French marigolds

It took about 80 days from the time I planted them to get a bloom, but the French marigolds that I planted back in late April are finally blooming.  These are from seeds I got from Mom.  She has probably been saving the seeds herself each year for a long time.  Now that they are finally blooming, they will probably provide carefree cheerful blooms right up until frost.
(Caleb's pic)

Potato harvest

I dug the last of my potatoes this morning.  They could have been dug a week or two ago perhaps. 
Here is the Yukon Gold harvest.  (Caleb's pic.)

 

Here is the Kennebec harvest.

I had bought about 2 lbs. of Yukon Gold and about 3 lbs. of Kennebec seed potatoes.  The harvest was about 8 lbs. Yukon Gold and about 24 lbs. Kennebec.  That's not precise on the Yukon Gold.  There are about 6 lbs. in the bucket, but I'm estimating the new potatoes I cooked on Memorial Day and the potato hill I dug for one night's supper might add a couple of pounds.  Of course, if I had let the new potatoes grow to full size, the harvest would have been a little bigger.
That was a good return on the Kennebec.
It was a lot of work, though, when you consider how cheaply one can buy potatoes at the grocery store.  On the other hand, these were grown without chemical pesticides and haven't been sprayed with sprout inhibitors.
Also, the garden bed is practically ready for a fall crop of kale or cauliflower or something.

Like a boss

Someone took some good pictures of darling son when he and darling husband played at the local coffee shop a couple of weeks ago.  As the saying goes, "it's a poor frog that won't brag on his own pond," so just let me say darling son plays the mandolin like a boss.

 

Have you ever seen a green butterfly?

I have a little patch of mountain mint that is in bloom.  The patch I have was started by a sprig given to me by the late Allen DeHart.  I'm always fascinated by how many different kinds of insects find their way to these blooms.  I've noticed a green butterfly enjoying the nectar.  I could never get my autofocus camera to focus on the green butterfly, so I imposed upon darling son to take a picture for me. 
Here is the juniper hairstreak butterfly. 

Crinum lily

I have a crinum lily that was given to me.  It is in rather dry soil in my border, but in late spring or early summer it sends up scapes of blooms whenever we get a good rain.  This year it has been particularly prolific because of the ample rain we've had here.
One morning my husband and I were on the porch swing and I pointed out the lily to him.  At the distance from the porch, one cannot really see the detail of the bloom.  "That pale thing?" was my husband's question in asking which plant I was referring to.  I thought he should go by it sometime and get a closer look.  Here is a picture darling son took of it (taken in early June).

Fourth of July at the ball stadium

We had the opportunity to take in a ball game on the 4th of July.  I end up doing a lot of people watching and sometimes miss parts of the ball game. 
There are other things to see as well.  (Thanks to Caleb for taking the pictures.) 
There was Old Glory waving in the nice evening breeze.

 

There was a rainbow in the clouds.

Along about the middle of the game, a T-Rex came out with the field crew to help smooth the baseline.  (Actually, that gray cloud behind the tree in the flag picture might be a T-Rex, too.)



 

The home team had been down 5 to 1 since about the second inning or so, and I thought things were getting just a little boring.  Then in the bottom of the eighth inning, there were some walks that loaded our bases.  There were 2 outs, and a pinch hitter at the plate with a full count.  I asked Caleb what he thought the pitcher would do.  He said, "He's going to throw it in the dirt, and the guy's going to swing anyway."  That is exactly what happened, and the golden opportunity was lost.  There were no runs in the ninth inning.

Then there was a great fireworks show.

All in all, a nice outing. 



Band at the lake

Last evening we had a chance to listen to the Rocky Cross Band play at Lake Royale.  We had a sandwich at Michael's Getaway, listened to the band, then watched the fireworks.  It was a nice evening.