happy memorial day weekend!

How are you celebrating it? We’re going with our usual strategy of embracing the beauty of the every day around here. Our next two weekends are going to be jam-packed, so we’re laying as low as we can today. Today started as our Saturdays generally do: “Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me” on NPR, pancakes, and bacon. This week, Local Hero Tom Bodett (he lives not far from here) won the contest. Hometown proud, that’s us.
Kevin’s been busy the last couple of days setting up garden beds. This year, we’ll have three 4’x12’ beds. He’s in charge, given that I don’t garden. (I know: you’d think I would, being all nature girly Princess Groundy Pants, but I’m not there yet.) I believe the plan is, watermelon, cantaloupe, white onions, bell peppers, and green beans. Plus – still in the realm of imagination, as I have not lifted a finger to make this happen – cherry tomatoes. (Those will be on the deck in containers.)

Voilà!

In today’s flower report, the wild strawberries are going to seed, bit by bit. If you stare at the center of the one on the right and squint, you can see little green bits that look like they’ll be the surface of a strawberry. Don’t strawberries have lots of little seeds like, on their surfaces? Yeah, that sounds right. So will the berry grow outward and end up encompassing each of these little stamens? The more I look at the world, the more I realize I don’t know nuthin’.

before…	and after

 

Iris flowers are getting bolder. Go, go, go!

Most of the big ferns are just about completely opened up – they’re as tall as my ribcage. Sometimes the tips of the ferns get tangled up in one another and it takes them a while to sort it out.

Round-leaved dogwood (Cornus rugosa) suddenly appeared out of nowhere, complete with ants and other buggies crawling all over the flowers. This is a shrub; I’m not sure how big it can get.

Apparently I don’t get tired taking pictures of bluets. They have a magical floaty look to them that I can’t resist…

The honeysuckle opened up today! Yee haw!

In the mystery woodland today, as I was being eaten alive by mosquitos, I saw a couple of starflower plants that had actually produced flowers. I’d seen a lot of these over the course of the spring, but no flowers until today. These guys were HUGE – easily twice the size of any of the plants I’d seen all along.

They’re dusty with someone else’s pollen.

I love how the flowers themselves look just like the plant. The flower stalk is the most delicate thing you’ve ever seen.

Not all the flowers around here are white…the second azalea out back has popped open in the last two days.

The first azalea’s still kicking butt, too.

Plus, nestled under the azalea, we have what I think are your basic chives…

Hi sweetie!