Not much happening on the riding front unless you count hubby teaching more classes. We rode the bikes to coffee and back last Saturday and Max turned over 8,000 miles on the odometer when we rode to Mary's Peak two weeks ago. That ride was detailed in my June 17th post. Doesn't seem like many miles when you consider I've had it for two years.
Sunday it started to rain and by Thursday it stopped and Friday temperatures climbed into the 90's with no transition period. A little too warm for comfort.
I took the opportunity of some down time to take a few pictures of what is blooming in the yard and a bit of the garden art. Just for fun I used the 'pin hole' feature on the camera for most of them. These were taken last Saturday and this morning.
 |
| (Geranium in a tricycle) |
 |
| (Pink Guara and sunflower art - jasmine blooming on the lattice in the background) |
 |
| (Mushroom art hiding among the Guara) |
 |
| (Tiki torch among the buddleia and ornamental grasses) |
 |
| (Lilies under the pergola) |
 |
| (Lily - camera set to 'super macro') |
 |
| (Oak Leaf Hydrangea) |
 |
| (Old time bicycle under the Forest Pansy Redbud - no flowers in the basket yet) |
 |
| (Basil sleeping in his favorite spot - his grass - he is there right now) |
The lawn is still fairly green. Our warm spell/heat wave is supposed to last all week. I anticipate a brownish lawn by Friday. We typically do not water our lawn in the summer, but choose to let it go dormant instead. We use our water resources to keep the trees and shrubs alive. We are on city water and our monthly bill historically will double during the summer.
We have a long weekend coming up next week so maybe we'll get out on the bikes if we want to dodge holiday traffic. We normally stay off the roads during national holidays. Especially big drinking holidays like the 4th of July.
Safe travels to all out riding.
- Au Revoir
"A Morning-Glory at my window satisfies me more than the metaphysics of books." - Walt Whitman
.
You should be very proud of your gardens. They look very nicely planned with plants that compliment the other. Some real thought went into this- and some elegant plantings.
ReplyDeleteThank you Martha - high praise coming from you.
DeleteWhen we look around we just see how much there is still to do and forget how much we've done.
Sometimes live gets in the way of racking up mileage... and there is other life stuff... such as your beautiful garden. How beautiful, and Basil is obviously enjoying it, too.
ReplyDeleteBasil loves the yard. I had to go out to 'his grass' this morning and bring him in when I went to work. Poor kitty wanted to be out there all day but I didn't think he'd like it when it hit 95˚F this afternoon.
DeleteAnd life does get in the way of riding sometimes. Sometimes I feel bad for not riding more, but then I'm not ways in the mood for a ride when it is warm out.
I can relate to the heat...too hot to go for a ride here in s. Texas. Love that Basil has found his favorite spot under the ornamental grass.
ReplyDeleteYou have been getting the heat worse than we have. Sometimes it is better to just hunker down and hang out inside for a while.
DeleteNice! Your yard is lovely B :o) Lolly has her spot behind the A/C, although now that is runs so much she doesn't go over there (and a tomato has sprouted in her spot too!). Stay cool this week!
ReplyDeleteThank you Meg. I can see your kitty not liking the loud A/C but liking to hide in the house where it is cool.
Deletejeez. All the plants have names. Couldn't you call them something simple like Basil? My plants are anonymous and reward me by dropping leaves everywhere.
ReplyDeleteScary thing is that I know the Latin names for the plants more than I know the common names. Brad worked for a plant nursery when we moved into this place 7 years ago so we've slowly acquired plants we liked and I've always learned them by the Latin.
DeleteIf your plants drop leaves do you have to rake them? Perish the thought.
Tobairitz, it's a gift to have a green thumb. We are hopeless. Now that any form of chemical assistance is off-limits, the weeds are slowly but surely consuming our lawn. What a disaster.
ReplyDeleteWe need to move to a condo where the concrete is low maintenance, all of which is done to exacting standards by someone else.
Your garden is beautiful, and your cat knows it for sure. I have rarely seen any living thing quite so content.
I think hubby mostly has the green thumb, but I play along. I used to plant a lot of annual flowers and we've transitioned over to perennial, less maintenance.
DeleteBasil does look happy when he is napping. He was in that grass twice this week when I needed to go to work so I've had to go get him and bring him in. He just snuggled down on the sofa instead.
If plants can't take care of themselves around here, they're doomed. I only know the one name of all of your flowers and plantings.....Pretty!
ReplyDeleteThank you. Our plantings are finally getting big enough they can pretty much take care of themselves. we don't need to water as often as we did when they were smaller. I deadhead here and there and just let them run amok.
DeleteVery nice looking yard. Ours only looks sort of green, but at times, that's good enough. I like the pinhole effect on your camera. It really highlights the subject.
ReplyDeleteThank you Richard. I am sure the green can be preferable to all that white you experience for months on end. mind you that white makes for some pretty pictures.
DeleteI too have been enjoying the pin hole effect. I might have to try a few of the others on the "magic" setting.
Nice looking garden with lots of flowers. Between teaching and our garden i havent been riding much for pleasure either. We had 90s for a week. Mercifully, it is back to the 80s, but the 90s normally come in a couple weeks. Probably for my last class in august with my luck ;)
ReplyDeleteThank you Chris - it seems all the shrubs decided to bloom at once. I am good with that. The smell of the jasmine mixed with the honey smell of the buddleija (butterfly bush) and the Daphne too. A heady mixture.
DeleteGlad you weather has cooled off a bit. We are hoping to be back down into the 80's this weekend too Last weekend Brad taught on the range in 95˚ weather. He was lucky he was on morning range and afternoon classroom duties.
I love your "garden art"!
ReplyDeleteI miss seeing lots of flowers daily...
Nice post!
Thank you Miss Deb. We always like to include a little hardscaping or artsy stuff in with the plants and shrubs.
DeleteLovely pics, as usual. I love your tricycle and bicycle yard art! Your home looks lovely. I know I have been neglecting you, so thanks for not writing me off. :-)
ReplyDeleteNo worries Kathy. Lots of times I get days behind in blogs. Sometimes I can catch up sometimes I can't.
DeleteI don't know why but I love bicycles as or in art. Even the large photo in our living room is one of a bicycle with baguette in the basket taken on a street in Paris. Oh wait, there is one in the dining room too.
I LOVE your garden!
ReplyDeleteThe heat just about killed all of our hard work here in Oklahoma. We just returned 5 plants to the store that we could find receipts for. the rest are holding on by a thread despite having moved just about every flowering plant we had to the shady side of the garden.....:-(. I saw two bicycles similar to yours in a local store here and put off getting them. When I went back, they were gone. Oh well, maybe next time. Basil is one fortunate cat! ha
Thank you Patricia. It is a shame the heat has taken most of your plantings. I guess we are lucky with our climate here in Oregon.
DeleteThe big orange bicycle was from a plant nursery and quite pricey even at 50% off but the little red one is from Ross. The spray paint does wonders for cheap little pieces of garden art.
And yes, Basil is very spoiled, but I think he likes it that way.
Your garden is gorgeous!! I miss having a yard of my own, but for now, the world is my garden. But I do miss having my own soil to tend. . .
ReplyDeleteRide Fun,
Sash
www.SashMouth.com
Thanks Tina. I think having the world as your garden is pretty cool too. Well, except when it is pouring rain on you two.
DeleteBeautiful. And I especially enjoyed the photo of Basil sleeping in his favorite spot. Very nice post.
ReplyDeleteHey, thanks for stopping by. Yeah, Basil can be a cutie when he is sleeping so peacefully and not scrapping with raccoons in the middle of the night. They want his water bucket and he is territorial, poor thing.
Delete