July the Sixth, 2020

This is the summer of my childhood. A summer where the heat was thick and constant, and you sweat your way through the night, tossing the covers off, and your shoulders were burnt, and the air smelled of diesel, green apples, and manure. 

Others moan and complain about the heat and can't wait to sit in air conditioned comfort. I honestly don't mind it. I like when summer feels like summer. I like a distinction among the seasons. The pool has never been this warm before. The water temperature was 88 degrees today. It's funny how my husband, who is only two years older than I am thinks in fahrenheit and I think in celsius.  Canada started to change to the metric system in 1970. I was only four years old, but I do remember learning metric measurement in about grade two or three. However, the construction industry still uses the old system, and most recipes are still in imperial measurements as well. And to bring it back around, our pool read outs are set for imperial, as is our thermostat in the house. Can you guess who set them that way? It doesn't make sense to me.

Although it is very, very hot, we are lacking now in moisture, so I have been putting the sprinkler on my vegetable garden fairly regularly. I don't bother with anything else. The perennial boarders and the shrubs have to tough it out. Here's a look at what's blooming in early July in my neck of the woods:

My pretty hydrangeas, which are quite small in stature, and hostas. I actually don't like hosta blooms and often chop them off.

Hmmmm,, I want to say fleabane?? I'm not sure.

Delphiniums - be still my heart.  The good thing about lack of rain is that these beauties don't get beaten down by the rain. 

I believe this is Incrediball hydrangea. It is a very big plant and is just starting to whiten up.

I always have hanging pots of flowers on my porch, but this year I wanted to try something a bit more classic, and went with ferns. I quite like them. There are enough colours in the beds all around the porch, so some minimalism is fine.

This is part of perennial bed in front of that same porch. The spirea are just becoming pink and frothy. 

I have a number of clumps of Stella de Oro daylilies around the property. They are shorter than other daylilies and tend to bloom longer. My regular daylilies are not yet blooming, but have buds.

I used to have many hollyhocks in a whole range of colours. I've cut back on them because they can start to look quite mangey later in the summer and they have a habit of self-seeding in awkward places. This is a gorgeous dark pink, but unfortunately, most of my hollyhocks have become this insipid pale yellow:

I'm not all that fond of this non-colour. 

This is Gerald, our Easter Island guy who greets us at the entrance to the pool. His crazy hair needs a bit of a trim. This variegated willow was a bit of an error on my part. It dominates this shrub border and has increased in size so much that digging it out would be a monumental task.

This lovely pink yarrow doesn't mind the dry conditions. I think that picture is sideways but I can't be bothered to flip it around. Just turn your head.

I waited too long to buy annuals for pots and urns. It would seem that all the folk who were stuck at home decided they wanted to become gardeners, and green house suppliers also put forth a smaller amount of stock, so by the time I went to look for geraniums and petunias and such, there was next to nothing left.  I ended up going to a local green house and purchasing some really awesome coleus and whatever that purple bushy stuff is. I also have dark purple sweet potato vine too.

The vegetable garden. I've had to replant many things. The frames have chicken wire across the top face to keep birds and bunnies away from seedlings until they are big enough to survive. 

And now, I shall leave you with something that stopped me in my tracks today. I went grocery shopping and had planned on purchasing chicken to make a grilled vegetable and chicken supper later this week. I think we've established that the price of food has increased through this pandemic, but I just couldn't believe this. Was it a special chicken? Was it not the golden goose, but the golden chicken??

If you can't quite see it, that's four chicken breasts for $29.13!!!!  Basically thirty dollars for four chicken breasts. That is insane. Needless to say I left them in their nice display case at the store and reconsidered my menu plans for the week.

Have a great day everyone. Enjoy the summer.