Summer Miscellany

 

Hi everyone. Today is the first day it has been too hot for me and Mo to stay out for long on the deck.  Not sure why it felt dreadful, not that hot, 85, and only 60% humidity. Brilliant sun and no breeze, I guess. I'm  grateful for the new AC installed in the bedroom, here where I work at my little computer desk.

Mo is not a cuddly doggy but he is always as close to me as he can get.

[This post was delayed because I have had no internet and / or no electricity for the past few days!]

When I was outside I did take pics of my ''micro prairie" , the cosmos/ coreopsis/ and the tiny blue mystery weed.

I've been working on ID-ing the little blue mystery plant, w the help of Mel and Bovey Belle. I got out all my seed packets for the past 3 or 4 years. These two containers are now  my wildflower garden or as I saw on IG some call it a micro prairie. So cute.

Blue Gilia?

Nope! This year what I am seeing is Lacy Phacelia.

I don't empty this pot each year. I clear it and fertilize, may add new layer of soil if needed. So the seeds germinate somewhat randomly. Not always the year I sowed them. I think some of the wildflower seeds need repeated hard freezes to germinate.

One packet said Blue Gilia, but both Mel and BB suggested Lacy Phacelia and this week as the plants flower and form seeds the characteristic curled shaped of that flower's seed pods  is appearing. It is listed on this seed pack, from last year.

Blue Gilia from another seed source.

And again the Lacy Phacelia. hmmmm.

The Dollar Store seed packet mentions neither.

This year's flower I am definitely calling the Lacy Phacelia. Don't you love that name! Sounds like a Southern belle in Gone with the Wind. [is that old classic banned now?]

And many of the  packs list Chinese forgetmenots! These are supposed to be American prairie or meadow seeds. Why the Chinese FMN and are they the same as I used to love on visits to Ohio, where the rocky lake [filled quarry?]banks had the only wild FMN I have seen. [no, Chinese FMNs are natives of Tibet [like Mo!]  and not true forgetmenots, says Google.]

Meanwhile Borage wins the prize for the best blue. Not showy, a simple herb or medicinal. But the color!

And was so happy to see a new chrome orange/ tangerine ''coreopsis", only to discover, on an old seed pack that it is a tangerine cosmos.

All the meadow and prairie seed packets say Attract Pollinators/ bees/ honey bees. My little microcosm has never had a honey bee, perhaps they do not live here. I see a lot of small insects that we called sweat bees, as kids. They are attracted to sweaty humans and they bite. Also yellow jacket wasps, some white [cabbage?] butterflies, gnats and aphids. Last year I saw bumble bees but none so far this summer.

The Zinnies and Maris are doing great and always make me smile.

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I've been curtailing Mo's walks somewhat especially due to burning pavement for some favored routes. This area is shaded later in the day, so we walk there often. Mo is not so pleased, he prefers the walk to the beach bench and on around the neighborhood instead.

Earlier this week he went for  a brief sleep away visit, to my friends who have the cool grassy yard. 

And air conditioning.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Some flowers we see: BIG zinnias. Teacup size, waist high.

Late bloom blue hydrangeas. A nice fill in.

Gorgeous lavender Hosta bells.

I was always taught that Hosta should not bloom, ugly and takes away from the foliage. But it seems in recent years there's been an effort to make them beautiful. So delicate yet profuse. The variegated leaves are lovely too.

I didn't sew this past week. Just cleaning, cooking, mending. When I was pressing the Blue Mystery flower for my nature journal, I found in the pressing book a hilarious and very un-addressed/ undone Goals for Summer List:

_Walk a bit further each day, even if painful.

_Walk Mo to beach bench . [only check mark item]☑️

_Do the beginner mobility exercises w Justin Agustin here on IG every day or as suggested. [for some reason, I can't DO things I see on a screen---goes too fast.  Julie blogger friend does You Tube tutorials often; learns so much. I just can't.]

_Sew more/ scroll less. 🤣🤣🤣

_Sew words on Marsh quilt.

sigh. Well summer is only half over, right!?

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love

lizzy

gone to the beach...

The other evening we had the first rainbow of this summer. It was pale but always brings such joy.

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Close ups of Hollyhocks runner for Bovey Belle.

Journals etc

Hi everyone! It's an odd hot wet grey day! [Sunday]

Woke up to tornado watches, a few drops of rain---and no air-conditioning in the bedroom. I don't know why that has me so out of sorts, I rarely air-condition the entire house, but I do like the AC for sleeping and the feel of not-soggy sheets. Last July it was the main big AC that died, the bedroom machine was limping on I guess. [Pretty sure I just replaced it the year bfore Covid, 2019. That's only, what 4 years?]  The big AC if set at arctic temps will over time cool my bedroom a bit, but the expense! Plus the silliness of wearing a fleece jacket in the kitchen. 

The Hurricane evacuation guide arrived this weekend. What a waste of tax dollars, there's only one road, one bridge in or out.....

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This month--I budget 15th to 15th of the month---I met my budget goal by almost 10% under goal, so I promptly rewarded myself. Not just w my new Moleskine nature Journal [gosh, $$$ !], 

but also trolling through the used book sites I found this beautiful Marjolein Bastin sketchbook in brand new condition.

It not only has her beautiful paintings, there is also plenty of free space for me to paste scribble journal pages and other things to remember [quotes, labels, special occasions, pressed leaves and flowers]. My current perpetual nature notebook from MB, only the second in my lifetime, has space for the rest of this year, but the out of print replacements can be hard to find. It was less than 15.oo.

Recent entries in Perpetual Journal Part Two:

Daylily:

Was very upset that the ''permanent ink/ waterproof"! Micron pens ran black all over my drawing. May redo and paste a new entry at some point. Even the professional botanical artists on IG do that sometimes.

For week 2 I did only freeform watercolor, trying to capture the beautiful blues Mo and I see on pour walks now.

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Scribble Journal: Just one page.

You'll see a corrected mistake: I had sketched a memory of Illinois wildflowers, orange daylilies and blue chicory which grew in masses in the ditches along the cornfields.  I forgot and didn't read my notes until I was editing the pics---I had colored the blue chicory in as yellow coreopsis, same shape.

Patched in the blue redo.

Penny was kind to say my drawing has improved, but here is last July. 

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Last week as soon as I posted my garden pots update, the marigolds burst into full foliage and bright cutie blooms.

And the zinnias are flourishing.

This is the plant in the wildflower pot that I cannot identify. Maybe a blue prairie  clover? Not my idea at all of ''clover''

 Hilariously Google Images identifies it as ''lesser swine cress''--imagine that. I laughed and laughed. That's an ugly name for a sweet blue flower.

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Sometimes I waste a lot of time and effort cooking. I am always intrigued by new recipes and pretty pictures. This recipe was very kindly sent to me by a woman who I  don't even know, after I admired her delicious IG photo of her 4th of July meal.

!-My version needs work. Orzo must be undercooked and very al dente. 2-It is VERY labor intensive, all that chopping and noodle boiling. 3-It requires 425* oven on the hottest, AC-died sort of day. But yes, the result is LOVELY. Partly a pasta side, partly a salad.

 

Eggplant takes longer to cook/ made separately and got mushy.

I forgot the pignolis.

Delish despite my flubs.

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I have a much postponed IV clinic in about ten days and for some reason it has triggered my cleaning  house instinct.   I always prioritize visual uncluttering. The closets can look like the Goodwill bin, but my eyes want to see neatness. In the big basket where I store computer paper I  found this old Hancock's of Paducah catalog. Oh do I miss these these beauties, I have saved many actually in my quilty library. Their website is impossible, a total fail for me, so no linger a resource. I leafed thru these pages. Oh my goodness, why oh why did I not stockup and buy all these fabulous prints.

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Mo is glaring, because there's no deck playtime today. It's just so soggy out. He huffs and glares and if that fails, he politely paws my shorts leg/ thigh until I respond. Then he flounces up to the sofa back and resumes glaring. Who said dogs can't ''talk''.

Right now I have to stop and finish putting fresh linens on the beds, and I have mending to do for a friend who faithfully believes I will magically have buttons for his raincoat etc. Back soon. New AC may come Wednesday, hurray! [so much for budget bragging, though, right!?]

love

lizzy

gone to the beach...

PS [knock wood] we NEVER have tornadoes here at the beach, the ocean dissipates the tornado energy. Though yes I've seen a couple of waterspouts, but they do not originate on the mainland where this weak weather is today.