A Garden Shed and More Color...

 

Here Millie and I are looking through the open screened window into the little garden shed.  She is wanting to go inside to take shelter from today's fierce heat, as it is a very hot day here. We will do that after we take a quick look around outside to see what is going on in the garden. 

There are lots of zinnias blooming now, and in so many wonderful colors. The ones, not quite open yet, are such a joy, all fresh and new.  

We are not hearing the summer tanager today which makes me wonder if he is helping more now to feed the young ones.  Or, perhaps, it is just too hot today to sing pretty songs. 

I am sure O'Keeffe would enjoy the poppies that are beginning to bloom, even though she would probably enjoy them more in red. I, however, am loving them in pink.

  

With the windows and door opened wide, the Shanty does provide some relief from the sun's blistering rays.  There's seating enough inside for five, so we sometimes have our young friends from across the pasture come for tea.  They wouldn't mind drinking from cups that are well over a hundred years old, but I discourage that and bring out some newer ones for the parties. Millie drinks from a dish. 

`

The ducks, loons, or terns, or whatever they are, delight me to no end.   The old, waxed canvas from which they are made is quite wonderful. They have definitely helped define this garden shed for what it is. I love them so much, and especially the old canvas cloth from which they are made. 

Last year's zinnias and other favorite flowers still add splashes of color about the Shanty.  The red salvia, I think, is more beautiful dried than it was fresh, and the dried zinnias are still quite lovely.  I suppose I could replace them with fresh cut ones from the garden, but I'll not be taking those away from the bees and butterflies.  

"Elvish singing is not a thing to miss in June under the stars, not if you care for such things."

~J.R.R. Tolkien

Summer Begins... (Pictures from our first day).

 

I love this picture of the setting sun taken by my son in the hay field. 

It may have been the longest day of the year, but it still wasn't quite long enough.  

Millie and I mowed our trail.  Then, we walked it.  

And, she took a dip in the pond.

Millie watching Coyote... ( She spends a lot of time these hot days dug into the flower bed by the back porch.  She is careful not to harm the plants.  She's a good girl.)  I can't decide if she likes or dislikes these distant cousins.  If she dislikes them, then I am their only friend here. 

And the tanager sings his summer songs.

Happy Summer to you all.

The Longest Day and a Study of Color...

 

How did we get here already?  The longest day of the year is right upon us again.   To my way of thinking, the longest and shortest days of the year should be holidays. If you'd care to walk with me over the hill, I could show you the point where the sun will set next week on that longest day. It's the most northern point the sun will reach before heading back south.  Millie and I know it well.  If  the good Lord's willing and the creeks don't rise, we will be there to watch it set on that day.  

Things are happening in the garden.  The first of the shaggy zinnias are starting to bloom.  I sowed only seeds that I collected from all my favorite colors.  Hopefully, there will be fewer yellow ones this year.  We are off to a good start with the first ones being pink.  Pink was not always one of my favorite colors, but over the years, I have developed more of a liking for it in the garden.  

A couple of years ago, when I enrolled in a Karen Ruane's class, we did a color study journal in which we selected five of our favorite colors to work with.  Since that time, I have been more acutely aware of those colors and work at fitting them in wherever I can, even in the garden.  Pink was not included, but I think a bit of it works out just fine.  

Pansies and Nasturtiums come in such a wonderful rainbow of colors, so those are good selections for any gardener's color study.  This year I have added Mother of Pearl Poppies to the garden and anxiously await them to start blooming.  There must have been a thousand tiny seeds in this 1/8 gram packet for they have come up so very thick.  I know I should pull some out but I just can't get up the nerve to do that.  What if I pulled out a pink one.  Ha!  A friend tells me these will look like crepe paper. 

Of course, yellow will always creep into the garden and that's not a bad thing for it is the bees preferred color.    The black swallowtail butterflies love tansy and milkweed as well as other yellow blooming flowers, so they should be happy in my garden this summer.

It has been a good year for the little Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds.  I am seeing several smaller ones at the feeders which makes me think this year's offspring are already up and going.  It's hard to imagine they will all, adults and juveniles, be heading south in about six weeks.  (And the Summer Tanager will be too.  :~(  He always comes to sing at this time of day, so I will hurry out of here to go listen to his song.)   ~ Mary