....and the livin' is easy.
Well, I'm mixing my songs, and we have been doing quite a bit of work here at Reeder Gardens, but with the last days of Spring giving us Summer heat, we had to do the work and the walking in the mornings. Now, on the first day of summer, cool, cloudy Marine air has moved in. Sweet relief.
We got up later. We walked our full 3.25 miles. When we got back, we got stuck watching the World Cup game, Argentina vs Croatia. With the white sky, much better for photography, I hurried out at halftime to take photos of our garden as summer begins.
Now I've got the second half of the game on the TV next to the computer and divided attention. Here's a tour of Reeder Garden on Summer Solstice.
We'll start with the rose garden.
The island bed in the lower yard is at it's peak.
I've spent a lot of time on the patio this week, with long lunches and reading the newspaper and my Kindle.
And, of course, eating chocolate!
The shed is just a shed now, but decorating the outside is still fun.
The tomatoes in this hot spot are thriving.
The golden hop has covered the gate
and makes a great backdrop for some of Tom's fancy leaf geranium collection.
Tom has been cleaning up dead wood on the cedar tree. It looks great, a magnificent specimen of our Western Red Cedar.
The area around the deck is mostly green now.
Big leaf plants are fun.
The game is over. Croatia beat Argentina 3-0, shocking the soccer world.
My post is done. It's time for lunch and then we'll go outside and find some work to do on this cool afternoon. Finding work isn't hard here.
Tomorrow we start three days of garden touring and conferences at the Hardy Plant Study Weekend. Eventually there will be photos. In the mean time, I hope summer finds you well and relaxed and comfortable.
Happy summer!
Charlie is a borrowed cat.
Charlie showed up in the yard while we were out working in the early spring. He/she was immediately friendly, jumping up on my leg like a dog, wanted to be petted and get a head rub.
I didn't know whether the cat was a girl or a boy, so I called him Charlie, which could be for either. Having done a little more investigating, I think Charlie is a boy.
Charlie likes to join us as we work in the yard, or sit on the patio. He gets drinks out of various bird baths.
We don't know where Charlie lives or who owns him. He is very fluffy but skinny under all that fluff. I thought he might be homeless, but then he showed up with a new collar. I'm glad he isn't homeless, because I only want a borrowed cat.
Charlie makes himself at home on the patio. He would be happy to make himself at home in the house too, and he did sneak in once and sniff around, but he gets to stay outside.
He is not really my cat. He is a borrowed cat.
But Charlie is my friend.
It's heating up here today, perhaps up to 89?
I woke up early so I got up at 6:00 to watch the second half of the World Cup match between Sweden and South Korea. We have a Sounder player on the Swedish team.
At 7:00 I woke Tom up so we could get our walk in before it got too hot. We walked from 8:00 to 9:00, doing our three miles, and then we spent some time working in the garden. As I stooped down to weed the vegetable garden, phew, "What died"? Then I remembered and looked up over my shoulder.
Mister Stinky, the Voodoo Lily, Dracunculus vulgaris, was in bloom.
We knew it had a bunch of buds, but we had not checked on it for a while, and in the heat it opened up, and with the heat, it rapidly became odoriferous. It smells like carrion, of course, dead meat, and it attracts flies.
And yet the flowers are so beautiful. BIG and beautiful!
There are five blooms open so far, with at least three more to open.
I managed to mostly ignore the odor as I got the vegetable/cut flower garden weeded.
The raspberry plants are growing, but there won't be a crop this year.
We have beans, cucumbers, zucchini, carrots, chard, beets, basil, cilantro, lettuces, kohlrabi, dahlias, marigolds, asters, zinnias, and sunflowers growing.
And rosemary, sage and oregano.
As for Mister Stinky, well, I'll enjoy brief visits to soak in that rich purple while not breathing deeply. And we'll hope the wind blows in an easterly direction.
We fed our kids today. Isn't that what fathers and mothers do on their days? Well, we do.
We spent much of the morning prepping. We cleaned up the patio and the tables. Tom prepared the bacon wrapped shrimp skewers for the three of us who like shrimp. That would be Tom, me and Irene. I prepared the teriyaki chicken sticks for the other three. That would be Jill, Jake and Isaac. There was fruit compote with fresh local cherries and strawberries in it, among lots of other good stuff. On the grill with the chicken and shrimp, Tom grilled fresh local asparagus, and there was corn on the cob with cilantro butter and warm bread and butter.
We timed our sitting down to eat until after everyone in their various locations could watch this morning's World Cup matches. We are a soccer loving family.
Of course I took no photos, until it was time for dessert. I informed the family that since we were gone all day yesterday touring gardens on Bainbridge Island that I didn't have time to bake anything so we would have to eat ice cream. Such a shame.
After I set up the ice cream sundae bar, I stood back out of the way.
Tom stood back too, until the "guests" had their turn.
Here's mine.
Tom chose a bowl instead of a fancy sundae glass so he could get more in it.
Jake said, " Ah, you caught me trying to get out the last little bit!"
We had a fun time eating and visiting and being together. By 4:00 everyone was gone, cleanup was done, and Tom and I had moved indoors because it is 85 degrees outside.
Tom is a wonderful father, grandfather, and husband. We celebrated him by having him do what he always does, helping to take care of our tribe.
