July is Past - a Month of Visits

Just like that, the month of July is over.  I cannot believe how quickly it slipped away.  We filled the month with visits and arrivals.  It began with Bekah and family arriving to spend the Fourth of July with us.  "Pop" decided fishing was in order for much of the time they were here.  This is his example of how to fish:



And this is reality of fishing with young children:

And *I* caught the biggest fish - just scooped it out of the water with my bare hands!

While they were here, a new baby cousin arrived in Arizona!  Welcome to Azlyn, our newest (fourth) granddaughter:

She got here on the first - even better than fireworks, just a couple days later:

Our newest wildlife visitors - baby raccoons!

And I swear, there was a hummingbird visiting when I took the photo:

The first visit from a rainbow around here in years:

And Cosmo now visits my lap regularly.  It feels as though someone else's cat has moved in, old Mr. Touch-Me-Not actually likes attention now.

"Ain't Nature Grand?" (As Lolo Would Say)

This teeny piece of succulent from our garden apparently broke free from the main plant, and rooted itself in a tiny crack in the rock.  Amazing.

Another of the succulents in the rock garden - love the bluish color and the ruffled edge.

This succulent looks like a perfect rosette.

This year, we mixed up the trailing plants a bit, and added some "everbearing" strawberries with pink flowers.  I loved the way this lone strawberry captured the setting sunlight.

A wider view of that planter.

This year we have a pot of all orangey-toned flowers and plants.

My favorite color combo in the colored foliage division - deep purple and lime green.

I Knew it Wouldn't Last!

Remember when I posted the "Calling it Done" photos of the treehouse?  I knew the tidiness couldn't last back in February - or March - or whenever that was.  Here's what things looked like this morning: (All photos should be clickable for larger viewing.)

 Really?  I can't even be bothered to pull the shade up evenly?  And yes, I have empty hooks on the sides of the shelves, where I planned to string wire and make a creative little valance over the window. 
Here's another view of the room - without the interference of the light from the window:

My latest project is this Bookshelf Pixie from a pattern by Faewyck Studios.  I was given a bunch of patterns and decided to play with a few.  She just needs some finishing touches, which include finding a way to make the hat a little less perky, a little more slouchy, and stabilizing her hands to her sides:

Good morning

What a beautiful day!

Flowers, and a Visitor

Here's a view of a few of the things around the house today. A centerpiece/napkin holder, using small pots of succulents, peonies, and my grandmother's old baby bottles:

A nice view of the deck with the pond in the background:

Amaranthus:

Strawberries used for oramentals, rather than edible:

Mixed hanging pot:

Orange million bells:

Persian shield and sweet potato vine:

Don't know the name of this new-to-me petunia, but I love it:

 

The pond with the new dye color (for algae reduction):



Look closely, and you can see the visitor, just as he was taking off!

Rufus & Abigail

Rufus & Abigail returned to the pond this year. We thought there weren't going to be any goslings again this year (last year - none; prior years - three or four), but yesterday we spotted them strolling along with one little Junior.  Unfortunately, they seem to be in the mode of hiding Junior from the paparazzi.

The pond is looking terrific this year.  Here's a broader view of what you see above:

Spring Planting

It appears we have our spring deck and porch plantings done.  There are a couple of things coming in the mail that will be fit in, but the "mandatory" (ha!) work is done.  Here's how things looked today in early morning light.

A view from the loft door, looking west:

For several years, we've done a potted palm near the laundry room/pantry door.  This year, we got a new one; they seem to add so much to the space:

Love the petunias in this purchased mixed pot - look at the pretty purple centers with green edge:

In the back corner, a cape honeysuckle; on the table between the chairs are a mixed pot (purchased) and a pot I planted with coleus and sweet potato vine:

This mixed pot was just too glorious to pass by at the nursery last Sunday:

A couple more pots that I put together.  We've bought the bulb for a big elephant ear plant to go in that porch corner:

The mixed pot in oranges under the sun was purchased, I put together the others.  They will fill in sooner than you realize:

My little herb pot (the grill is to the right, out of the photo).  Molly has already "trimmed" the basil with her killer tail:

The lower deck; succulents on the little bistro table, some mixed pots to the right:

Purchased hanging pots above the deck garden:

Another view.  It seems we always do moss roses in the low pot on top of the hose reel.  This year, I really do plan to separate those hosta:

The succulents:

A view of the lower deck, looking toward the upper deck, complete with Cosmo and Molly in the photo:

At the east end of the house - a New Dawn rose, through a shabby painted bench, and a couple pots on either side:

The low garden outside the sliding door has one of my mother's sugar pots with a new yellow brugmansia, sweet potato vines in two colors, and some coleus:

Also on the east side of the house, out in the lawn - another of my mother's sugar pots, planted with a palm, a bunch of lavender, and a few petunias:

On the front of the house, another New Dawn rose, with a new-to-us trellis.  The rose put out so much new growth this spring, we had to get something to hold it up:

Another view of the lower deck, with the enhanced stone wall:

Pots and rockers on the front patio and porch: