What's missing?

Besides the sailboat, buoy, and bird-feeder, we are minus one tree. It came down when we had the tree service in, more than a month ago, I think. (The orange cat does not belong to us, but we are not without it even so: It's constantly in the yard, annoying Sisco.)

Random last-of-July pics

All from today. The first is a second anemone, in bud. The second is another result of the rain: phlox blossoms scattered among the campion -- which seeded itself well outside the boundaries of the shade garden.

The hollyhock and black-eyed susan are still in heavenly bloom.

Morning scenes

When the morning glories are in bloom -- before 10am -- the front of our house looks especially splendid. We still have roses!

We have two sunflowers, both self-seeded. Vic had decided not to bother with them this year, but the soil had other ideas.

Newer blooms

The light pink phlox is now truly open. I didn't even realize that I had the medium pink phlox until it bloomed this week. Now I can see, near this one, another one in bud.

And my crocosmia has, at last, come to life. One picture of the crocosmia is from above; the other is from the side. According to Janet, my sister in law, crocosmia is like monarda in terms of its appeal to hummingbirds.

Apples

Forgive me for this lengthy string of pictures. It was kinda cool this morning to step out into the back yard and see how many apples had landed under the tree.

We don't *eat* these apples. The ants do; and, after we fling them over the fence, unknown creatures consume the rest.

There was rain last night, and the weight of the rain presumably made the apples fall. Except for the last two: I think those were kicked off to the side the last time Vic mowed the lawn.

A sign

Remember when I said before that there was no sign of actual produce? Look! Two eggplants! One on each plant. It's astonishing when one considers that not a single squash is being produced in that bed. Let's hope that these two continue to grow.

Bonner building

http://www.wvec.com/news/After-years-of-waiting-contract-awarded-to-replace-Bonner-Bridge-126183083.html

It sounds as though the bridge's score has doubled (from 2 to 4) on a scale of 100. However, I never understood that the score was not directly related to safety, as this article asserts.

Anyway, the good news is: The Bonner Bridge (OBX, NC) is to be replaced! And I love the pic that accompanies this piece.

Rockport trek

Victor and I strolled Bearskin Neck in Rockport a few weekends ago. Though we find the shops extremely tourist-y, the scenery is undeniably lovely. In addition to Motif #1 (seen from the back deck of a gourmet foodstore), we saw a group of newbies getting ready to kayak.

Grandma's garden

I wish I had experienced uncomplicated fun with my grandmother (on my father's side). But, you know, Victor and I both have some paternal ancestry issues.

My mother never planted hollyhock because she so disliked Shirley, my paternal grandma: Shirley always had hollyhocks in her garden.

I don't remember my grandma's garden. I think that the single type of hollyhock looks welcoming and stately in a border.

Chayote, jicama, and asparagus

That's what we plan for next year's garden: chayote, jicama, and asparagus (the 'expensive' vegetables). But I don't think we'll stop growing tomatoes. We do love our garden-fresh tomatoes. The grapes go, as they do every year, to the numerous, beautiful birds that frequent our yard. The lovely purple flower of the eggplant makes me long to try again next year, but for the umpteenth time we are seeing no sign of the actual produce.

Glory of the morning

Victor put a couple of lobster buoys out front as bases for our morning glories. Then plants that had reseeded themselves grew all over the fence. Though I buy multiple colors, it looks like only the purple ones grow!

Also reseeding itself was the sunflower, lovely and sunshiney against the house.

Phlox-iana

I really must acquire several more tall summer phlox plants. I ordered some online once, including an orange and a blue, but I forgot to plant them at the indicated time. So they died (I planted anyway, but none ever came up).

I love the splashes of intense color that they provide.

Rehab habituation

I fear that we've all gotten used to visiting my mother in rehab. After all, she's been in one for the past full year.

Yesterday we were strongly encouraged by the staff to stop her dialysis and bring in hospice. New staff, old ideas. We presented yet again what our mother's reality is: She isn't ready. We all know that she's at the end of her life. However, as a conscious, thinking individual, she's not going to die until after she accepts her mortality. As a trauma survivor, she believes that her current situation is another one that she is being challenged to survive.

The social worker, who's heard our spiel before, went to speak to our mother, to "interview" her. She confirmed our report, basically. But you know that the pressure is only going to increase.

Sylvan lilies

I know that the yellow one is out of focus, but it's a daylily, and it's night, so it is gone -- I can't take another picture of it. That's the thing about daylilies (2 of the 3 above): they are singular, but transient. And isn't THAT symbolic of something larger?

Sunny day

The end of the sun garden closest to the bridge is dominated by perennial sunflower. I don't know what its proper name is; I know it only as perennial sunflower. The purpley leaves of the plant turn upside-down every afternoon, as though it's had enough of the sun -- so its common name really isn't appropriate, methinks.

The sunflower plant doesn't overtake its neighbors, but obedient plant does. The monarda at this end of the garden is being eradicated by obedient plant (one obedient sample in pic #3).

Geese and bees

Now you can see the hummingbird feeder clearly paired with matching-color flowers. The monarda, a.k.a. bee balm, acts like a red flag to a bull if you're a hummingbird. If I'm not mistaken, I think this is the third year in a row that we've seen hummingbirds, but only on that red monarda.

The gooseneck loosestrife is still interesting in appearance to me, but I really need to tear most of it out. At this point it has seized territory from *so* many other plants. Even my poppies were nearly wiped out this year, between the loosestrife and the obedient plant.