July came fast and furious!

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!

Creatures great and small -

Our resident gecko Charlie actually tapped on the dining room window

one morning this week! I was quite startled to see him looking at me

through the glass - grabbed my phone to get these photos.

He then crawled around the outdoor chairs for a while finally leaping

 into the Boston fern on the front porch table - I believe that potted

fern is his home.

He was golden in color that day, other days he's quite green - 

a magnificent little creature, and hopefully keeping the unwanted

 insect population down.

. . . . . .and also visiting 

. . . . . .much larger, both in size and number, are the grey squirrels, 

who are actually always present around here.

Autumn's almost here and they are hungry for hickory nuts and

acorns, both of which look plentiful this year.  

The larger hickory nuts have been falling for a couple of weeks, 

acorns just starting but will rain down from our oaks in the coming

 month.

Are you noticing a lot of wildlife in your garden as autumn arrives?

Dessert, bread, and a visitor!

 

Trying to cut back on carbs and sugar this week - so hard for a bread lover

and dessert maker!

We have been eating too much of both - only because there's not much else

to do.  No, that's a lie, there's plenty to do, but once 5 PM rolls around and 

the kitchen aromas of roasting and simmering ramp up, the fire crackles on

the hearth. . . . . . . .and the TV calls out "turn me on", our evenings seem

set and meals have been including crunchy bread and a sweet dessert

perhaps too often.

We've missed walking for few days as the rain and chilly air have been

miserable, and my sciatica painful.  Today the sun is back, the birds are

hungry, and a naughty squirrel has spent much of the morning on the

 front porch eating the birdseed we scattered for the birds!

Photos of the squirrel this morning - staring in the window and whom I'm

 sure would have a meaningful conversation with me if it could!!!

September song -

"Best I love September's yellow,

Morns of dew-strung gossamer,

Thoughtful days without a stir,

Rooky clamours, brazen leaves,

Stubble dotted o'er with sheaves -

More than Spring's bright uncontrol

Suit the Autumn of my soul." 

~ Alex. Smith ~

The month of September brings the autumnal equinox on

 Tuesday the 22nd - the official date of the new season.  

Usually though we think of the first day of September as

 being the arrival of Autumn.

The garden is changing rapidly now. After the horrendous rains here on Monday night - we were pounded and flooded with 6 inches - things are looking different. 

To top it all off we are now in a heatwave with the heat index temperature reaching 105F yesterday, higher today with as much as 110F of heavy, moist air making any outdoor work or activity not only miserable but very dangerous!

Sadly, no Horse chestnut trees growing here but I do still have one

 copper-hued conker brought back from England many years ago! 

I like to hold it, roll it in my hand and and reminisce about my 

childhood Autumn days.

We spent a little time outside yesterday, early morning, Bob doing storm

 damage cleanup, me digging out the amaryllis bulbs and deadheading the

 now brown and dry blooms from the hydrangeas.

This is my first try at keeping my winter blooming bulbs through spring and

 summer in hopes I can force them back into bloom around the holiday season. 

 I had planted the 4 large bulbs into the garden in May (see their beautiful 

leaves above), and one pleasantly surprised me with a baby!

They now have to remain in a cool place until their re-potting in November.

As cool places are hard to find at present - the potting shed is like an oven -

I've put them in a box and keeping them in the air conditioned house -

just hoping there are no bugs creeping around of course!

Speaking of creeping creatures, while working on the two large hydrangeas

 bushes in front of the porch, a sudden movement startled me and Charlie

 gecko appeared clinging to a stem.  He seems to live in this area of the 

garden where I have placed a large shallow dish which I keep filled with 

water. . . . initially for the bees but perhaps also a good watering place for

 Charlie (who could be Charlene as I did see a very tiny gecko around also

 this summer!).

Last, but never least, another visitor was on the porch this morning, drinking from the fountain and peering in the dining room window with the usual sparkle in his/her eye. . . . . . and I'm sure awaiting a tip top acorn season ahead!!!

Weekend odds and ends -

Another weekend, and this one has started off well with sunshine and 

warm temperatures.

A robin has been sitting on the head of a garden statue outside the window 

for over 10 minutes, singing non-stop. He stopped as some dog walkers

passed the house but didn't fly off, then just puffed up and started his melody

again. . . . . . . such a lovely sound early in the morning.

 I'm kitty sitting for the coming week as Nala's person, our neighbor, is heading to Maine. 

Nala is easy to care for and, as it's warm, I'll be putting her out in the screened porch 

during the daylight hours which makes her a happy cat. . . . . . . . she'll be watching

plenty of these critters below. . . . . . . . 

. . . . . . . .in my back garden yesterday, this female squirrel made short order of

 the only suet cake I had left - note to self, buy more if/when I go shopping again!

My 'snowdrops' are in full bloom now.

These are actually Leucojum aestivum 'Summer Snowflake", member

of the Amaryllis family of bulbs. Thankfully deer resistant hardy perennials.

I baked a loaf last evening so had good toast and marmalade for breakfast today. 

Can't say there's really anything I enjoy more to start my weekend morning - a good 

slice of crunchy toast with butter. . . . . and of course thick cut Scottish marmalade.

Stay well, be happy, and enjoy your weekend.

Other than taking our neighbor to the airport later,

I think we'll be staying close to home.

How can you not. . . . . . . . .

LOVE them?

And, when you have a slew of nuts left from the holidays what do you do?  Despite two nutcrackers in the kitchen drawer I, like most people, find cracking iron-hard nuts a real pain/tough job, so what do you do but share with the Eastern Grey Squirrels - or whichever version you have in your area - who are eating your birdseed like there's no tomorrow! 

We watched from the kitchen windows, thinking that if a squirrel can gnaw through a hard hickory nut, as they do, it could manage an almond easily. I lined up four on the deck rail and before I was back in the house, this chubby, bushy tailed, sparkle in the eye guy showed up! Long story short, he/she picked up each one, tossed it around in it's little sharp claws, sniffed, licked, then jumped down and went and buried each one in the garden! It was quite funny to watch and at least I managed to get some photos through the window.

Of course once the nut burying was over, this cute rodent was back at the bird feeders. . . . . and, just like their busy acorn burying back in the Fall, it's said by people who know the ways of our wildlife friends, they never actually find them again, or dig them up and prepare them for a springtime luncheon or a summer night party!  

~~~ Almond trees do have lovely blossoms I believe ~~~