WeekendCoffeeShare, 2017-08-20

I thought to bring my #WeekendCoffeeShare post over here, this week, where I usually include photographs from my wildflower garden. If you and I were getting together for coffee, this weekend, I might be a bit distracted. My city is in the top five “Worst Cities” for pollen counts, this weekend, and I very much wish that I were taking a nap, right now.

The week has been long and filled with many conflicting emotions as the process of grieving the loss of my parents continues. Writing out my feelings has been helpful. And looking at the many photos of the two of them and our family is contributing to relaxation and celebration of our time together. I realize again how involved in each other our parents were from the time they planned to marry, throughout the war, and on through the many decades that produced nine children and a plenitude of grandchildren and great-grandchildren, until our parents’ deaths, less than four months apart.

Our family was involved in gardening in order to eat, and also to enjoy flowers from tulips to lilacs (which we children dug up as shoots in pastures and transplanted to the borders of our two-lot yard. I still have tulip bulbs (which I must dig up and replant, this fall) from the order my mother got from the Netherlands, twenty years ago. (See “Tulips at Springtime“.)  We rented a garden space for many years from the veterinarian/farmer down the hill from our house. I remember helping to gather eggs and candle them before they went to market.

So many things come to mind, and I wonder. I wonder if my father would have come awake briefly from his nap, the evening of his death, and said to himself, “Yes, it’s been good, but 100 years is long enough”, and decided just to go back to sleep. I would live…I would want to live with such contentment and quiet accomplishment that I also would be pleased to let go when the time arrives. It will be interesting to find out what the next decade or two or three bring.

Thank you for dropping by! I expect that I will be back at Stray Coffee Breaks for next weekend’s coffee share. I will be taking a nap, I think, before anything else happens.

Best wishes for your week!

Elizabeth

Diana, our host, has put a Linkz button on her WeekendCoffeeShare post where you will find links to the blog posts of other participants. Please visit!

 

Sunday afternoon

Some recreational photos from the past week or so.

A bit under the weather, again today, and sleepy. The blue wild flax petals fall around Noon or before. Just one new one when I went out, half an hour ago. Going to reheat last night’s supper for lunch, I think, and then take a nap or read a book.

Summer’s Dryness

That part of summer has arrived when rain is irregular, the sun is strong, there are patches of brown grass in the yard, and the chewing insects are eating the leaves and petals in the wildflower garden. I do still have the section of silt-textured dirt along the south side of the house to turn over and mix with the spent coffee grounds and peat moss to add organic materials. Right now, there are none, and nothing grows there but in a few spots where I tried adding the coffee grounds some months ago. And then it was evident that I needed to do more with it.

So, I have reserved most of the 1/4 lb. package of annual blue wild flax seed, which I will try to get planted, assuming I prepare that stretch of dirt. In previous years the stuff reseeded and bloomed into November on its own in the old plot. I think it is not too late, getting it into the dirt at the beginning of August, here in North Dakota.

In the meanwhile, some photographs from the past two to four days of the California Poppies.

 

A tired week

The week has been too warm and too humid, with attending off-and-on rain showers. I’ve turned the desktop computer on (but not the printer) and will not unplug everything again until/unless there is a thunderstorm in the immediate area.

In the meanwhile, the puppies and I have gotten outside occasionally for short time periods to walk around and remember that we are mobile creatures, all of us. I am happy for the Tough camera that I bought (Olympus), which is droppable and waterproof. Yes, the wet is that wet.

Coming Inside, Now

The Scampers and I leave tracks from the back step into the living room until the sun’s been out long enough to dry the grass in the back yard.

Things are … scattered at this point, disorganized and relatively low key, but comfortable.

Here are some of the photographs from the last time that the Scampers and I went outside. Not that long ago.

 

Morning’s Garden Creatures

The insects were busy long before some of the flowers in the wildflower garden were open for business.

Hard at Work

Taking in the Morning Sun, by Lizl Bennefeld (2017-07-10)

Hoverfly & Poppy Flower

Honey Bee

Takeoff

In order to put off Sunday evening’s dishwashing, I have taken a lot of photographs, this morning.

The end of the week and gardening

The reports of the Nile Virus on the news broadcasts sounded daunting. Since I can’t use insect repellents or insecticides, I may be spending more time indoors than I had planned on, timing my gardening around pest-free conditions. I expect that may involve being out on a breezy, dry day in long skirts/long-sleeve shirt and work gloves. I still have to improve the soil along the front and sides of the house, where nothing grows, now, but for the tulips in the spring. I’ve the “aged” used coffee grounds and the peat moss. I have only to dig out half a foot of soil all the way around (in sections), mix the barren dirt with the additives, and smooth it out, again. Then I can water the soil and tamp down the seeds. I’ve only the annual flax seeds, and only two ounces of those, and so I may have to order more for summer and autumn blooming.

The new garden is in shade more than I’d planned on, by the backyard fence. It catches tree and house shadows before 9:00 a.m. and late in the afternoon until dark. So, I must pick wildflower mixtures next year that fit better with that.

California Poppy in the Morning Sunlight, Lizl Bennefeld (2017-07-07)

California Poppy, Lizl Bennefeld (2017-07-07)

Blue Flax Flower (False Colours), Lizl Bennefeld (2017-07-06)

Plains Coreopsis, Lizl Bennefeld (2017-07-07)

Wildflower in my Garden, Lizl Bennefeld (2017-07-07)

California Poppy, Lizl Bennefeld

California Poppy, 2017-07-06

Poppies with Hoverfly, by Lizl Bennefeld (2017-07-06)

Scamper 1 and Scamper 2

Catch Me If You Can!

The Scampers mostly do not come immediately  in answer their names, but when they hear the call “Scampers!” there’s a rush and the sound of galloping feet. They know, when they hear that call, that something important is about to happen. (Treats, a ride in the car, a meal, or to stay home and take care of the house, which involves a special treat beforehand and a reward when we return home.)

The Scampers turned one, last December, and they’re growing, energetic,  and happy. Mostly. The beginning of summer’s heat is dragging them down, already. 80°F isn’t hot, but the 45% humidity doesn’t help things.

The Overheated Scampers, Ever Hopeful

One of the Scampers’ favorite things is to chase the neighborhood bunnies. It’s fortunate that there are so many ways out of the back yard, since the Scampers are learning to hunt as a team. If they’re anything like our previous dogs, though, they wouldn’t know what to do with a rabbit if they caught one.

Mostly, the Scampers are really good friends. They brighten our lives.

This post was written in response to the Daily Post prompt of 2 July 2017: Scamper. Without the Scampers knowing about it.

Thursday and Damselflies

Pretty Weeds in the Back Yard

California Poppy

California Poppy

Damselfly

Damselfly

The Scampers in the Afternoon

I do not know where the day went! I spent a large portion of yesterday visiting with the diabetes educator (six-month appointment) about how I have been assessing and streamlining my approach to managing the Type-2 diabetes. Afterwards, Al and I took care of the banking and the rest of the grocery shopping. On Tuesday, we only got the meat, which I cooked up and stashed in the refrigerator.

Today, I enjoyed spending a lot of time in the back yard with The Scampers. Also, helping Al with the workshop building by holding things up and together while he took screws out and put them back in, in different spots, getting the door ready for the final installation. At least it locks, now. two locks, one a deadbolt. Talking alarm systems, now, but I expect that won’t become an issue until after we have the electric installed and figure out what we’re going to move in there and where.

There was wind, but I still managed to get a few wildflower pictures. And of the Scampers, who waited on the back step for me to quit taking photographs and go inside to fetch their supper.

Tuesday Morning Photos

Some of the photographs that I took when the Scampers and I went outside after breakfast.

California Poppy at Morning

White Campion

Morning Dew

I got outside to exercise, later in the morning. Almost ready, now, to assemble lunch, not having been hungry for a mid-morning snack. Took note of some vitals at The Art of Disorder, making a concentration shift to cholesterol levels. The exercise affects both the cholesterol and the blood sugar levels. Now that I am “between” allergens and have an energy level again, I’ll be working on establishing exercise and sleep habits that will, hopefully, maintain in some form during the ragweed season.

A new week, new flowers

California Poppy in situ

Wildflowers

Wildflower: California Poppy

Hoverfly on Poppy

California Poppy (2017-06-17)

Poppy, Still Asleep

Wildflower

California Poppy

We’ve enjoyed a lot of rain showers, recently, which helped with keeping the flowerbeds watered, and also the grass seed that Al has added to the tracks made by the trucks and related equipment during the renovations the summer before last and the preparations for the wood-working shop that’s currently underway.

The rabbits are spending a lot of time in my wildflower garden before we get up, mornings. The Scampers enjoy the frantic races, first thing. Gives them an appetite for breakfast. I’ve increased the amount of food I give them, because they were losing weight.

This morning we got up early, so that I could have lab work done prior to my appointment this coming Wednesday. Just got a notice that the rest of the test results are waiting for me online. Suppose I should check those out. The new A1C and other misc. stuff are at The Art of Disorder.

Best wishes for the coming week!