Many of these photos were taken in late June and early July when the heat wave began. Temps in the high 90's F. July is usually a month of heat and near drought in Kentucky, but this year heavy rains have turned gardens into mud and encouraged weeds to grow out of bounds.
Cucumber vines have run wild in defiance of my insistence that we always plant too many.
Corn has come on, we've been eating new Yukon Gold potatoes. Tomatoes are ripening--and inevitably some rotting. Green peppers are thriving and there are beets raised from the 'plugs' that Matt got at an early spring auction.
I've picked green beans several times; these were planted in the big bins this year as I can no longer crawl along the ground to pick bush beans and J. had no time to put up a trellis. The beans aren't as tender as usual--stressed by early drought and then assaulted with pounding rain and bean beetles.
There won't be enough to can.
Hummingbirds are consuming a quart or more of syrup per day. I buy sugar for the hummers!
The outdoor cats sprawl on the porch--or under the steps or in the tall grass that has overtaken the front wall garden. I put ice cubes in their water bowl several times per day.
Inside, cats are sleeping more than usual--on the beds and chairs in rooms with curtains drawn against blinding sun and heat. We are thankful that the A/C functions!
Our extended family is grieving the death of our niece, Susan, from pancreatic cancer. There remain many issues for her husband and children to sort.
Such words as I could muster during the past month have been offered to her siblings and others who loved her. Some of those words became part of the obituary and the eulogy given by her sister's daughter.
Since it is too hot even to think of gardening or staying outside more than necessary, I have turned to a quilting project abandoned on the day of the fire.
I've also, with some trepidation, managed to install zoom on my laptop, transfer photos from my iphone to the laptop, download a scan application to my printer, and program two cordless phone bases and their respective handsets to work together. Techy I am not, so the fact these very elementary setups have worked is astonishing!
My least favorite month is drawing to a hot, humid and exhausting close.
August brings hot days, but also evenings that noticeably draw in, hazy cooler mornings.
Japanese beetles will have run their course; I can prune the roses and enjoy their second blooming.
I hope to post more regularly and on more encouraging topics.
Upcoming is a progress report on the refurbishment and repurposing of the small barn that is replacing the burned structure.
From the Amish plant auction.
Also from the auction, all courtesy of Matt.
Often the exotic hybrids of coneflowers disappear after a season or two.
It will be interesting to see how these fare.
A wild combination of double orange daylilies and monarda, 'Raspberry Wine.'
Somehow, colors we wouldn't wear together manage to enhance the summer landscape.
Sunflowers--before rain and wind.
Zinnias, prostrate after several nights of thunderstorms and lashing rain.
A clump of purple coneflowers beaten down.
My sunflowers are always the first to topple in a storm, shallow rooted and top-heavy.
Someday--if I live long enough--I dream of a garden fence where they can be tied and assisted in staying upright.
8 p.m. and 86 F. as I hit 'post.'
