Another First

Loudon's first haircut

A Time To Gather

This is what the skies have looked like for much of the week. To me, it is a lovely sight after such a hot dry summer. The garden seems to be revived and renewed. The garden is filled with activity now. The calendar says it's Fall. Can cool Autumn weather be far behind?



I am sorry the quality of this picture is so bad, but the only way I could get a picture of the Hummers, was through the window at our breakfast nook. The Hummers have been emptying the feeders so quickly, I have had to refill them twice a day. We have counted 13 at the feeder at one time.

With the rain, the Lantana has put out new blooms.

As well as the Zinnias.

It seems all the bees have a renewed zeal for gathering food.

The roses have a new flush of blooms.

I just can't resist a pretty face!

Fat little guys with pollen sacs filled.

They are certainly finding plenty to gather on the Purple Heart.

RAIN, RATTLESNAKES, AND RUMINATIN'

　
Rain! All day long rain. It has been a wonderful cloudy day with soft slow rain with periods of downpours. It always amazes me how green the grass gets with just one REAL rain. The grass had become for the most part, as golden as a wheat field. I knew it had gone dormant, but with the heat this year, I thought for sure the lawn was a goner. One thing is for sure, no one has complained about the rain today. Everyone is grateful for the break in the weather. It’s too early to say the drought is ended, but it has brought a new sense of hope that it could be!



I know you will think I am fixated on Rattlesnakes, but on our trip earlier in the week, this is what we saw at every rest stop we stopped at. Yikes! I checked out the restrooms very carefully before I used them! By the way--I found them much cleaner and a safer bet than Mickie D’s or DQ. When you travel the back roads of Texas they are pretty chancy as well as few and far between.

On our road trip, we went through so many little towns with great names that I started writing them down, which led to thinking of other names. We went through my personal favorite; Happy, Texas. We also went through Hail Center, which led Hubby to tell an ironic story of his family looking for cover in a hail storm in Hail Center. We also went through Rising Star, Early, Good Night, White Deer, Quanah, Sweetwater, and something I personally want: Wisdom. When you are driving through West Texas and the Panhandle, there isn’t much to look at or listen to. We always take plenty of CD’s , and even though we were jamming out on ZZ Top, we started a game of naming all the Texas towns we could think of that sparked our interest. Hubby thought of Pep, Smiley, Rainbow, Sunray, and his personal favorite: Bacon! I like Comfort, Sweet Home, Friendship, and Paradise. You’ll always be on the Sunny Side in Sunny Side, Texas! You can talk turkey in Turkey, Texas. Or, if you are hungry, how ‘bout Noodle, Oatmeal, Trout, Salty, or Rice? There’s Cut and Shoot, Gun Barrel, Muleshoe, Frognot, Bigfoot, Hogeye, Notrees, Kickapoo, Dimebox, Ding Dong, or Best, Texas. Oh! But that’s not the best--there is Veribest, Texas. Of course there is plenty of sun in Texas. There is Sun City, Sunrise, Sunset, and Sundown. You can go to Paris, London, Ireland, Dublin, Athens, or Egypt--and it doesn’t require a passport! You can get down to Earth, Texas, or venture further to Venus! And of course, it’s not just towns. There are great names for creeks. We passed Wanderer’s Creek, which made me think of Honey Bear Creek, close to where we live. That made me think of another creek called Woman Hollering Creek, which has interesting folklore attached to it…but that is another story…

What funny or unique towns do you have where you live?

Late Summer's White Blooms

I am in love with the white blooms of late summer. At a time when the colorful zinnias are beginning to flag from the relentless heat, the front garden with it's all white theme, sparkles with the promise of cool mornings that are sure to come--soon, please!

Although the Gardenias don't put on their lavish show of masses of blossoms of Spring, one by one they bloom, showcasing their singular beauty and intoxicating aroma that will drift by as you walk to the front door.

The Chives emerge from their papery cocoon. Could any carefully arranged bouquet match it's artless beauty?

The tiny Blackfoot Daisy peaks shyly out from behind it's foliage.

And the ever-faithful Begonia never fails to please.

The white, as well as pale lavender, are my favorite shades of Crepe Myrtle.



Moving to the backyard side garden, the Morning Glories are still putting on a show in spite of droopy sad foliage.

My first attempt at capturing the image of a butterfly. It patiently rested while I tried to get a good shot, but after four, it said enough, and sailed away.

Under Sebastian's tree, the Liriope with it's pale lavender blooms edged in white are cool and refreshing.

The Lavender, dotted throughout all the beds, are starting another bloom cycle.

I feel I must apologize for being so reticent lately. It seems that summer just flew by after we got home from vacation. It felt as though I just turned around and it was time to start school shopping for the girls. Now that they are properly clothed and outfitted with school supplies, I have wanted to do nothing more than get my hands in the dirt again. The heat along with the threat of rattlesnakes has kept me indoors. We have been warned of snakes coming into the neighborhoods looking for water, and a few have been found in ours. I am so afraid of Loudon stepping on one without realizing, that I have decided to hibernate awhile longer. I have plenty to do inside, but I always start feeling a little scattered and unhappy when I can't get my hands in the dirt.

I have started my Fall cleaning since I am stuck inside. There is much to do, and I start feeling guilty getting on the computer. It does seem that gardening centers me and keeps me from obsessing about the house. I wouldn't be on the computer this weekend except I was forced! I am in a hotel room with a book and my computer! Hubby and I came up to the panhandle to a family reunion, and I "should" be there right now. On the way up yesterday, I started getting a scratchy throat, and by morning, I had lost my voice. I am running a fever, and the infection seems to have gone straight to my chest. If it is not strep throat, I am guessing the flu. I can't help but think this forced slow-down was what I needed to stop "doing" so much. Although achy and dizzy, I can't help but enjoy my forced vacation from life. Now I am off to see what all of you, my cyber friends have been up to since I have been away!

How To Survive The Summer Heat

Snuggle up with a few close friends and a stack of good books.

The River

I was born upon thy bank, river,

My blood flows in thy stream,

And thou meanderest forever

At the bottom of my dream

Henry David Thoreau,

Journals (1906), 1842 entry.

The face of the river, in time, became a wonderful book . . . which told its mind to me without reserve, delivering its most cherished secrets as clearly as if it had uttered them with a voice. And it was not a book to be read once and thrown aside, for it had a new story to tell every day.

Mark Twain,

Life on the Mississippi

I came where the river

Ran over stones;

My ears knew

An early joy.

And all the waters

Of all the streams

Sang in my veins

That summer day.

Theodore Roethke,

The Waking

Rivers flow.

The sea sings.

Oceans roar.

Tides rise

Who am I?

A small pebble on the grand shore;

Who am I?

To ask who I am.

Isn’t it enough to be?

Native American saying

Sometimes, if you stand on the bottom rail of a bridge

and lean over to watch the river slipping slowly away beneath you,

you will suddenly know everything there is to be known.

A. A. Milne,

Pooh's Little Instruction Book

Many a time have I merely closed my eyes at the end of yet another troublesome day

and soaked my bruised psyche in wild water,

rivers remembered and rivers imagined.

Rivers course through my dreams,

rivers cold and fast,

rivers well-known and rivers nameless,

rivers that seem like ribbons of blue water twisting through wide valleys,

narrow rivers folded in layers of darkening shadows,

rivers that have eroded down deep into the mountain's belly,

sculpted the land,

peeled back the planet's history

exposing the texture of time itself.

Harry Middleton,

Rivers of Memory

O river, river, never yet

Was half your glory sung;

And never skill of painter’s brush

Nor praise of poet’s tongue

Shall half reveal the majesty,

The charm, the primal grace

That clothe you and attend your ways

And shine from out your face.

Frederick Oakes Sylvester,

Principia College

Reunions and Cemeteries

Our first stop on vacation was a family reunion on my side of the family. It was so nice to connect with family I hadn't seen in years--since my grandmother died in 1986! So many have passed on, but those of us who were still here and able to get to the reunion had a wonderful time reconnecting. We spent the 4th of July touring all the old country cemeteries, several which were just family plots on old farms or country churches I had never visited before. I wish I had brought crayons and paper to do rubbings, as many stones were unreadable.

As we strolled through the cemeteries, I couldn't help but look up at the beautiful vistas of the Ozarks.

And check out the plantings in the cemeteries by others long gone themselves.

I loved to watch the hawks as they lazily glide through the air currents and circle the sky.

As we read the tombstones, it became apparent that we take for granted so much today. Many graves were of young mothers who died in childbirth.

And babies who did not survive their first year.

I wandered through these time capsules,

drawn to statuary that spoke louder than words ever could.

I love old trees, and there were many huge specimens that had been planted to remember loved ones.

The textures and patterns have a beauty all their own.

Sadly, some graves had no more than a rock to mark it's place

others, the stones were broken.

Even if those laid to rest cannot see the spot chosen for their burial, I found a peacefulness in visiting these spots so far from civilization.

At every country cemetery, a very necessary Outhouse.

The beauty of the countryside all around.

Amazing textures and colors all around.

Back at my cousin's house, we gathered to picnic, looks at old family pictures, tell stories, and reconnect.

The littlest one, making strawberry pies out of clover blossoms!

The older children playing volleyball.

Birthday's and anniversaries to celebrate, along with fireworks all around the countryside after dark, made this day memorable.