Neglected Summer-- Spider Webs

When I was younger, I walked back and forth on our dirt road to the school bus stop almost every day. I didn't live in town, and I was constantly surrounded by the beauties of nature, but I can't remember ever noticing them.

Now, however, it's as if I've awakened to the wonders in this world. My children often point them out to me, but just as often I notice things first.

I don't always make the time to run inside for the camera, and I certainly don't know enough about photography to capture the wonders wonderfully, but sometimes I can't help myself.

Back in June it was my turn one morning to take our dog Calvin outside for his first walk of the day. I tried not to hurry him inside so I could capture the beauty of the spider webs which covered everything. There were hundreds all over the field, in the grasses and weeds, on our fences. I wonder why this morning?

I learned something about photography that day; spiderwebs are tough to bring into focus! If I ever think about it when I have a moment, I'll do an internet search about taking pictures of these delicate works of art.

Neglected Summer-- Growing Things

The title of this post might be a bit misleading because I feel like I've truly enjoyed my summer so far. However, I've neglected to post about it. I found a few snapshots of my summer that I wanted to share.

1. Snow peas.  We had an overabundance of them. My children may never want to see them again.

2.  Garden with new electric fence. Everything newly planted and few weeds. I definitely need to update this picture!

See the not-quite-completed yet bike shed in the background?  It's still not completed, but it does house a little bird's nest complete with eggs.

3. Clematis in full bloom. I love this every year and must always take a picture of it.

4. Butterfly weed. This one has such pretty blooms. It will be featured in a less glorious state in an upcoming post.

 5. Rose. This is a less glorious state of a rose if I ever saw one. I need to read up about taking care of them. I'll bet the library has a book for that.

 6.  More from the flower bed. Why, yes, that is my mum peeking out from between the lavender blossoms. It over-wintered quite well. Perhaps I'll be smart and take a picture of it now that it's flowering.

 7. Blueberries. Almost ripe. This little miniature blueberry bush is not the only berry-bearing plant for us this year. The blackberries outdid themselves. We were able to get a few pies out of them plus plenty for eating. There's still not enough for putting up without robbing us of the joy of eating them fresh. No complaints.

After writing this post, I realize I need to get outside with my camera for a few before-and-after pictures because these were taken in June-ish, and it is most certainly July-ish. What a difference a month makes!

Belated Birthday Cake and Pie

I thought summer was supposed to be slow and lazy. Not so around here. My mother was in the hospital for over two weeks, and she continues to need extra care. The garden needs weeding-- always. We've had a few small building projects (fence and shed). We've started visiting the pool for some swim time. So I've missed posting several pictures I would normally would post.

First up, a birthday cake. An easy birthday cake-- yay! My daughter (whose age is now in the double digits) wanted an artist's palette cake. Voila!

A few weeks later, my eldest turned 15. Fifteen?! What happened? Anyway, it seems 15-year-olds have more mature tastes. He's interested in making cheese and trying new cheeses-- even the ones I consider gross. You know, the ones with fungi. We allowed him to pick out some "fancy" cheeses for a meal with just our family sometime around his birthday, and he prepared our cheese tray. 

For his actual party, he picked vinegar pie for a dessert. However, I considered that our guests might be more likely to eat pumpkin pie, so I made some of that, too. However, they tried the vinegar pie and liked it. If you've never had vinegar pie, you should try it; it tastes much better than its name sounds.

My son didn't want wax on his vinegar pie, so the candles went on the pumpkin pie.

Now that our internet is working again, perhaps I can post a little more often. Have a lovely week!