a stroke of good fortune

I have to admit it - I'm a slacker. I have totally ignored the yard.  Between the rain, mosquitoes, and lack of flowers for bouquets, I've let the weeding go (not that many weeds grow in complete shade) and just enjoy the view of the water from inside the house.  I feel guilty, but not guilty enough to rouse myself into action.  I know that come November and December, the mosquitoes will be gone and the flowers will be starting a 6-month bloom fest.  So, I enjoy my summer indoors and leave the outdoors for a later season.  Todd, however, does go outside several times a day with our dog, Borga.  If he sees something interesting, he'll call me out.  I always get a few itchy mosquito bites, but it's usually worth it. 

This weekend, Todd called me outside to see an amazing spiderweb that stretched several feet across our driveway.  It was lovely, and I had a hunch that once the sun came out, we'd see an even better show.  I was right!  Mid-morning, I caught the spider taking down and busily consuming his web.

Spiders expend a lot of energy making webs, and this is one way to recoup it  See him rolling up the web against his mouth parts?  So cool!

While I was outside, I noticed a little more activity in the yard.  Several azalea bushes are blooming in the front yard. 

More blooming in the side yard, too!

It was so, so nice to see a bee in the flowers.  I can't remember the last time I saw one!

The evergreen grass planted in clumps all around, liatrope, is sending up purple stalks.

Two bushes that look a bit like Rose of Sharon are blooming.  One white...

...and one purple.

This mystery bush has had small white trumpet-shaped flowers on it for a month now.  It seemed so delicate that I didn't expect them to last so long!

The oregano has flowered...

...and a new plant is coming up in regular intervals at the side of the house.  I wonder what it is?

Todd had another great find this weekend when he discovered a cicada coming out of its shell by the garage.

What a beauty!

Todd and I celebrated our five year anniversary this past week.  Because of his crazy work deadlines and plain poor planning on my part, we just stayed in, split a chocolate-chip cookie cake for two, and played some games.  He gave me a Dutch ship model kit with real linen sails and wooden parts that need to be cut out and assembled.  I'm pretty excited about it!

One of the things I decided to do for him was make him a batch of paper fortune cookies that were ostensibly from the week before we first met.  They're easy to make!

If you have a big circular punch you can use that for your fortune cookies, and plain brown paper to match their typical shade.  I have an adjustable Fiskars circular cutter that did the trick.

I wrote out my fortunes...some silly, some serious.

I put a piece of double-sided tape at one end of the circle, folded my fortune in half and slid it into the cookie, and then pinched it shut.

I used my finger to make a crease in the middle.

They don't look as much like fortune cookies as the homemade cookie ones I made a couple of years ago...

...but they worked. 

Todd got a big kick out of it.

Hope you're able to make something crafty soon.  Have a great week!