Lavender

Afternoon heat and wilting, drying flowers--
Perfect for this recipe?

Sunflowers

These little flowers are offering the only bit of sun around here.
For days and days, the rain and humidity in between the rain has been constant.

With a day off from work and more rain, I'm snuggling in with a cup of green tea and some knitting.

Empty : 2

Another black swallowtail emerged this morning.
Enjoy the long weekend!

Harlequin Glorybower

Harlequin Glorybower
or clerodendrum trichotomum

also seen here in July

Basil Again

Purple ruffle basil (again-- but flowering)
on the kitchen window-sill (again)
with the purple basil plant from which it came
in the background right-hand corner

Empty

pine branch and empty chrysalis
of a black swallowtail butterfly

more background here (though this caterpillar died)
and here and here

I love watching metamorphosis.

Petunias

always remind me of a great aunt
at a small, country farmhouse in Arkansas
where gardening, canning, and raising chickens
were a way of life and survival

pentunia milliflora

pokeberry

pokeweed or pokeberry plant: phytolacca americana

details I see:

One leaf has been partially nibbled on by an insect, and one of the flower stems offers a shadow on a dewy leaf. One stem has white flowers turning to green berries.

out-take of the shadow of my son's hand-- a shadow touching a shadow

pokeberry shadow in shadow vase

top: berry stem from yesterday with purple fruit;
bottom: same stem from this morning with missing fruit eaten by birds--
the berries are poisonous to humans, but loved by birds

Rose Hips

Rose hips for making tea. . .

Sweet Frangrance

I took this photo with our old Nikon Coolpix camera because the Canon Powershot went to visit the grandparents. The blooms were a couple of days old in the vase and were starting to wilt, but I like the reflection series in the night window. The blooms came from the shrub/tree in the photo below. I think it is a kind of honeysuckle tree, but I am not sure. It has a sweet fragrance made stronger by bringing blooms into the house. I would love to know what this is. It thrives on the corner of our yard underneath pines and next to a white dogwood.

Basil Trio

Ocimum Bacilicum:
Petso Pronto Basil,
Purple Ruffle Basil,
Sweet Basil,
with my maple (Acer Palmatum) in the background

In the front window ledge, I can smell the basil when I sew at the dining room table. Signing off for a few days of family time, sewing, knitting, walking, cooking, reading, and gardening . . . Happy Independence Day!

Milkweed and Maple : 3

The milkweed pod is gone because my son tore it apart to see the seeds, but he replaced it with a cherry tomato picked from the garden that is the backdrop to the vase.

P.S. Wishing you much success tomorrow as you launch your new career as a music teacher!

Milkweed and Maple : 2

This is the same arrangement from yesterday except that I added a milkweed seed pod, and the leaves and flowers are wilting just a little. I was watering the garden and saw that the pod had opened up. The little feathery seeds are beautiful-- both floating on the wind or lined up and packed in their pod.

Milkweed and Maple

Milkweed (Asclepias Curassavica) and
Japanese Maple (Acer Palmatum)
from my back and front yard