In The Heat Of The Night

Around midnight last night 14 Sacred Datura blooms were open. The sweet fragrance was intoxicating! I couldn't get a night photo, but believe me, they were spectacular!! They seem to glow in the dark.





Not sure when I should cut and dry the artichoke bloom. I was hoping it would be larger, but it is nice. Oh well, everything in my garden is just experimental.




Most of the bees were swarming around the artichoke, but some decided not to compete and stuck with the sunflowers.

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Grandson called to tell us we are so lucky to be in Arizona with our 110 degree weather with only 7 percent humidity! This is his first experience with 90 degrees and 100% humidity that he's experiencing in Kentucky! We are going up to the cool country for a few days--we don't feel so lucky in this heat!

I Can See Clearly Now...

I can see clearly now! I ordered my new glasses from Zinni Optical on the 9th and they came in yesterday. Only eleven days and faster than the local vision center. I am pleased with the service and my glasses are perfect. I'm so glad I found this way of buying glasses. Normally I would never have have taken a chance with mail order glasses, but since my daughter and her coworkers use this service and love it, I figured it was a safe way to save some money. (PS--I am not a paid shill for this business, just a very pleased customer.) I have a pretty simple prescription as my problem is mostly needing the reading lens, so I'm not sure if more complicated eye problems can use this service.

Dinner tonight! I found the two eggplants hiding from me under the zucchini leaves, so I checked and quickly picked all of the ripe vegetables I could find. I sliced and battered the eggplant, fried it in olive oil, steamed zucchini, and also some broccoli that was not from my garden. There are five eggplants maturing now, so in a few days I will make eggplant parmigiana.

Life is good!

Bless The Day

This is the latest sunflower to bloom from the mixed seed packet.. It is over 7 feet tall and the flower is five inches across!

These blooms are droopy from all the weight and they don't last long as cut flowers.

I'm afraid the heirloom runner bean plant is not going to make it in this hot weather! It's showing dryness and stress as the temperatures rise.

The bees sure like to gather pollen from this deformed flower! Later in the morning a swarm flew around, waiting their turn to get at this unusual bloom!

The Mexican Olive has continued to bloom and is now higher than the six foot block wall. I understand why the nurseryman said it was one of his favorite plants.

The Sacred Datura is forming spiked seed pods. It still blooms every night and has spread to over four feet across and is growing up into the Orange Jubilee. This is a highly toxic plant so I will remove the pods before they ripen. Turr Tull hasn't eaten any toxic Oleanders, and I told him not to try the beautiful Datura blooms, leaves or any part of it. The plant is dangerous if consumed! Luckily, Turr Tull is spoiled enough that he waits for his daily plate of goodies and grazes only on the Bermuda grass lawn.

Best news of all, Hubby is in remission!! Still have six more weeks of chemo--just to be sure--and also a bone marrow biopsy, but blood test show no cancer now. Even though everything sounds positive we still have to find out about a possible bone marrow transplant because the cancer will come back! Chemo and or a transplant is not a cure, it just buys time. The Doctor did give us a time-line, but we have decided not to focus on that. Life is uncertain even when someone is healthy, so we are not going to waste time thinking about this disease all of the time. I asked Hubby if he wanted travel or do something special, he thought for a moment and said, "I am happy with my life the way it is. I don't have a list of things I want to do. I'm satisfied with my boring life. Let's just go on with living and leave ourselves to the winds of fate". Good words to live by under the circumstances.

I'm waiting for a pair of glasses that I ordered off the Internet! My daughter and a lot of her co-workers have had positive results with their purchases and the price. I have been blessed with great eyesight and I didn't have to wear reading glasses until I was 54. After ten years of having my glasses hanging from a chain around my neck I decided to get a pair of transition + progressive lens glasses that would stay on my face! My first pair cost $560. I loved the freedom of not having my glasses hanging from my neck, but it did take awhile to adjust to them. Six months later on the day we found out about Hubby's cancer, my blood pressure shot up and I was unable to see clearly. I took off my glasses and never saw them again! They were my only pair and not insured so another pair was ordered. To lower the cost I took off the anti-glare and found a much cheaper frame. I saved $200! My recent bike accident destroyed that pair. On the Internet purchase, even with all the upgrades that I got on my very first pair, I paid only $194!! If I lose these, I will just go back to the chain!

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Fate laughs at probabilities.

~E.G. Bulwer-Lytton

Enjoying Blue Skies From The Inside

Vincas are planted! Just in time for the 100+ degree days of summer. Today it is 110 degrees.

The air is crystal clear and the sky is beautiful but we are experiencing a high ozone-heat alert. Strong sunlight and hot weather cause ground-level ozone to form in harmful concentrations. We've been advised locally to stay inside! I'm enjoying the view from inside sitting on my swivel-rocker chair pushed close to the window.

Our summers here are only for dreaming of our fall gardens...and dreaming of getting to the cool country! Changing my garden plans a million times over in my mind keeps me in a smiley mood.

Getting lots of green peppers. One plant is plenty for us and I still have a few left to share.

I planted a cantaloupe in the bed before the sprinkler hoses were buried so that means we have another fall project added to my ever-growing list.The longer the list the more cheerful I am, as opposed to my hubby's "enough already!" attitude.

I haven't had a good juicy ripe watermelon for at least three years! I keep buying and tossing!! Have you noticed that most of our grocery-bought fruit --in fact most of our food is just not very good anymore. It's not because I am losing taste in my old age, it's just a fact! It's like everything else has become...just not good anymore!! Hopefully as I become a more experienced gardener I will produce the tasty foods of the past. Not sure what to do about everything else!

This bed will remain empty until fall. The heirloom runner bean is still alive and producing flowers. Just like the package said--the beans won't set until fall! A few random seedlings are sprouting but they won't last through this heat.

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"I am spending delightful afternoons in my garden, watching everything living around me. As I grow older, I feel everything departing, and I love everything with more passion."

- Emile Zola