Summer Garden

Hello everyone, It is a beautiful sunny day here today 

 and I am enjoying a few fresh flowers in my garden walk this morning.  

Zinnias seem t be blooming like crazy in their bright summer colors.   Hummingbirds love the bright colors but I can't seem to catch one still long enough to snap a picture.  Zinnias are always a staple in my garden for it is the memory of my grandmother's garden full of zinnias against her white picket fence,  that I treasure.

Ever wonder what to do with all those slivers of soap leftover besides just 

throwing them away?  I slip thin slivers 
into an old worn sock , tie a knot and then 

tie it to my water spigot outside. It is a convenient

way of washing hands after gardening. 

It is always nice to have a place to sit and enjoy the sounds of the water fountain.  

"I like to think of nature as an unlimited radio station 

through which God speaks to us every hour,

 if we will only  tune in."  _George Washington Carver

Kind hearts are the gardens. 

Kind thoughts are the roots.

Kind words are the flowers.

Kind deeds are the fruit.

Take care of the gardens, 

and keep them from weeds.

Fill, fill them with flowers, 

kind words and kind deeds.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Hydrangeas bloom and are perfect for cut flowers ..

"more than anything, I must have flowers, always, always."

-Claude Monet

Just a few photos from my patio

and visiting  with a few friends.

Coming in the house I put a few roses by the kitchen sink. 

I hope you are enjoying these beautiful summer days too!  

blessings always, 

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Knee Deep in Summer

I am not sure where the saying "Knee deep in summer" came from

 but here is a favorite Knee-Deep moment for me...seeing Buddy teaching 

Grandson,  Avery how to fish. 

By July, summer is beginning to sizzle. It is too hot for an outdoor wedding  

but there is plenty of work to be done 

and yet celebrate the season's simple splendors.  

The rains are less frequent, and the days are hotter so that means 

watering drifts of hydrangeas and ferns by hand.  

Summer roses are in full bloom

The chickens like to scatter in the morning after they are let out of their coop. 

Early morning is a good time to water before the day gets to hot.

 Ferns are thriving and I am melting. 

After a few days of good dry weather it is hay cutting time, 

and time to gather hay in the summer 

for the winter. 

Tricky aspect to hay cutting is trying to time the weather. 

It’s best to cut hay after a few dry days, 

and preferably with warm temperatures.  

The hay is in neat rows to make it easy to bale.

Today was a great "hay day".  

Five John Deere tractors cutting, rolling, bailing, and stacking 

20 acres of hay in three hours .

  

    

      

Hay is loaded on the trailer and headed to the barn. 

Blue and Delilah will be well fed this winter !

A summer favorite is this century old magnolia tree that 

still thrives and blooms all summer. 

My kitchen smells like summer with  a daily magnolia bloom or two, in the kitchen.

Blue and Delilah enjoy summer green grass for breakfast, 

then it is back to the barn for a midmorning nap. 

Blue still has a bit of work to do with a late afternoon summer photoshoot. 

You can't buy happiness but you can buy a fishing pole...

and that's pretty much the same thing.

Happy summer, ya'll !