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Category Archives: Summer
Somewhere in southern Kansas
For a normally boring family reunion, a couple of weeks ago
I like this particular part of Kansas more and more, every time I visit
Sunsetting
Sweet Kansas rocks
A lovely river, we tried to hike to it but were deterred by a mosquito-ridden “swamp”
The sun sets
The moon rises
The end
Townhouse yard – July 15, 2010
This summer has been weird. It alternates between being “cool” (75-85 F) and very rainy and very hot and dry. Because it is sometimes cool and wet the plants aren’t ready for heat and lack of precipitation so they look very sad. Yesterday was wicked hot and humid, then last night the temperature dropped 30 degrees in a half hour and it stormed and rained. I took these pictures this morning, my camera lens kept fogging over from all the humidity so some of the pictures look very, um, let’s call this particular look “romantic”.
The back yard – South side
North side
Pots o stuff
In another rain storm about a month ago my poor hanging basket of euphorbia and angelonia lost its moss. I had to transfer the plants to a pot and the basket is empty but the plants seem happy.
This monstrosity is a wild grape vine and a “dwarf” peach. The wild grape just showed up. I want to keep it but I don’t think there is room. It is just too big. 
That allegedly dwarf peach is only supposed to grow to ten feet. After one year. ONE YEAR. It is nine feet. Grrr. At least it is happy.
Rudbeckia ‘Cherry Brandy’
The soil in my yard is not good, very heavy clay. Some plants do well, others don’t. Like broccoli, the broccoli does not look right, I’m just gonna let it flower, it will never be harvestable. Oh well, broccoli flowers are pretty. The parsley does well.
Things hiding – An eggplant! I haven’t grown one of these in a while.
Things hiding – Morning glories, I have a feeling I’m going regret planting these.
The Front Yard
Here is what my neighbors’ front yards look like:
And here is mine:
Needs some work. The soil is awful and there is only late afternoon shade, only the strong will survive. This looks much better than it looked a month ago. It was all weeds, with the exception of the carpet phlox that have been there all along. I tidied things up and bought some tough, 1/2 price annuals. I should get some perennials, I do have a rose and a clematis to go in, but the basements where I live develop problems and then have to have their gardens dug up to fix them. I’m sure as soon as I start planting perennials, my basement will start leaking.
Colorado trip – July/August 2009, Part 2
One day, family who live in Fort Collins came up to the mountains for brunch. Little Girl loves to help in the kitchen so she mixed up the scrambled eggs.
We ate outside
With smores for dessert
Chipmunk enjoyed it too
She loves to make funny faces
She went on her first horseback ride
She told Uncle Reggie, “This is way more fun than hiking”
Meanwhile Reggie and I went hiking
On the way out of the mountains we stopped at a church . . .
Saw some bighorn sheep . . .
and smelled some flowers.
When we reached the Front Range she met some doggies
Ack! My daughter ran off with a pack of dogs
THE END
The ends of the rainbow
Sunday afternoon, the temperature dropped 25 degrees over two hours and it stormed. After the storm cleared the light was very cool and there was a huge rainbow.
From my dad's cattle pens . . .
. . . to the valley.
Colorado trip – July/August 2009, Part 1
Where we stayed, east side of Rocky Mountain National Park, a bit off the beaten path:
She picked her own hiking outfit
She wasn’t the most cooperative hiker but she had fun before she decided she was “bored”. Bored=My mom is around so I will throw a fit cause there is nothing more fun than driving her crazy. Anyway, here are some pictures before the tears:
She liked to walk to edges of rocks, holding Uncle Reggie’s hand, until she reached the edge and could see the roaring water, straight down, and then, ONLY THEN, she no longer wanted to hold his hand, cause, ya know, she’s a big girl. Terrifying.
Me, in my goofy blue hat in front of a waterfall.
Going to Colorado with my dad, a Colorado native, you will always hear him say two things:
1. “They don’t have clouds like this in Kansas.”
In his best, I’m-talkin’-to-you-young-whippersnappers voice:
2. ” I remember when this valley was all ranches”
We all know what new housing developments look like so here are some more Colorado clouds:
More pretty pictures:
With a purple penstemon
My new diet
I plan to trademark the name. I call it the I-Refuse-To-Go-To-The-Grocery-Store-Cause-I’m-Going-Out-Of-Town-Soon-And-Have-LOTS-Of-Veggies-In-The-Fridge Diet. Any suggestions for a shorter, snappier name?
The complaining commences
The heat index today was only ONLY 108. Isn’t that fabulous? All weekend I’d been wondering about the wisdom of trying to maintain gardens in three different places (and taking care of my daughter and doggies and working full time), I think I might be insane for trying. I’ve been coming home and taking naps during my lunch hour instead of actually eating just to get through the day. And now the heat index is 108! That just makes everything, well, hotter. And humider too, which probably isn’t a real word, oh well. Tomorrow night while little girl is at her gymnastics class I will WILL go to the community garden and WEED. This whole once a week thing just is not working. Tonight I will just have to find solace in this:
Mesa Verde and Elijah Blue
My aunt and uncle have this sweet iceplant, ‘Mesa Verde’, in their garden. In the evening and early morning hours the flowers are closed up…
But during the heat of midday, watch out! They are a gorgeous, unstoppable pink.
Also, I barely recognized these plants as blue fescue because they were flowering so heavily. I think this cultivar is ‘Elijah Blue’, but I’m not sure:
