Summer Mornings and the Good Life.

I woke up to a lovely morning today. My Sweet Hubby made Earl Grey Tea (my favorite). I had my first couple of cups out on the side porch. We sat on the bench, wiggled bare toes, listened to the birds and just enjoyed the moment. It has been quite hot but this morning their is a cool breeze. I can smell the grass my Sweet Hubby mowed yesterday and the Cedars near the driveway. The squirrels are busy elsewhere, but there is a bunny nibbling away at something under the guardian tree. A very fat bumble bee is investigating the railing and our bees are just waking up to the day.

The barn looks great in any season, you can see it from here. The honey suckle vines growing on one side are quite fragrant but I can't smell them this morning. There is green everywhere I look.

My Sweet Hubby planted Impatiens for our porch, we have a pot of pink Impatiens too. They greet you as you come up the steps. Hopefully they will attract a lizard or toad. We have had both living in the planters in previous years.

After we enjoy our tea, I am off with our outgoing mail.

Oops! Sorry their, didn't mean to startle anyone. I think he startled me nearly as much as I startled him. Rabbits are such graceful creatures. They are quite small and very shy.

Down the dirt road, keep your eyes open, I have seen all sorts of wonders in this little stretch. Sometimes, early in the morning when I leave for work, deer will jump across in front of me. A chorus of birds goes from tree to tree ahead of me. I imagine they are singing good day, but it is probably just a warning to other birds that someone is coming.

The mailbox isn't far at all. Once my mail is placed safely within, I put the flag up so our Mail lady will know we have something waiting. The low lying plant behind the box is Kudzu.

Past the meadow on the way back to the house. It is a meadow for now, but it is full of baby pine trees. It will be a forest again, eventually. For now, it is full of little birds and wild flowers.

We are gardening in pots this year. This one has tomatoes and basil. One of my favorite combinations. Have you ever had a tomato and basil sandwich on buttered toast? If not, you are missing out, try it, you will see. Tastes like summer to me.

Once I am back in the house, (looking for another cup of that lovely tea) I find that my Sweet Hubby has been busy. Good things happen when he starts rattling around the kitchen. I think my early morning labors are about to be rewarded!

Yes, indeed, a German Apple Pancake. Served here on blue willow (with plenty of tea). Who would want to go anywhere else? Not me.

I am staying right here for the holiday.

Time to dig in. I have several of my favorite blogs to read and no where I have to go.

Happy Fourth of July!

Kat

>^,,^<

The rest of my early moring walk.

I will pick up at the pond from my last post, (cue the sound of geese).

I can see home in the distance so turning my back on the pond, I head for it. In a few weeks you will barely be able to see it from the main road (that is fine with us).
This picture is a close up of our big elm. It gets these lacy little buds before the leaves come in. How pretty is that? I think spring is saying, hang on, I'm coming.
There are what sounds like a couple hundred other birds flirting in the trees as I walk past. I could not even begin to guess how many kinds. They are apparently all camera shy this morning and will not let me get close enough to photograph. It reminds me of the mountain ladies from Morocco, I have several photos of their backs as they whirled away to keep me from taking their picture. These silly birds won't even let me take pictures of their backs.

Excuse me for just a minute, I need to put a lady bug outside.

O.K. where was I, oh yeah, by lunch time, the sky on one side was as blue as could be, on the other side, it looked like trouble coming. My Sweet Hubby and I decided to head out for our walk a little early. This picture was taken shortly after we left the house. I love the details in the clouds, see how they look like they are mirroring the shape of the frame?

More clouds, so many shades of blue. This looks like a meadow, it is a field of baby pine trees. This particular batch is a couple of years old and a few are nearly three feet high. I love watching the cycle of all of this, not just in seasons, but in years and hopefully, decades.

The clouds started to look a bit more threatening so at this point, I put away my camera and we headed back to the house.

Excuse me, I need to go put another lady bug outside.

Nope, that is not snow. My camera actually managed to catch the raindrops. They were coming down so hard! My Sweet Hubby and I timed it just right, we felt a drop or two as we got to the yard, but that was it. We have had so much rain lately, our yard is saturated.

OK, here is another one, I wonder what these guys got into that causes the white specks? Oh well, out he goes.

It is hard to justify complaining about the rain when it results in things like this. The tiny flowers in the center are on the biggest of my rosemary plants. This is the first time it has bloomed!

Camellias from the side porch, after the storm.

Remember the old rhyme:

March winds and Aprils Showers,

Bring forth Mays Flowers.

We are a little ahead of the game here. The best part is that even with all these signs of spring, it is still cool enough for a nice long snuggle in the morning.

What? Another Lady Bug?

Oh my, out he goes.

Cheers,

Kat

A little me

Remember, not long ago, I said Porches and I go way back?

Last night when I was scanning some of my Parents slides into the computer for possible restoration, I found this little gem.

This is a tiny version of me sitting on our old front porch in my Sunday best.

I love it!

Hope it makes you smile too.

Kat

Another Sunday morning in our woods

It's a lovely day here in the woods. My husband and I took our first Cuppa out on the porch. It rained earlier this morning and everything sparkles. Can't take photos as my camera is charging. Sometimes it is nice just to enjoy without trying to capture it on film. (OK, so it is digital and it doesn't use film, how would you say it? Capture it on memory card just doesn't sound quite the same.) Anyway, we listened to the frogs, the birds and our wild bees. It is so peaceful.
The first picture today is of the stream on the far end of our road. It is the destination when we walk in that direction. There are tiny fish in it almost year round. There is enough water in it right now to sound lovely but we could sure use more rain. The walk is just over a mile in each direction and the view changes just a little each day.
Nature is always busy out here, one of the reasons I love it. This next flower is growing down by our mailbox. There are several of them and they are on stems that are about 2 to 3 feet tall. As usual, I have no idea what they are. I just like them. They will probably be gone in a few days and something else will come up.
I think the red bird is a small cardinal. We see them often, the males have crests and are shaped just like cardinals, but they are about the size of a parakeet. They are very fast and a bit camera shy. I have been trying to get a photo of one for quite a while. I took this one the other day on our walk. I took 3 or 4, but this is the only one he show up in. Persistence!
I also attempted to take a picture of our bees going into the base of the column. No luck, my husband tried, better, but not quite what I wanted. The bees, like the
little birds, are just too fast. I will keep trying because they are such a part of summer here.
Our home grown tomatoes are starting to ripen. They have the best flavor. We have two different types, one bush of cherry tomatoes and one of Tommytoes. The Tommytoes are, I believe, an old fashioned variety. They are larger than the others and full of flavor. The only other food plant we are growing right now is my rosemary. We don't use a lot of rosemary but the plant is lovely and they get quite large here. Lander University has several on campus that are waist height and 3-4 feet around.
Our sweet kitty just jumped up on my lap and started to purr. Guess I will have to type with one hand for a minute. She is very affectionate and silly. She was laying in the bathroom sink waiting for me to get up this
morning so she could have a "sink drink". She will drink from her bowl, but she loves to drink water from the tap.
She jumped down, it is a little warm. Now she is laying on her back with her paws in the air. SILLY!