Wednesday, July 30, 2014

A Glorious Day



We have been blessed with wonderful weather recently. An inch and a half of rain  followed by temperatures in the seventies, dipping below sixty at night. It's the kind of weather people move to the mountains hoping to find.  Usually the last week of July has us wishing we'd moved to Maine or Canada but not this year.


Jenny Wren is raising her second brood this summer, behind the speaker on the porch. The hatchlings are all NPR listeners, whether they like it or not.


The hummers, too, have multiplied. I have to refill this big feeder daily.


A few late daylilies still brighten up the place.


While this giant whatever-it-is basks in the sun.

I spent most of the day outside -- tying up the tomatoes -- which are just beginning to ripen, spraying the broccoli, kale, and collards with Thuricide to kill the caterpillars that are turning the leaves to lace, doing a little weedeating -- only a little, drat it, because my back goes into spasms if I overdo. 

But what a day it was! I don't know what August will bring but these lovely cool days are like balm for the soul and nothing can take them away.


12 comments:

Barbara Rogers said...

I'm awestruck as I pull up a second blanket in the cool night air. What's with July 30 and 53 degrees, some part of my animal brain asks?

Barbara Rogers said...

I'm awestruck as I pull up a second blanket in the cool night air. What's with July 30 and 53 degrees, some part of my animal brain asks?

JJM said...

"While this giant whatever-it-is basks in the sun." Crane fly, perhaps?

Anonymous said...

We're getting a little respite here, after a long hot spell. Much needed rain on its way. Those hatchlings can count themselves lucky to be NPR listeners.

NCmountainwoman said...

Yes, these are glorious days. It was 48 here early this morning. We are enjoying them while they last.

Brian Miller said...

it has been unseasonably cool here this week as well...its been great to be outside....and enjoyable...lol on them listening to NPR...well they will be well educated, right? smiles.

Jime said...

I am so happy the wren family is beginning their education early. They will grow up to be smart peace loving citizens of the Wren Nation.

Mel said...

Lovely pictures, again. We miss the mountains. It's been a strange season here too, feeling more like September than July. We are appreciating it to the fullest.

I agree, that looks like a crane fly. I posted a picture of one I found here to Project Noah, and the wonderful bug nerds there always tell me what they are :)

Anonymous said...

"While this giant whatever-it-is basks in the sun."
When I was a kid in North Alabama, folks called them GallieNappers. But I think most folks will agree that they are Cain-Flies.
martyterry@ymail.com

Gwen said...

Up here on the coast of Virginia we call those giant "whats-its" mosquito-eaters. My Momma would never let us kill them. Being from Pennsylvania originally, the Virginia salt marsh mosquitoes just loved her. She figured she could use all the help she could get in her war on them!

Wayfarin' Stranger said...

Your "whatever-it-is" is definitely a crane fly. They look like Texas-sized mosquitos. Jim

Folkways Note Book said...

Such beautiful surroundings -- barbara