Only some summer flowers

The whole of Cape Cod seems to be covered with flowers -- roses, hydrangas predominate, but day lilies (and other lilies -- the buttery yellow ones especially) are everywhere. So are roses of Sharon and various varieties of daisies, plus sunflowers and much more.

The new header is my revived hanging plant on my patio which I think is called a draconia (I may be wrong).  For Mother's Day 2015 I was given two of these lush plants which I had not seen before but which were suddenly in everyone's hanging pots and baskets. They had dozens of flowers when bought (mid-May) and they continued flowering until frost was near.  Then my daughter took them to winter on her sun porch (where a 5-year old geranium is still putting forth blossoms having been rescued the same way.) The draconia returned, sans flower in June, grew healthily but without flowers until last week. Now the heartier of the two has several flowers and the second has one flower with buds promising more. This is not the kind of abundance they first exhibited but I'm happy with their hot pink boldness among the very healthy greenery and have been giving them drinks of water laced with Flower-Miracle Gro.  I have no green thumb but I have a certain respect for late bloomers who do the best they can.  I haven't seen many other draconia this year although they seemed to have been everywhere last year.

Just a glance

Now and then something catches the eye, often I say "I wish I had my camera."  I did have my camera a couple of days ago when I looked at the window shade  as I got up and saw this graceful shadow of a fast-growing branch of the forsythia just outside my bedroom widow.

I immediately thought that if I wanted I could use it as part of a quilt  design ... I don't know if I will, but I'll print it and add it to my somewhat unruly stack of ideas. I go through the stack now and then but rarely use those saved ideas.  For me the momentary impulse is more consuming that something I thought would be a good idea ... still I think would be a good idea but... but there are a lot of ideas and only so much time.  This I know: I'll never run out of ideas. 

I'm afraid I absolutely cannot understand people who don't see good ideas for designs, for quilts, for paintings, for short stories all around themselves.  In fact, I don't really understand people who keep scrap books of drawings and so on. I guess I don't even understand Pinterest ... But then I'm a different generation. I didn't grow up with constant visual input from TV and then from the Internet. Why should that make a difference?  I don't really know, maybe it doesn't. Maybe it's just that we are all different  and react to the world around us differently .  Viva la difference!

Little flowers

I couldn't resist taking these two pictures of tiny, tiny flowers (weeds?!) growing in the very dry lawn. The pictures are very nearly actual size. 

The top picture is a lovely star shaped "flower" with very minute little purple flowers nestled in the grass around. Anyone who is really a gardener or botanist can tell that the top (white) flower is actually the dried remnant of a dandelion.  I thought it was very pretty,






And here is a dandelion in flower, familiar to all of us, but very small (same size as it's mate (brother, cousin?) in the top picture. They were within inches of one another.

I have noticed these and other very small flowers in my badly cared for lawn (it's only mowed by a lawn care company) which needs grass planted at whatever the appropriate time is.  It needs to be watered but we are approaching drought conditions and many Cape communities have banned grass watering. Hyannis has not done so yet, I think they are remiss in that area.  Looking out my window or sitting on my little patio beside a lush lawn is a pretty thing to do .... but I'm glad it isn't being watered. 

A young celebrant this July 4th

Little Silas is almost for months old, but you can see he is already patriotic and happily celebrating the red, white and blue, even waving a flag.

His mama is my granddaugher Cori who likes taking photos of the children (he has three older siblings). She also makes baby shoes and sells them on Etsy, his elfin footwear is an example.

When I saw him this afternoon at a family cookout he was still wearing the shorts but not the drapery.  I think he was also more wide awake and happier early in the morning.

Here on Cape Cod we are enjoying perfect holiday weather, a cloudless sky, a nice breeze most of the day. A delicious family cookout and tonight, when (his mama hopes) Silas will be soundly asleep, a fireworks display.

We are by no means alone; it look as if every driveway in town has several extra cars parked in it; I  suspect the population of our little peninsula has double in the last couple of days.