As we stepped out for a little golf cart ride on Sunday evening, this beautiful sight captured our attention.  My friend took this picture and I just had to share it with you.

 

 

HAPPY SUMMER!!!

 

Here is my Arugula planting #3 for this year.  I haven't been leaving it long enough to mature and make its own seeds.  I just take it out when it starts getting ugly.  Then clear the bed and sow new seeds.  

 

I buy arugula seeds by the pound!!!  No really.  I bought a pound of arugula seeds for sprouting from Amazon back in 2023, and I just ran out this summer.  Got another pound.  

 

Have I told you that we love arugula?  Yep, it's true.

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

I thought you might like to see what's happening with the green beans.  They are loving all the recent rain.

 

In the front of this picture you can see the full grown rattlesnake beans.  Toward the back, to the right, you can also see a fading flower and to the left of it, a tiny bean.  It will be ready to pick in a couple days.  

 

It is so exciting to go out every day and see something new growing.  

 

 

HAPPY SUMMER!!!

 

 

 

I love it when the light is right to see spider webs.  These popped into view when we were staring at the boogie-woogies.  Fortunately, they were not ACROSS the trail.  It's creepy to walk into a spider web, but when we see them from the side:  it's OK.  

 

Yep, that's their real name:  Boogie-Woogie Aphids, well, one of them.  They are also known as Beech Blight Aphids, but boogie-woogie is so much more fun to say and easier to remember.

 

We see them nearly every summer in the park.  They hang out on American Beech tree limbs, and are in constant motion.  That is their number one defense mechanism:  constant movement.  Unfortunately, I don't know how to add a video to this blog, but you can go to Wikipedia and see a short video there.  You can also read more about them, if you like.

 

Meanwhile, if you live near Beech trees, look up.  You may see these little white aphids on the branches.

 

 

HAPPY SUMMER!!!

 

Our friends came for dinner on Sunday, and brought me these gorgeous lilies.  They are absolutely beautiful, and very fragrant.  I wish you weren't so far away, I would share.  So I am just going to share the picture with you.  ;)

 

 

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BIG SISTER!!!

 

When we got to the park the other day, this is what we saw!!  I have always heard them referred to as "fairy rings."  

 

A fairy ring is a naturally occurring arc of mushrooms.  My understanding is that they spring up from old tree stumps.  The mushrooms are the fruiting bodies of the fungi that are working to decompose the old tree, and they just keep getting wider and wider as the fungi grow.  However, when I looked up Fairy Ring in Wikipedia:  it mentioned the fungi and its growth over time, but said nothing about tree trunks or stumps.  It did go on and on about legends and myths associated with fairy rings.  

 

I like my description better, because it makes perfect sense.  You can borrow it if you like.  

 

OK, when I put the Seek app on one of the mushrooms, it came up with a description that included the words:  vomit and gastric distress.  OK, that's all I needed to see.  Step away from the mushrooms, don't even touch them.  Good to know.

 

I hope you get to see a fairy ring sometime, and have to explain it to your grandchildren or somebody.  You will remember my story.  Or go look it up yourself and make heads or tails of THAT.

 

 

HAPPY SUMMER!!!

 

And this one was in my garden, under a cucumber leaf!  As I was checking out the cucumbers, I bent down and saw this Luna moth underneath one of the cucumber leaves.  

 

How lucky am I to have seen two in the same week?

 

 

HAPPY SUMMER!!!

 

Uh-oh!!!  We saw the first signs of fall this week.  This little Sassafras tree is starting to show us its fall color.

 

Actually, we've seen a couple other trees hinting at the color change, but this one was so cute I had to take its picture.  

 

 

HAPPY SUMMER...STILL!!!

 

Look how lush the green beans are.  I guess we've had enough rain to keep them happy.  

 

We have lots of green growth, and we are getting beans, so we are happy too.  

 

 

HAPPY SUMMER!!!