Inhale

It smells like pine needles here after a rain.

I like that.

It reminds me of my grandparents' houses. Of vacations. Playgrounds. Dr. Pepper. White hats emblazoned "I Love Grandma" and short pink knit skirts that twirl.

And then it rained.

And when it rains, it pours...













Poor little lily stalk!













How nice of the rain to bring the Rose of Sharon down where I could see it...













Gave the zucchini a cow-lick something awful, but with all the leaves pushed over to one side....look at that mighty guitar-string tendril!













Yes. It rained. The grass is still more than a little damp. May I come in yeeeeeet??

Hey there, purty.

Someone tell this little pansy that it's July.

"Little pansy, it's July."

Little Pansy (who picked up a southern accent from the azalea next door) : "I don' ca'! It's rainin'!"

Surprise Lilies pt. 2

They're blooming!













They're blooming!













And still more to come.

I'm in love. :swoons:

NEWSFLASH

This season's most stylish way to line your (squirrel) nest!













Chic garden liner in a vintage, charcoal coloring and hexagonal texture will add a fashionable accent to any winter dwelling.

(eg. the squirrels are ripping up the flower beds, stuffing their chubby cheeks with this stuff and toting it up the trees!)

Surprise!

These little plants are so strange, they deserve a post of their own.













In that same corner of the yard, on the side where grass and loosestrife quarrel, on the side where a cottontail made a nest in the spring, five leafless tulip-like buds have grown.



















See them? Like stiff green snakes in a jungle of grass? With kissy pink lips. ;)

I'm hoping for surprise lilies.

Surprise lilies have got to be some of the most interesting plants I know of. In the spring, they sprout a rosette of 'long, amaryllis-type leaves' (that sounds familiar!) that die down by summer. And then in late summer (that'd be now) KAPOW! Out of nowhere, 2-foot naked stems shoot from the ground and bloom into 6 or 8 pink lily flowers in the most decadent shades of pink. This habit invited names like "nekkid ladies", "pink flamingo flower", "resurrection lily". They're often found around old fences and foundations. I wonder how long these have been here?

Last year, before we moved, I planted two bulbs in pots and waited. Their leaves came and went, but never any flowers! I blame the squirrels. So if these are surprise lilies, magic lilies, spider lily, whatever, I will be soooo happy! And the buds look a deep, winey pink too. Luscious!

Pictures from the garden, er, yard.

There is one corner of our yard, even in town, that is like a tiny woodland. Ferns, trillium. Things grow there that I never even saw in our rhododendron tangle at the old house. Like mayapples. And gooseneck loosestrife.













Oooh, look! Berries!













On the other side of the yard....The cosmos seeds that IndianaLu sent me for my birthday have sprouted into plants and are 5, maybe 6 inches tall!!













These...somethings, Rudbeckia? seem to be in pleasant company. They don't look like Painted Daisies, so I'm guessing they were here before we were. Well, nice to meet you, Yellow Flowers.













They don't seem to mind the drought.

You can bury a lot of troubles digging in the dirt. ~Author Unknown

Knit one, purl two.

Mama and I are working on a felted diaper bag for the Little Nephew who will be arriving sometime in September. Would you believe this is my first time trying a seed stitch? I like it!














Another new technique. Forgive the Red-Hat Lady colors. The pattern was really fun and easy! The motif is from Knitting for Baby: 30 Heirloom Projects. (as is the bag pattern.) I'm working up the courage to knit the "Nordic Snowflake Pullover". That would be TWO new techniques: color & circular yoke. It's for 12-24 months, so I've got some time. A new circular needle might help. (Ours have been inherited - they're plenty old, plastic and kinky!)

It wasn't rainy when I began...

I love these rubber boots.













I love tromping around the yard in them, my bare toes wiggling inside. Regardless of red clay smush or 'gifts' from this dog, I can imagine I'm a prairie princess, a full skirt whipping against the wind. Or a cowgirl, whose boots would've seen far more mucky stalls than these ever have. Yet, anyway.

These spent their hardest hours stuffed with so many layers of socks that my sister or I (whichever had the privilege of wearing Mama's boots out into the snow) could barely walk.

[picture]

How nice that my feet grew up size 6! (Of course, that is, as I said, sans socks.)














I...haven't experimented much with the self-timer on our camera. The first few attempts were off focus, so for this one the boots got set up and angled on. Good? Good! Press the button....beep, beep , beeeeeeeep. Run, jump into boots. Boots fall over, have half a boot on while wrestling with the other. Beeeeeep! That was close. So glad the neighbors are on summer vacation and didn't have to be exposed to such antics!

You however?