the cat days of summer

If the dog days of summer involve sweating profusely under a relentless sun, then I prefer the cat days of summer...inside, air conditioning, half-pulled shades blocking out the worst of the glare. 

But sometimes, cats have just got to stretch their legs outside, even in this heat!

Todd and I took a short hike the other morning before the worst of the heat came on.  It was cool and shady, and I was happy to have camera in hand. 

This goldenrod crab spider was so still and beautiful that he looked like a painting!  He seemed to happily co-exist with the citrus flatid plant hopper directly above him. 

I'm fascinated by these plant hoppers.  Although it's hard to see, they've got comically large, staring eyes like a horse or a goat.

You can see that he's firmly attached to this blackberry vine.  Plant hopper suck liquid from plants and can cause quite a bit of damage, especially when they line up on a single branch or vine like these.

I saw lots of jewelweed, a favorite from my childhood.

They produce long seed pods...

...that pop in a very satisfactory way when you squeeze the base.

Their leaves also have tiny, soft points that provide excellent landing spots for dew.

So many beautiful mushrooms!

At home, I've been heading outside more and more frequently to cut flowers for bouquets, despite the heat.  I found this old wooden tool-and-die part at a flea market years ago, and hunted down some small vases at a thrift store that would fit in the holes.  It's perfect for a series of small arrangements.

I love filling it with flowers for our summer table.

I've been a little slow in my bouquet-making this year.  I've been so discouraged about my garden - both the new one and the overgrown, messy ones from last  year - that I haven't wanted to spend any time in them.  But even the stunted back garden is putting out nice flowers...it's tough to tell with my cell phone picture in the bright sun, but although they're much shorter and sparser than intended, I am getting a lot of blooms.  And I've got tons of sunflowers and cosmos that are just now budding out and will be putting on a nice display soon.

...and, while I've covered my eyes at the front garden sprawl and tall, flopping flowers...I'm thinking of taking on a new attitude about it.  Flowers are not only beautiful, but functional.  I've attracted so many pollinators this year.

Moths, butterflies, all sorts of bees, and scores of hummingbirds are swarming the flowers all day long.  And there's still a kind of beauty in the floppy, uncontrolled mess of flowers.

So I'm going to try to appreciate them for what they are instead of fussing over what they are not.

Claudia approves.

I'm going to keep enjoying these cat days of summer...

...but make more of an effort to enjoy what's going on outside, too. 

Have a great week!

a hymn for trim

Progress!!  Several seemingly eternal drawn-out projects are finally coming along or completed.  Happily, one in the FINISHED category is the dining room.  We lived for months with it blocked off by plywood...but we finally have floors, walls, and even trim!

We had a pocket door installed between the dining room and the mud room (which is where we keep the litter boxes and the dog crate).  It's hard to see here, but one of the bottom panels is removed from the door, so the pets can go in and out as they please. 

An old exterior shot shows more detail.  The old dining room was tiny, with a low ceiling and only one window.  You had to go outside onto the covered porch to access the mother-in-law quarters that became Todd's office space.  We ripped off the old dining room and back porch(es) and added a much larger dining room that encompasses the old dining room plus the back porch.  The garage is now connected and we love it. 

So much light!!

I bought a low wood table at IKEA for some plants...and I'm going to get another one when we go again.  I love it.

I'm trying to add more house plants in general, despite my abysmal record with keeping them alive.  A Dracaena trifasciata (snake plant) is perfect for our dark kitchen.

Because the house is so dim with its long covered front porch, I didn't want to have any curtains.  We've got bamboo roll-up shades in the living room but rarely use them.  Definitely no curtains in the new dining room...but I did decide to add some long cotton plaid curtains in the bedroom for a little softness.  I'm really loving how it looks.

I also added several chairs to the front porch.  We've already got a pair of adirondack chairs, but I bought a couple of simple faux wicker patio chairs.

Claudia approves. She sleeps in them all day long!

We also added a couple of wooden patio chairs for the other end of the porch, and a new patio set for the back of the house.  It will be so nice to eat amongst the flowers!  :)  Even with a canopy, though, it's a bit warm right now for outdoor meals. 

And drumroll...the barn addition is nearly complete!  We added about 600 square feet.

Concrete floor and electricity are coming within a week!

I am going to love my view from my future potting station!

I've been thinking a lot about views lately.  I can see quite a bit from my office window...

Next year, this view will be amazing, with the tall cut-flower garden!  I can't wait! I'll be trimming up that apple tree to give an even better view.  Right now, I'm just enjoying all of the late summer flowers...

...and plotting, always plotting, for next year.

Have a great week!

a barn yarn

A month or so ago, my need for a potting space and Todd's need for more storage merged into a concrete plan - we needed to build an addition onto our barn.

The supply truck rolled in last week...

...and now we're really moving forward!

It's not going to be huge, but it will be large enough to give us some breathing room in the main room, AND large enough for shelving, tables, and storage, all devoted to next year's garden.  Hooray!  Hopefully it will be done within 2 weeks.

We are frequently checking on the progress with our special inspector!

Thankfully, after two weeks of miserable hot, dry weather, we've had a torrential rain and a slight cooling-off period.  It's still 6 weeks until September, so I'm happy for any reprieve from the part of summer that I most dislike.  I've been able to work outside a bit.  So many pollinators!  It makes me happy that despite my garden being a total flop this year (front is too overcrowded and can't be corrected until fall, and you know the story with the back garden), it still provides a benefit to bees.

All sorts of little flies rest on the flower heads...

...and I love the tiny worms I sometimes find!  Is it just me, or does this inchworm (family Geometer) have a tiny line of hearts on his back?

The recent rain was so heavy that it broke the stems on some of my tall flowers, but I was able to make bouquets.

Yesterday, I staked the other tall flowers that had been flattened, but not broken, by the rain, and was able to take some quick photos to determine what exactly I had, and how I was going to fix my mess.

Gulp.

Lupine and baptisia are too difficult to move, but I could dig out the culver's root...heavily prune the baptisia...remove the winding trail of german chamomile and cosmos (that are smothered by everything else anyway)...relocate the clematis (on the wooden trellis) and the betony (totally smothered)...dig out every last cleome seedling...for starters.  I could preemptively stake the yarrow and coneflowers.  The coneflowers, especially, are four feet tall and sprawling everywhere, all over. Also, I've got a ton of pink obedient plant interspersed here that's been growing nicely all year, but not a single bud yet.  It must be a late bloomer.  Odd, because my white obedient plant in Indianapolis bloomed early and lasted all summer.   I'll wait and see if it's worth its space here in the front garden.

Here it is from the other side.  Double gulp.

At least I've got good company in Claudia.  My other cats are otherwise occupied.

Have a great week!