Flowers were blooming, the sun was shining,
and the garden was alive.
All of nature's senses were engaged.
Energy is required for all activities.
The sun provides energy for the plants,
and the plants provide energy for animals and insects.
It was a good day for reproduction.
A good tripod and a macro lens helps tremendously to get more precise and detailed pictures. I need to get back into this habit…some day.
Someone the other day asked me how long I have been blogging. I told her I think it was 2015 in the late summer. The blog was started as my way to mentally work through a tough time in my life. The other day when I was cleaning a file cabinet I found a bag with printed out copies of some of my earlier posts. I have to search my posts to remember whether I saved it here or whether I deleted it. I have deleted many of my earlier posts. My earlier posts had no pictures. I found a paper copy of a post from December 22, 2016 which I think is pretty funny. It was a stretch of my imagination that went outside the boundaries of reality. I decided to let my picture generator here create a picture for this post. I think it goes well with the light-hearted theme. Rather than link the post I will post a picture of it. It is easier for me this way.
A flavorful drink you could serve tomorrow while watching the FIFA 2026 finals. *The above image and caption was AI generated. I think its pictures are getter better each time I use it.
WordPress gave me a reminder of what I posted on this day in 2018, and I also had a post on this day in 2016. I found this post to be the most interesting.
I am no longer dreaming of numbers.
The picture and caption are both AI generated.
I have been on hold several times today with the same company trying to get through. Each time I have given up because of necessary interruptions. The last time I was on hold I was walking around my kitchen, and when I looked outside I could not believe my eyes. There next to the Crocosmia Lucifer I spotted the first Gladiolus of 2026. I was out there earlier today and nothing was open, and then suddenly I see 4 blooms open. Amazing! I went outside and there are many gladiolus of this same color showing their colors now. I guess the rain we have been getting is fueling their growth.
I will try calling the company I am trying to reach early tomorrow morning.
Wish me luck.
As I have been cleaning and organizing our home and going through cabinets and closets, I have been finding all sorts of interesting things that I had forgotten about. When an item is found it brings back memories. I ran across this chalice still in its box in a china cabinet. The charity partnership between Stella Artois and Water.org that was going on in 2018 motivated me to buy this chalice. When Amazon.com had the Smile option where you could have a percentage of your purchases go to the charity of your choice, I explored the participating organizations and that is how I was introduced to water.org.
I do like the beer Stella Artois, though, I rarely drink these days. I definitely thought at the time that it was a worthy promotion for water.org and Stella Artois. You should check out the Stella Artois website. They are an official sponsor of the FIFA World Cup 2026.
I was planning on an indoor dinner celebration before the extreme heat arrived. I went outside early this morning to give water to areas in my garden. Already it was hot! I am so glad that I am not cooking outdoors today or tomorrow. All food will be prepared inside. I already have cooked a big pot of hearty seafood stew using a variety of vegetables with jumbo shrimp and catfish. I will be making a big fresh salad with lots of red including: radishes, red cabbage, red pepper, and tomatoes. Of course their will be green such as red leaf lettuce, cucumbers, and avocado on the side. My favorite salad dressing will be made using a Good Seasons Italian packet. I am getting ready to make for the first time Anthony Bourdain’s Rouille to spread on toasted organic sourdough bread.
The table is partially set. I put out the big pot with the seafood stew in it for this picture. More preparations will be done today.
I included a flower spotlight for today- Rudbeckia hirta -- Lion's Cub.
I hope anyone that might read this has a fantastic Independence Weekend!
JULY 4th Update: a couple food pictures.
I mentioned recently that I have been working on cleaning and reorganizing some areas of my home. Our linen closet has to be my next project! It is crammed full and not that organized. I saw these brand new tea towels that I purchased years ago, and decided to take them out and use them. They are kitchen towels, though I don’t think they go well in my kitchen, so I decided to use them in my bathroom. This morning when I looked at them, my attention was drawn to the sea urchin on the bottom left side of this picture. My nudge was the word ‘discover’. It got me to thinking about the sea urchins I inherited from my mother-in-law many years ago.
Next, with the word discover foremost in my brain, I went and found the ones I inherited. Look below to see them.
I decided to take a picture of them. I had always wondered why they had stoppers in them on one end. While taking their picture I discovered the name Ben Rickert. I looked up his name and the words sea urchin. I was surprised to learn that they have stoppers on one end because they are intended to be potpourri diffusers. They are made from real sea urchin shells found in the English channel and crafted in England.
While researching sea urchins the memory of me tasting one came into my mind, though they did not look like the sea urchins in these picture. The one I remember tasting was purple and spiky. In my early twenties I was vacationing with my sister and her boyfriend. He was part French and he owned a yacht. We were staying with his mother in Cannes, France, and we were out for the day exploring off the coast of France, which is known as the French Riviera. I can’t remember exactly where we were anchored, however, swimming was possible and someone on his boat dove under water and brought up some purple spiky sea urchins. They were split in half and an orange substance was inside and we tasted it raw. I thought it was horrible.
I wanted to try and find a picture of the type I tasted. There are between 950- 1,000 different species of sea urchins according to people who keep track of these things. I was able to find a website with information about the sea urchins off the coast of France and in the area where we explored. https://news.cnrs.fr/slideshows/sea-urchin-under-threat — (Warning: this link worked for me when I read it, however, it does not work now. It will take you to the website, it states page not found, however, if you type sea urchins into their search box, you will find the article. It clearly shows the purple spiky species I remember.)
Then, I decided to research edible sea urchins. They claim that only 18 species are edible. For more information about this look below. https://pangeashellfish.com/blog/about-sea-urchins-facts-and-guide — (Warning: this does not work either. If you scroll down to the bottom you will see a link for their blog. Then search their blog site for sea urchins, and you will find the information I read.) I learned that the edible part of the sea urchin is their gonads, also known as uni.
I learned from this website– https://nhm.ac.uk/discover/sea-urchin-strange-and spiny-wonders-of-the-ocean.html that — “In fact, ‘urchin’ comes from an old word for hedgehog owing to their similar looking spiky armour”. Link does not work now.
Well, I did end up discovering and learning a few new things today!
Mission accomplished.
None of the links posted here work. Perhaps, I missed something in typing them or linking them. The information is still out on the web if you are interested in finding them. My apologies.
I will post a few outdoor flowers. The echinacea flower keeps coming back in the same spot year after year. It is one of my oldest perennials. The Crocosmia Lucifer is my second oldest flower in today’s spotlight. It has an abundance of flowers this summer, and last is a new gaura flower named Siskiyou Pink. It has long wand like flowers.
Today is Juneteenth and my official start to summer break.
My garden is showing off many colors this year. The featured picture shows a few.
I have many white Asiatic lilies and an abundance of Going Bananas daylilies blooming. The dark Asiatic lily is only one plant with several blooms.
I have several other flowers blooming now. Some are new additions and others have been with me for many years.
I am patiently watching some Sweet Purple asparagus beginning their first season of growth. I was so busy that I planted the crowns at the tail end of what is acceptable. I will not be able to harvest any until their 3rd season. (They are a perennial vegetable.) It is a learning experience for me. Across from them in another raised bed I am growing 3 types of beans: cranberry, lima, and goldilocks yellow. They are doing well.
I will end with showing you a cranesbill hardy geranium I planted in a big planter.
movingforwardslowly 