"It's So Hot...[how hot is it?]..." ~ Zinnia Report 2024

 Hi! It's so hot we couldn't sit out for sewing afternoon. 84* w a windchill--I mean heat index!--of 91*+.

 

And so bright. After the IV treatment I am very sensitive to intense sunlight and being too hot, so I brought Mo in. He was hiding in the shade of the zinnies again.

Weed garden, ick!

Yesterday I had a hummingbird visit! And a yellow swallowtail butterfly as big as my hand. The flower pots are finally bloming and the tiny creatures have found me. Lots of bumblebees too, and sweat bees, wasps, other butterflies.

I drew the ugliest bumblebee in my nature journal, prob have to redo. The bottom bee below is from a book.

Only Two months late the flower pots are brimming and bursting with color.

So many kinds of zinnias, am thrilled and so proud.

These ''cactus'' zinnias are beautiful, big and showy.

As are the pompoms

Traditional large and small. These are the bees' favorites. 

I esp love this palest pink one.

The marigolds are cute and fill in the zinnias' scrawny base stems

This very large pompom marigold is just starting to bloom. It really takes its time! I love its name and color.

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Not a lot of cosmos but a nice selection of different kinds, from tiny 12" with one inch flowers, to today some pink ones taller than me!

The meadow seeds

are mostly a fail, I got a lot of crabgrass, weed grasses, and what I call chamomile but is maybe chickweed? [tiny white daisy flowers w a yellow centers, really invasive, not cute. ]I did get some baby breath and this new to me tubular flower in red and purple. 

I thought it was a non-hybrid snapdragon precursor but it is ''balsam''. NO relation to a balsam tree that is like a pine tree w fragrant needles---this is a type of impatiens. Who knew? [link:  HERE   mine are delicate not profuse like the ones here]

Assessing results so far:

These grew:

The cosmos grew, the green zinnies may still bloom. I have one pot with buds only, pretty sure they are the greenies.

These did not grow or died immediately [nasturtiums]:

I'm carrying many buckets of water for the flower pots, twice a day.

Today [Thursday / Friday both] was supposed to be cool and drizzly, but instead, this heat wave. No rain on the weather bug predications for the next few weeks.

Short walkies for Baby Mo---see you soon!

love

izzy

gone to the beach....

if you enlarge, click on image, you can see the swarming birds. This was a wind-free buggy night.

In and Out, Out and About

 Good morning! Another hot sunny lovely day. High summer here, almost 80*, hotter in the sun, too. September is so beautiful I almost wish for a break of a rain day. My zinnies are madly blooming, I must water them twice a day. I'll show them off next post! No mums for me this year.

I met a friend for a quick visit and shopping hour the other day. We wanted to get out before Covid rears its ugly head. Many masks being worn. Are they sick and contagious, but out? Or being careful not to get sick? Masks to me are a red flag!  We had just one hour so a quick ''just for fun'' trip over the bridges to Home Goods.

No Christmas, thank goodness but Halloween prevailed.

Store looked like a slightly upscale Party City.

What is this? A fungus? A dead rose? Creepy. 

I always love the glass pumpkins, though am less attracted the ones made in India w the metal stems; I love the loopy freeform glass stems of the original versions. 

Here is a link to the originals made in USA by Corning Glass. You can make your own at the museum! HERE

Some pretty Fall.

Mushrooms! Toadstools! So cute.

Mushroom sheets--I love them but so silly.

Not much Thanksgiving.  Maybe that special day's lack of commercialization is a good thing?

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I hadn't planned to buy anything but after a while ''shopping one's closets'' and reusing gets so boring. [I'll never forget a longtime reader saying she was tired of seeing my faux chocolate Bunny every year! Petty to care but I keep it in mind!]

Basket for a gift planned for my little artist friend.

Loved these mercury glass candles.

I loved the Acorn, he is a bit different. I didn't realize til I got home that the bottom section is a different color, makes it especially interesting and cute.

[I justify candles bec of the constant storms and non-storm related power failures we experience here; oh how I hate redoing all the appliances' clocks, again and again.]

A tiny white Pumpkin for my collection.

And some things for Mo. A new water bowl, some Halloween treats, and a costume.

The costume made me laugh---lahdidah, a Martha Stewart tutu. Mo will wear it as a ruff.

It was a very fast shopping adventure. This is me wating for L to pay for her finds. The line was very very long and slow. LOL.

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And off we hurried home. This is a different marsh view than the usual, looking northwest. The WTC Towers would have been visible on the far left horizon before 9/11.

These little marsh islands are beautiful, all white dunes and fishing camp cabins.

One of my long ago dreams was to stay some early fall, in one of these cottages and putter about in my dingy, exploring the white beaches and bird sanctuaries, taking photos, finding treasure. Old seaglass bottles are sometimes found, the cabins [far left, above] have existed for hundreds of years, family squatting rights allowing them to remain in use.

 Fantasies inspired no doubt by this wonderful book:

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Noah's Ark update: the prep is tedious but then the sewing goes fast. Half the animals are done.

I made Mo a beaded decorative collar. It needs to be remade with a looser fit.

Oh well, next summer, I sighed sadly as I also put away my beloved summer bead bracelets.

                                                        

This weekend I'm cooking because I have an infusion appointment Monday. Food prep is extra hard this time because deli meats are not an option, due to the Listeria scare. No ham salad for me this time, it's my special post IV treat. HERE

Have a good week, enjoy the beautiful last weeks of summer.

love

lizzy

gone to the beach.....