Meanwhile Back at Home

It's been a while since I've posted about life at home.  I find myself so behind in writing about our travels and have been playing catch up.  I still have not finished posts about our trip in 2017 to England.  I will try to finish those posts, but also write about life at home.  

Though it may not seem to you we love being at home, we really do.  I recently put a new valance in the kitchen.  I use red and white in our kitchen so the red and white Buffalo checked curtains suit it well.  Vermont Country Store recently acquired the Country Curtains line.  If you are looking for them they are now there.  

Summer has whizzed by this year as does every season seem to do now!  I must say that by late August I'm ready to say goodbye to the hot and humid weather.  The most glorious season will be here soon and I am so glad!  My prayers go out to all that have been affected by Dorian.  The news photos are just devastating.  

Our youngest grand turned 15 in August.  We all got together and celebrated at a seafood restaurant.  Miles loves food and especially seafood! 

The grands are now back in school.  Our eldest began his junior year of college and the middle is a junior in high school, and the youngest is a freshman.  Wow! 

In the garden I've had to water more often than I'd like.  Without additional water plants in our pots would perish.

Our miniature rose, Popcorn, finally treated us with a blossom.

Butterflies have been abundant in our garden as have the birds and bees.

We unfortunately have had a large yellow jacket nest take up residence in a birdhouse.  Grayden had to get rid of it to our dismay.  They are so aggressive and were really close to our patio. 

We still have an abundance of bumblebees that love visiting the blossoms.

I have a fascination with dragonflies and enjoy seeing them flit about the garden.  I've been unable to take a photo of them as they seem to be quite busy.  This little fellow treated me with a long pose on the trellis.

I find I never have my camera in reach when needed, but sometimes I get lucky and remember to take my camera to the patio when we have afternoon tea.  

A very large turtle visited us recently.  Grayden almost stepped on him while making a trip to our compost area.

We are now having some days that tell us that Autumn is coming!  The long shadows tell us the seasons are beginning their change.  I love living where the seasons change.

Seeing the baled hay reminds me that soon we will be seeing more changes.  Can you see changes where you live?



  

August Days

August days in Virginia can be hot and humid.  This year is no different.  We have been blessed with plenty of rain and plenty of sunshine.  Along with the rain and sunshine the flowers as well as the weeds require a gardener to stay on top of things.  Working outdoors this morning only allowed me to weed for an hour.  Then it was back indoors where I could cool off in the air conditioning.  

In spite of my uncomfortable situation these elements make the flowers happy in my garden.

The Vinca in the patio planter is doing well.  After not being able to have impatiens here (because of downy mildew), I'm happy to have found another substitute. 

Mushrooms are quite abundant with all the rain we have received.

We have a lot of shade on our patio that makes a wonderful spot to enjoy on the less humid afternoons.  We often read, or chat or just enjoy the sights that surround us.

Female Ruby Throated Hummingbird

I hope you have a hummingbird feeder nearby to enjoy their antics.  They are getting ready to take a long journey to the south so it's important to continue feeding these hungry ones as some fly as far as South America for the winter.  Isn't nature amazing?

Male Ruby Throated Hummingbird

If you wish to make your own nectar for the hummingbirds it's quite easy.  I boil one cup of water with one quarter cup of sugar.  Do not substitute artificial sweetners or honey.  They need the sugar for nutritional needs and they can't digest honey.  It's not necessary to add red food coloring.  It may be harmful to them.  Believe me they will come.  Just be sure to replace the food as it can get moldy in the heat.

We mostly enjoy relaxing in the afternoons, but sometimes "I" notice jobs that need attending.  Our patio is concrete.  Since we are shady and have had such a wet summer it appeared to be quite dirty!  Grayden has a small pressure washer that he had used once.  He really was not pleased with it and so we hired a fellow to pressure wash our patio.  Unfortunately after he finished the job we had to replace the brick planter the following year!  Our patio has not been pressure washed since then.  Grayden, reluctantly agreed to try his pressure washer this time.  He and I were thrilled with the results.  I think he did a great job as you can see.  He was very careful with the planter.

I can't believe how dirty this concrete was!  Now in all fairness I need to tell you that I looked in my gardening journal and saw that it was last pressure washed in March of 1999!  He also pressure washed the dirty patio rug and the results were amazing.  Now maybe we'll not wait another 19 years to clean the patio!

The Heavenly Blue Morning Glory is covering the trellis.  Hopefully soon it will be blossoming.  I looked in my journal again and noticed that the blooms usually appear in late August.

The weather will be changing soon to less and less humidity and we will be able to enjoy our afternoons on our clean patio.