Our Little Oasis...

It had not been my intention to do another gardening post today, but the little poppies just keep on coming - all so different and beautiful.  I am fascinated with the centers of each one.  When the snow flies next winter, I will look back and wonder why I didn't post more of them, so maybe I will.

 

I got letters today from the granddaughters at camp.  I had sent them fun letters ~ stamped, cut and pasted, so they were anxious to write back to me.  Blogger friends Kathy and Debra have inspired me to get back into letter writing which I am enjoying so much.  

The older granddaughter wrote that she had been helping with the camp horses, and about the journal she has made.   She promised to bring it to show me when she "comes for tea."  (They are my little tea party friends from just down the road a bit.)

The younger girl, self-described as "the best granddaughter," :~) wrote "I made a pillow for my bed!  I used the sewing skills to make it that you taught me."  Then she sent an Instax FujiFilm picture of it.  It was such fun to get pictures to hold in my hand.  Golly, I didn't know I had done so well with those lessons.  I am already planning our next sewing project, and for our next tea party.  

This little oasis is where the critters hang out on these hot summer days.  Oh, for the wonders of a tree on such a day as this.  It's a sanctuary for the dozens of hummingbirds that come to the feeders, and its shade is a refuge for critters like Millie and me.   

Here in our neck of the woods, it's as "hot as a firecracker on the Fourth of July."  Millie and I are now kicking up dust on the trails, and watering plants every day.  In an effort to stay cool, it seems that Millie digs a little deeper each day, like a barnyard fowl, amongst the bushes and flowers.   

 Despite the heat, there's still a lot of pretty things in the garden.   The poppies continue to delight me even though they last for only a day.   The Nasturtiums are showing off some pretty colors.  The reds are my favorites.  If a red more beautiful than the Nasturtium Red  exists, I don't know of it.  The bee balm, also in a lovely red, is just beginning to bloom, which should please a lot of garden critters as well as the hummingbirds.        

 The summer tanager had not been seen for several days, so I was getting concerned.  Hawks of different kinds regularly patrol these skies, so life is tenuous, at best, for those so vulnerable.  But, not to worry, this morning he showed up on his favorite garden post where I was working.  He seemed to be in a hurry and stayed just long enough to sing one short, sweet song.  He looked a bit haggard and bedraggled in appearance, so I am thinking his parental responsibilities are taking a toll on him, or perhaps it is just the heat.  He definitely seeks me out, for he always alights on a post nearest to me.  As I have said before, I feel humbled that he would do that.