Midsummer Almost

Hi everyone. Midsummer Day is almost upon us, it is mid June and chilly as can be. Mo and I had fun during our afternoon walk to the beach bench, pretending it is a lovely late October day.

We had a few warm-ish 60* nights when Mo rejected his fave sherpa pompom throw but he is still wanting his blue fleece and feeling snuggly. Low 50s tonight, though not too windy.

The big brief rain day, then bright bright sunny following days has got my meager garden growing. Lilies and coreopsis in one, though nothing else so far.

The elephant ear was a goner, it got frost bitten last fall and though I tried to save it, it was quite decayed and worthless. The amaryllis is in this pot too. Otherwise I have a lovely crop of crabgrass, sigh.

My friend may bring me some squash seeds. At least I'd have something fun to watch grow.

The wildflower pot is by far the best. Filled with unknowns!

Here is the packet's seed list:

And schematic.

The cute orange wildflower is called Siberian wallflower.

The blue flowers are a surprise and also were unfamiliar.

Mel offered the idea of scorpion plant, indigenous to Arizona. here

But no. Friend above, with the seed selection, has an app which identifies plants from photos one sends in. ''Gilia'', is what the blue flowers are. Again, look at the plants map, above: "globe gilia" is it.

I've used these wildflower seeds for years and these are firsts. I think I also will have a calendula and some zinnias in that pot. Maybe even a sunflower!

Note my horrible lichen or moss encrusted white canvas wind screens. Really icky. I had planned to have new ones made and installed this summer, big budget expense along with new screen doors. Maybe next year? This mold is new to me. Other years I have had green algae or black mold grow but never grey lichen. Creepy.

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 My beach is open.
No problem keeping one's distance here!

I'm walking down and back as often as I can; overdoing causes the hip pains. Like knives. I call it The Little Mermaid illness; in the original story the LM was granted the ability to walk but only with pain like mine. [I don't watch Disney films so I don't know what happened in that version of the classic tale].

This is a swampy back dune area by the seawall  that is usually filled with beach grass, poison ivy, other weeds. The coreopsis are new!

Could the seeds have blown here from my deck, maybe 100 yards away? I like to think so. I'd love it if they proliferated and added their bright yellow to the dunes.

The path is cleared and swept.

The benches have been reinstalled.

The grouping of many umbrellas is the lifeguards, socially distancing yet on the job.

The collection of love and kindness shells is growing.

Lovely! Is it forming a sideways heart?

On the walk home, early hydrangeas, in their chartreuse stage, hopefully blue later?

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And, as produce has become more available, even as meat shortages increase, I made one of my oven pan roasts. This one was taken from an ad on culinary selling site Sur la Table, no recipe.

Portobello mushrooms, asparagus, sweet or red onion wedges, and large dice sweet potatoes. Seasoned with about 8 whole garlic cloves, unpeeled, olive oil, and Chinese 5 Spice seasoning. Cooked fast, 35 minutes at 400*; very delicious, though it cooks away to about half volume.

Have a good week. Welcome summer, on June 20th!

love

lizzy

gone to the beach......