Southern sounds and Autumn colors -

I told you recently about these noisy insects - and today I can

 actually share a photo I managed to take of a '17 year cicada' hanging

 out on the back deck. If you touch one of these guys - about 2" long - their

 shriek is quite startling!

Along with donning face masks, some North Carolinians may also be wearing

 ear plugs! 

After nearly two decades underground, a wave of periodical cicadas

 emerged this summer and they are a noisy bunch! 

Last spotted in 2003, hoards of 17-year cicadas, referred to as Brood IX,

 have arisen from the soil and they are deafening. When one whizzes by your

 ear you are startled at the noise it makes. 

Then, when several thousand start 'singing' together in the trees

in the early evening, you really could use ear plugs!

With evenings now starting to cool a little, at the weekend we enjoyed

 grilling outside, then eating supper in the gazebo. . . . . .serenaded by

these creatures!

Sunday, before the heat set in, time was well spent doing a lot of front garden

 late summer chores.  These consisted mostly of working with pots of annuals,

 herbs etc. all of which had seen better days. I've kept a couple of pots of basil

going for a bit longer - just have to have fresh basil outside the door while the

 good tomatoes are still coming!

At Home Depot I picked up a couple of pots of asters for some much needed

 color outside the front door - chrysanthemums will be added a little later,

still too hot for them.

Bees and butterflies found the asters immediately. 

Noticed today Blogger is playing with us yet again regarding font

 and photo sizing - have you noticed? 

Getting the type sized to match in each row of a paragraph is often a pain.

I must say though I do like being able to do a final resize of photos by 

dragging the corners. Do you like this new feature? I wonder if it will

remain. I hope so.

Wet weather and Blogger questions. . . . . .

 

Not much to say today. The very heavy rain last evening battered flowers, shrubs, 

even the big fig tree. More coming down now and all this afternoon and evening, 

so I'm stuck indoors.

 Not much new with that though. . . . . without the garden I would have been in here

 much more these past 3 months! This afternoon's distanced garden chat planned

 with a dear friend is postponed as we can't sit outside. 

So I'm here with a list of things to do and, in all honesty, none thrill me. 

 I will enjoy emailing replies to some dear friends, but anything else is not exciting.

My questions?  

They regard the new Blogger interface that will be the default for us all come end of month.

If you are a BLOGGER blogger, have you transitioned yet to the new interface?
If so, have you managed it without major problems?
If there were problems, were you able resolve them yourself?
Are you now staying with new Blogger?
Can you still revert to legacy BLOGGER - in other words toggle between the two
 for the time being? 

EDITED - 6-12-20
Here's a link to my friend Rosemary's post regarding her 
new Blogger experiences. It is very informative, and be certain to 
read the Comments which help also.
https://wherefivevalleysmeet.blogspot.com/2020/06/warning.html

Of course, like just about everything else in life in this day and age, these forced

 changes appear to revolve around use of smartphones!

Blogger's statements actually do say things such as, quote -
"Blogger's new responsive design makes it easier to manage your blog on-the-go"
and,  ". . . . making it easier to use on mobile devices."
  
I don't know about you, but I don't want to blog on a phone for several reasons,
the main one perhaps being my eyesight!  It's now just OK with reading glasses
 for a large laptop screen, but getting more difficult doing anything on a phone screen!

Any comments regarding Blogger changes will be greatly appreciated.
Fingers crossed we will all manage to make the change and keep our blogs going
 without too much upheaval.
Before 2020 is over those of us who use PicMonkey - which we love as is -
 will also have to address another learning curve to continue with them.

What a year this is - I feel really old with so much changing/happening, and now
I even have the grey silver strands to prove it! 
Have a great day - hopefully you have sunshine because we certainly don't!!!

Weather woes, wrens and wondering!

It's due to start raining again later today. . . . . . . and continue until Sunday!  

Enough is enough.  Yes, rain is great for the garden, too much rain along

 with predicted evening thunderstorms is not.

The above snaps I took yesterday. It was peaceful outside, the plants

standing tall. . . . . . except for three unruly rabbits nibbling my sunflowers

 to the ground, and the pack of four young squirrels fighting for the bird

 feeders like circus aerialists performing acrobatics.

How lovely the many songbirds birds are, just happy to eat quietly

 in between perching in the fig tree, or coming to the porch. 

A Carolina wren, my favorite bird, just sat on a chair outside the

window . . . . . chirped 'good morning' through the glass before

 hopping off on the hunt for breakfast.

Did you read the New Blogger notification of the late June new interface
  which popped up this morning?

Rather unnerving and not expected. I'm still stressing over

Adobe Flash closing down end of year and wondering how hard it

will be for non techies, like me, to learn the new version of PicMonkey, 

my personal photo editing program!

I thought being in lockdown would bring me much more time, and patience,

to work on things which might make life more pleasurable for this

 new future we are going to live in!

Instead, at this point, I feel like I'm falling into a crevasse, or off a

precipice, heading down into the depths of a darkness I may not be

 able to survive in.  Will this new world throw we seniors into the abyss?

I hope not because I do still have the proverbial 'bucket list' floating

about in the back of my mind. . . . . . . and believe me, I like to think 
I'm not over the hill yet! 

Do you feel up to learning a new blogging platform and editing

 program during this questionable worldwide order we may be facing?

Will you keep your blog going no matter what?

Perhaps we can share with each other any technical challenges

which may befall us in the months ahead. . . . I would be so grateful 

knowing we can rely on each other if need be.

Wishing you a good day as always.