We're flying....

It's a Peter Pan picnic! Thanks for a fun day, Annie and Tanner!

Catching up

July is nearly half gone and I haven't written a word on this blog yet. Until now. I haven't been in a reporting mood, but it would be a good idea to catch up a bit so when my memory fades with age I can go back to July, 2014, and have a clue about what was going on back then.

Larry/Dad/Gpappy played with fireworks on the 4th of July, much to his delight. While swarms of gnats chewed furiously, Charlie and Larry/Dad entertained us with pyrotechnics from the super Gpappy's Day gift E and O gave Gpappy a few weeks earlier.

 Crew

Equipment and combustibles

  

A couple of patriotic 5-year-olds

Westy and Miles spent the 4th at a water park in the Wisconsin Dells. 

Apparently crossing the border into WI caused a crazy-eyes attack.

 The condition is contagious--it spread to Boston, where Vivi and Hannah re-enacted their mommy and daddy's wedding on Boston Common.

I have to include this picture of Hannah at camp -- 

a perfect way to spend a summer day.

The rain and warmth of late have been great for lawn and garden. The hosta bed looks the same every summer, so you wouldn't know if I took this picture today or two years ago.

This is the third summer for two flower beds that LaVonne so graciously planned for me. She knows what bunnies will and won't eat, and what will grow with lack of care if I get lazy. Everything has grown happily except for the coneflowers. Everyone I know has wild success with them, except for yours truly. The rabbits chewed them down the first summer, and when they finally started to grow again, many of the coneflower plants got the dreaded aster yellows virus that deforms the flowers. I took out half of the plants because of the virus. The second year, only two of the remaining plants survived the harsh winter, so I planted more and more and more. This year, it looked bad for the coneflowers once again, but ultimately 7 of them rallied and are now looking pretty good. I've threatened them with decapitation and permanent banishment if they start acting up again. 

For the record, here are some of the plants and flowers that are looking good.

Coleus, which even I can't screw up too badly.

Black-Eyed Susan daylily

 Tiki Torch coneflowers

Not sure why my coneflowers don't "cone"-- they stay flat like daisies.

 At least the color is pretty!

Some other kind of coneflower 

 

Evening Primrose, although it does its thing in the morning

Saturn sharing space with Pomp and Circumstance hosta 

Karl Foerster grass with moderately happy Sunrise Coreopsis plants

Time to go outside again while it's breezy and the mosquitoes are off guard. The hedge needs to be trimmed and I'm the trimmings collector.