We spent the weekend in Galena, Il
The ride there revealed that they have suffered much
in the farm country
The corn was burnt out in some areas and in other areas
not very tall...but there must be corn..because we saw many signs for
corn ahead!
I don't think it will be good corn...anyway I'm not eating any now
due to my low carb eating lately
And when we arrived at our home, everything was dry as bone
as they say....only the weeds, like chicory and queens lace thrived
and we saw few cows in those glorious valleys
But the blue skies of Northern Illinois didn't fail us
Clouds like cotton balls
and the people....oh they don't much better than here
warm, friendly, funny
I guess gardens and farms are a wash this year just about everywhere
I didn't take  a walk in the woods...they said watch out for ticks..bad this year
fair enough...I'm not risking anymore anything
I am a country mouse at heart
and I think I finally have decided that my husband is too
He dragged me outside to see the night sky
Too much moon I told him
There's always a grump in the crowd
and that night it was me...
but while he slept I stared out the window
and enjoyed the stars that he saw
and I heard a critter in the woods
ooo.....I was hoping to hear an owl
no just a raccoon
Then home again to my suburb house
and garden
I think we can call it a night here too
the garden is done, finished, kaput
a few stragglers gasping
a surprise bloom here and there
Not the garden I dreamed about
on those frigid winter nights
But.still ,there was and is joy to found
good thing

 

My blogger friend, Audrey Carves
passed away yesterday
She was my biggest fan
she always took the time to comment on my
magpie tales or microfiction
giving me her "reader" opinion
which I cherished.....she was a no-nonsense woman
a wood carver, a Lutheran of the once Catholic kind
the best kind of best souls
I always wanted to collect my stories for her
let her peruse them
devour them and give me wise words concerning them
But I never did and now she is gone

So what does this have to do with gardening?
Inside me is an ocean of feelings
a perfect storm kind of day
so much grief lately and more to come
but this morning I walked in the garden
letting it speak to me
Always the light
The light passing through this wild flower
comforted me
She is in heaven
in a room prepared for her

Sorry I never showed you my Large Marge stories

The babies keep coming....joy
This one kept giving himself away with his squawking
I warned him about the hawk...but you know youth
they don't listen...but mama was close by with a worm in her mouth
poor worm

I think she should tell him to get a job
he's getting pretty big to be living at home

Oh the dreaded grapevine
you pull it out, it grows back
....the serpent did that to use all
or was it Eve or Adam
someone did it to us....weeds and challenges in the garden

When I prune a big branch , I try to place it in the garden for the birds to rest on
they use them a lot
I like the way they weather
And the vinca in shade and light.....joy

Do you love goldfinches like I do?
This one wasn't happy about the empty feeder
or my looking on
Oh they thrill like yellow feathered butterflies

The Elderberries are hanging ripe
soon they will be descended upon
...but that will mean my birds are getting ready to fly
But I am happy to see this summer over
It has been an inferno
and I have to seek joy in it..to even want to be out in it
early morning walks through it do it
I haven't seen a toad in quite a while,poor things
dry dry dirt

Nothing is stopping these guys though....McWaspnest

OH...here.s Mrs goldfinch...hello...I know..the feeder is empty here too
my bad

How in the world do these roses keep blooming?
..they are called to, I guess

and wabi sabi still reigns here

It is getting harder and harder to show you new things in my garden
It is a small patch of earth
but I can tell you about how it continues to give me joy
This Open Bar of Joy

I followed the bee

stuck my nose into flowers this morning

felt a few tears welling up

so joyful  for this bit of earth

that is my garden

wild like me

untamed like I'd like to be

beautiful in her gypsy way

singing like Janis Joplin  

an eclectic mix of welcome heres

bits and pieces of beauty

some planted

most just welcomed

It rained last night while I was sleeping.

I went to bed looking out my window at the clouds

wisping over the glorious crescent moon

feeling safe and loved

This morning I lingered over the raindrops
on the Solomon Seal
a welcomed adornment for the King

And the evening primrose has opened
a ditch flower of my heart

My Crown of Thorns is thriving in its pot in the garden
I tucked it in among the plants
I don't think it knows it isn't of the garden
don't tell

I love red flowers
a true wench

and I honor the flock for hanging in there
still blooming

The heart of the morning glory vine
made me smile dancing with Joe Pye Weed

ah...the mix of it all

Sometimes the garden offers up a long lost flower
like this St John's Wort
that has been absent for years...and here it is
fooling me....wanting to thrive again
boy, I get this...rest assured my friend ..you are safe

ooo the milkweed made it....

and for the life of me..I cant think of this one's name
but it is a wild plant of the woods
and I love its tallness and purple flowers

 

 

yep.

 

 

 

 

 

When the little ones were here back in the spring
they planted sunflower seeds....in the garden dirt that was just awakening
I thought they forgot about them
no
they called the other day to ask about their flowers!
Reagan's was the biggest one......of course
but Maverick, was thrilled beyond belief that his seed had really grown into a flower
he didn't care that it was smaller and bent over by a visiting animal
he kept saying to his mother....That's mine
Good thing they got me an Ipad so I could take it out to the garden
to show them their flowers....
ah....simple joy of a flower from seed
thanks kids for reminding me
I didn't show them my wasp nest
next time

Summer in northern Illinois has been sort of a bust
All my plans....dashed
The heat oppressive...a water ban in place
trees dropping leaves like autumn
weeds...oh God bless the weeds...they thrive in adversity
as do wasps...nothing has stopped my bald faced hornets from building
a mansion on my family room window
Looks like the deck will have to come down next year
and major clearing out of unwanted volunteer trees and plants
will have to wait another year also
But....the garden has been beautiful in an aging moviestarkind of way
you can still see the beauty of her youth

I still take a morning walk in the garden...still stand in prayer
still my heart beats faster when the birds sing me a welcome
Why just yesterday..as I was dragging the hose to water the river birch
a tiny itsy bitsy short feathered young chickadee was at the feeder
my eye level...a foot away from me
It never saw me....so I just stood there and watched the beautiful little fellow
munch away....then he must have sensed me..because he gave me a glance
then turned away and continued eating...much to the distress of its parent chicadeeing in the tree
So I walked on and the baby flew away..safe from me
It is moments like these that I give thanks for....
but the heat was awful...so humid...so short of air
I went inside and did some work..then I got out a book of poetry..James Wright
found myself some comfort in words

MILKWEED

While I stood here, in the open, lost in myself,
I must have looked a long time
Down the corn rows, beyond grass,
The small house,
White walls, animals lumbering toward the barn.
I look down now. It is all changed.
Whatever it was I lost, whatever I wept for
Was a wild, gentle thing, the small dark eyes
Loving me in secret.
It is here. At a touch of my hand,
The air fills with delicate creatures
From the other world

 

I can tell by the angles... clean cut on the flower's stem
that bunny has been here
and it appears by the left flowers ...that he didn't care for the taste
of these NEW flowers in my beds....pink cone flowers
oh! you nasty little rodent! I yelled into the back 40
where I know he is hiding....I heard him scamper as I approached
Don't I leave you enough things to eat....and even a water dish
and you reward me with eating my new baby petals
then I walked on and saw that so many things were wilting...
oh my...Have I been away that long
putting off watering that long...no
it has just been that hot...too hard to keep up with
My dill is dead in the pot
my morning glories and thumbelina vines are drooping dreadfully
the lilies are gasping out their last blooms
oh dear....the garden feels just as I do
cut down, wilting and out of blooms
...thirsty

But the zinnias are blooming alongside the black eyed susans
oh dear that is usually a late summer bloom
oh my....they push out their blooms as the sun commands
and the heat of the ground.....bloom now is the command
Lordie, is that the lesson
Don't put off blooming...listen to your surroundings
bloom where you are when you are ready
I'm not ready
but the flowers say differently
So much on my other- than- garden life plate
But really ..if I think about it...there always is
But my relationship with my Open Bar of Joy
has been hit or miss....what with schedules, sickness,rashes
funerals,friends in need.....grief
and mother nature's blast furnace

Now that I see this...I must listen
and look in the garden today and
water....a most meditative activity if done with a hose
yes..I shall water
listen to the birds ..not too much singing lately...only cries and calls of distress
and I know the hawk is nearby
Why just the other day..saying goodbye to my dear husband in the driveway
with a hand full of plastic bags in my hand
I chased the hawk all the way down the block...scaring him with my plastic bags
The robins finally settled down...but I know he will be back
he is hungry..he needs a victim
Oh dear...another garden metaphor.....he who waits for a victim
stalks for the weak, the unprotected....yes so much of this in my life lately
Who will chase away the hawk that stalks me and mine?
My husband laughed at me running down the street with my plastic bags
....I never thought about it...I just acted
hmmm......
I will turn off my phone and TV and radio today
put down The Witch Of Porteblla
and go into the garden
It protects me from the hawks

 

 

 

oh how I love these flowers

 

 I will be busy getting lost in my garden today
even if I only sit there
and be embraced by its joy

campanula americana

I put out a ground dish for the bunnies
and the robins hogged it up
so hot it has been ...like all across America
today....it is dreamy...in the 80's

The volunteer ditch lillies look so nice with
the balloon flowers that we dug out of a ditch on a farm road
about 10 years ago
the periwinkle blue is perfect against the orange
I hope to get into the garden late afternoon
to weed, water, and enjoy
summer is here dressed to the nines

I have broken the rules
I watered
my flowers
I hand watered
just enough to hydrate my petal pals
then I went out tonight
and watered again...it was 104 today
It was really beautiful out tongiht in the garden
the sun sinking into the horizon
a brilliant orange
the air heavy...moist
and the aroma of it wafted around every bumble
and butterfly wing..out for that last sip
crackers anyone?
cheese?
I closed my eyes and inhaled as deeply as I could
this is summer
in all its glory
hot moist quiet still and thick
But I wonder what is left to bloom?
goldenrod..aster (they are already blooming)
obedient plant,evening primrose
I'll be watching