbor's cucumbers and he has already gifted me with a large one which I plan to use for a green gazpacho tomorrow. . . . a perfect chilled soup for this weather.
While out snapping the sunflowers I caught these guys having fun on our white oak.
One of Bob's birthday (83) get togethers was at our favorite pub/restaurant where a few family members joined us and granddaughter Jasmin brought along a carrot cake - Bob's favorite! How quickly the years are passing. How grateful for family who continue to care about us. Sad that some apparently don't!
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Whatever do you feed that sunflower, Mary! It is the biggest one I have ever seen.
ReplyDeleteBarbara, only gave one feeding of all-purpose fertilizer early on. I did get one packet of 'Russian Mammoth' seeds so these are obviously them, the huge ones - and next year I'll be looking for more! The stems are so strong - can't wait to see the flower head open.
DeleteHere's what I just read about them:
Sunflower Seeds Russian Mammoth, Helianthus | American Meadows
Russian Mammoth grows to be up to 14 ft tall, delighting with huge, classic yellow blooms that can grow to be 12-14” across. This giant beauty makes for a spectacular growing screen or background for any garden or meadow.
It’s been very humid here in South Devon, too, Mary…with little rain! I grew the shorter Sunflowers this year which aren’t quite in bloom but they’ve done well as have the Sweet Peas.
ReplyDeleteI hope that Bob enjoyed his extended birthday; I like his shirt btw!
There’s nothing as important as family! I treasure mine and am thankful that they live close by. 😊
I have a few shorter ones too Sal, they branch out and have 3-4 flowers - very pretty mixed among the tall stems of the giant ones. Wish we could grow sweet peas here - too humid though.
DeleteShirt is from a Hawaii visit some years back - he digs it out come summertime!
What a lovely photo of two beautiful people! Thank you for sharing it!
ReplyDeleteI like the squirrels and your sunflowers.
Isn‘t it funny how life has a tendency to cluster? Like all those birthdays in your circle of friends so close together, or my business trips all in one week.
Thanks Meike, you are too kind and I'm sure note that we are 'getting on' with so many birthdays under our belts!
DeleteNot complaining though.
That sunflower clearly has ambitions to become a tree!
ReplyDeleteI think you're correct John! I may try to save seeds from this beauty for next year. It's reached about 8 feet but could eventually hit 12-14 feet - especially as we have heavy rain yesterday afternoon.
DeleteYour morning smoothie is a lot like mine, though I also add a handful of organic baby spinach or kale, collagen powder, and a mixture (I keep it in a jar in the fridge) of organic beet powder, chia seeds, hemp hearts, flax meal and sunflower seeds.
ReplyDeleteSunflowers are one flower I have not tried growing. I don't think we get enough sun on our property for them to grow. We are surrounded by trees.
Mmm, gazpacho. I can't wait until the summer produce is prolific here so I can make it with farm fresh veggies. We like both the traditional kind and the green.
Happy birthday to Bob! Looks like a lovely celebration. I like the photo of you two. Ah, family...some of those relationships can be quite complicated, can't they?
Good idea to keep a jar of healthy supplements at the ready, perhaps I should do that, although I must be cautious when it comes to seeds!
DeleteYes, sunflowers need up to 6 hours of full sun - mine are great where growing except the blooms face east away from us! This means I have to go into my neighbor's yard to view/photograph them which is rather annoying. Next year I'm going to plant seeds along the back fence in hopes I can see the flower heads looking toward the house - it will mean finding a sunny spot though as we have a lot of huge trees.
Bob says many thanks for the birthday greeting - gosh we are really getting long in the tooth!
Love the sunflowers, but would not like 100 degree weather. Glad Bob had several birthday celebrations, as we all deserve more than one. Carrot cake sounds yummy too.
ReplyDeleteDid I just post under Anonymous again! Ugh!
ReplyDeleteSunflowers always make me smile when I stumble upon them (hollyhocks, too). Belated wishes to Bob. Nice photo of you two. Love watching squirrels play -- of course, don't have any here. My walks are now reserved for evenings since it's just too hot during the day. Of course, even at night, the low temps is close to 100. That's summertime in the desert. :/ Take care.
ReplyDelete