August: Hot and Dry

I guess the title of this post sounds like the weather forecast, but that's pretty much the outlook for the next 10 days in these parts. You wouldn't know it, though, from the show put on by the surprise lilies in the back yard border. They appeared almost overnight after we got home from our trip to Tulsa (see Thursday's Child) and have been in glorious bloom.

Meanwhile, our resident pairs of gold finches (two or three pair, we think) seem to be nesting and they are constantly at the thistle feeder. One of these days I'll get a camera with a longer zoom than 3x, maybe, so I can capture more detail before they nervously fly away.


In a season when even an early morning trip to the farm market for sweet corn, peaches and cucumbers leaves us hot and bothered and glad to be home in the air-conditioning, one of the amaryllis plants given to us by a friend years ago decided to bloom. This cream-colored wonder is a cooling sight on the front porch these days.

Also busy feeding a family were the hummingbirds during most of July. The female (here) and male took turns and kept us busy refilling the feeder with sugar water for at least two weeks. Usually we get hummers only during migratory season, but we got the feeders up early enough this year to attract a local couple. This feeder is attached to our dining room window with a suction cup, and we enjoy watching the tiny birds come and go while we eat our own meal.

There's a new look to our back yard: can you tell what is different? Actually several things are different, but the salient change for us is removal of the leaning, rusting chain link fence by our driveway. What little security it offered was outweighed by the unsightliness that seemed a barrier to the yard. We retained the fencing on the other side and at the back and will paint it with rust-resistant dark paint this fall or winter. The other change is in the left background: our northern neighbors demolished a rickety wood garage and a crew is building a sturdy new masonry two-car garage in its stead. It will be a nice backdrop to our flower border in coming years. Since this picture was taken, the roof trusses have been added and shingles should appear this week if all goes well. We are under an excessive heat warning, though, for the next 10 days. This photo was taken just after the July rains, and things are a little drier now.

Also thanks to cousin Debbie for this tip: you can click on some of the photos and they will open up larger on your screen. It works for me with the surprise lilies and the photo above, if you want to see more detail.