Interesting Faces

I wish I'd had the nerve to take more face picture at the music festival in Alta, Wyoming I just attended. We had a fabulous time there and will long remember it.
I suppose it is the sociologist in me, but I enjoyed people watching as much a I did listening to the music.

The crowd was an eclectic group of all ages from the very old to the very young.

I got a kick out of the young man who had been to the face painting tent.

and this little girl who was grooving to the tunes with her family

Out of the several bands we heard the only one I was familiar with was Tim O'Brien:

I particularly like Joy Kills Sorrow and Donna the Buffalo.

It's late now and I'm tired, so uploading more photos from the concert will have to wait for another day. However, it will be the pictures that I DIDN'T take that I will remember most of all....the amazing sunset, and many of the interesting faces that I saw in the crowd.

LILIES

Some random shots of lilies from my garden...

God Bless Gardeners!!!

Today was turning out to be one doozie of a terrible, awful, no good day. I won't bother you with all the sorted details. I'll just hit the highlights. One thing after the other went wrong. From the sting of some unexpected criticism, some poor communication at work, to a fiasco with hair color (again!) and a stupid mistake on my part that was just too embarrassing for words, I was feeling pretty miserable. I realized that in the grand scheme of things none of this was any serious trauma. But the combination of it all, compounded by the fact that I had very little sleep the night before, left my emotions all clumped and cluttered.

As I drove toward my street feeling somewhat sorry for myself I noticed a yard sale sign (Boise has more yard sales in the summer than any place I've ever seen!) so I thought I'd stop by. I picked up a few things - a teapot, a table cloth, a dress I hope will fit my sister-in-law, a woven basket and a cool incense burner all for just five bucks. What a deal! But way better than my yard sale finds was the terrific conversation I had with the gardener who lived there. They had BEAUTIFUL hollyhocks growing out front, which of course I admired. The gentleman then gave me a tour of his back yard garden which was an amazing hodge podge of flowers and raspberry bushes. He had about eight different colors of hollyhocks and was generous enough to share a jar of seeds. How kind!

Now I have something to put where my noxious weed used to be. I'm hoping a variety of colors will come up.

I was most of the way home before I realized I had never even asked the man's name. But even though we were complete strangers, that brief time visiting among his flower beds and berry patches did so much to rejuvenate my spirit. Sharing a love of growing things was exactly the salve that my poor little battered spirit needed.
Thank you so much, Mr. Gardener. You were a much needed bright spot in my day.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

I haven't posted any pictures of my garden for a while. It's doing really well. Of course, when we went away to Michigan the spinach and cilantro both bolted. But the squash and the cucumbers are producing like gang busters, we've had lots of lettuce for salads and tomatoes are putting on lots of fat fruit just waiting to grow ripe. I love having lots of fresh produce, both to eat and to share with neighbors and friends. My mouth is just watering for that first BLT.

Here Comes The Sun

FINALLY - after a long, cold, rainy spring the SUN has come out for summer solstice. On the longest day of the year it got up to 87 degrees in Boise. It is supposed to hit the 90's tomorrow. I say BRING IT ON.

My flowers are POPPING in the heat...what were just petal balls and buds yesterday are now full blooms and the garden is growing like gangbusters.

My peonies went from THIS:



TO THIS:







The Foxglove is fully open now:



The baskets are looking great and the vegetables in the raised beds are growing so fast you can almost watch them get bigger:



I've picked radishes, spinach and cilantro. My mouth is watering for my first fresh tomatoes...but those are still months away.

Still... SUMMER is here. At any eclipse or solstice my friend Sylvana says its time to go do the naked jiggly dance in the moonlight. Um, no. Not for me. But I will very much enjoy watching my flowerbeds transform to their summer splendor.
I was sad to see all the spring colors go when the tulips and azaleas faded, but this reminds me all over again that every season has its own beauty.

I dread the high water bills and pulling weeds in the 90+ days is not always fun. But I'm really happy to watch the seasons unfold.