As Our Life Goes On

I heard the unmistakable song of a wren around noon today.  I was happy to see it fly right into the birdhouse outside of my front window. Hopefully the house will be acceptable to the small bird and it will be claimed as a home. I really love to hear the songs that he sings all day. The Japanese Red Maple lends a rosy hue to the pictures.

The incredible blues skies were spotted with pretty puffy white clouds all day. They were only broken by an occasional jet plane contrail.  The temperatures hovered in the mid seventies and the humidity was low. This is all due to change in the next few days but it was a day that I enjoyed.

I got really lucky this afternoon. There was one ripe blueberry and about six ripe black raspberries on the plants that are in our yard. I did not share these finds and I popped the warm sweet treats into my mouth as soon as I found them. Of course I did not worry about germs or little bugs. I have eaten berries directly off the plants for many years. Maybe it has extended my life or even improved my resistance.   The orange lilies, bee balm and  pretty white flowering plant are in bloom. A tiny frog tried to hide against the background of stones and earth.  I planted the old maple stump that is near the house with violets and ground ivy. I think the stump makes a natural looking garden display as it is in a small flower garden plot along with a birdbath and assorted perennial flowers.

It is sometimes nice to step into the woods at the end of our property. The temperature can seem so much cooler. If the temperature goes up over 85 or 90 degrees this may not be true. The trees can shut out any breeze that may be blowing. It can be stifling. I'm not much into writing a lot this evening so I guess I will give into that feeling.

Those bugs only eat a little of the flowers and leaves and indeed in the absence of honeybees they may help to pollinate the flowers. Some type of bee was able to pollinate these black raspberry plants and next month the berries will be ripe. Can't wait to put them on top of some yogurt of into a fruit salad. The flowers really don't have to be perfect to be pretty. You can buy the perfect flowers from a florist. Enjoy the natural beauty of real flowers by observing what is around you. Resist spraying poisons in your neighborhood. Honeybees are declining.

The deer just can't stay away from the little green apples. The immature apples are small hard and gnarled right now but the deer find them tasty. There were two deer down by the road at the time this picture was taken. They stop by many days to check for windfalls under the trees.

We are very thankful for these 3 beautiful granddaughters who were bridesmaids at the fairly recent wedding of our son and his wife.  We gained one granddaughter a grandson and a great-grandson from this happy union. Russ can be seen in the background. This is a scene is from the beautiful wedding site at the Stone Mountain Resort in Georgia. Taking a break today from writing a larger blog.

I think I have posted pictures of our son and his cousin at a parade in Kent, Ohio before but here they are again. As I read an article in the Beacon Journal this morning I thought of the parades in Kent and the patriotic waving of flags by all who had them available. We always put our hand over our heart as the flag passed by with the color guards. I have also talked about neighborhood associations before so it is no surprise to me that a family in Macedonia, Ohio is getting a lot of grief because they choose to fly their American flag on a flagpole in front of their home. Evidently the association has a rule against free standing flagpoles because they think they look bad. Our 86 year old neighbor Harry who is a WWII veteran has flown his flag on a very high flagpole ever since we have lived here and I like to see it. Click on the link and read the article to see what you think. There seems to be a lot of anger over something that I think should be a right. Fight about a

These pretty flowers are in the meadow areas. The flowers below are outside of my side window. This area outside my living room windows has been planted with some ground cover and flowers and allowed to grow wild each year. It makes me feel like I am in the woods when I look out of that side of the house. The gnarled green apples on the tree down by the road will mature in July. The deer poop below that tree is so thick that I needed to walk very carefully through the area. They eat the little immature apples that fall as well as the apples that fall after they are ripe. I have seen the deer stand on their hind legs to reach the tasty morsels. The seed heads in the tall grass impart a misty appearance to the areas leading down to the swampy area. We can see this from our living room. We need to plant even more trees and make our yard into a woods.

Our yard is just filled with good smelling clover right now. I have taken three walks around the yard on this sunny day fully expecting to see at least a few honeybees. I remember having to be careful when I was young while walking in areas where there might be bees that could sting me. This was one thing that I did not have to worry about today because there was not even one honeybee to be seen. I find this fact very disturbing. There are more than one suspected causes for this but certainly we should be very concerned about their fate. There have been no shortages of egg laying turtles in my yard however. A third turtle came to my flower garden area to dig. She left before laying any eggs. Maybe she will be back. I wonder how many of these turtles have laid eggs around my yard. 

This old outside toilet is being carefully preserved. The historical society bought brand new outside johns so these are for sale. This is the entrance to the museum and mine which is just below the flea market, concert and multipurpose grounds.  historical display A scarecrow cutout for your garden could be found at this fun flea market. This was in one of the early setups before the market started or filled up completely. Sunday was a very busy day with vendors spots all full. There is a museum and mine tour at the Tour Ed Mine located near Tarentum, Pennsylvania. It is an interesting place to visit and close to the Allegheny River off  Ridge Road near Bull Creek Road.  We visited the museum but were not quite into going down into the mine.  If you visit this special attraction on the right weekend you can also attend a large outside antique flea market. Check dates and price in the links below.  Call ahead if you need to. If you have a camper, van or car that you want to

Making a hasty retreat after egg laying. I went out to weed my small flower bed Friday evening and though I had good intentions I went back into the house because this small turtle was busy laying her eggs about 12 inches from my garden. There was a lot of fluid on the otherwise dry earth so I assume these turtles add their bodily fluids in order to dig into the dry rock hard clay soil that is on our property. She seemed to be just finishing her egg laying and covering of the eggs when I got back with my camera. My presence seemed to irritate her and I do think that look is an angry one. Click on pictures twice to enlarge. 

Russ decided to sweep out the big barn yesterday so late in the evening he popped into the house and asked me to take a ride around the big block. That is just an eight mile ride along the country back roads and then back home again. It was just cooling off a bit so it was a welcome relief from working around the yard and house all day. He likes to run the autos that don't get as much road time around that block occasionally to keep them conditioned.

Some days have to be spent concentrating on the daily details that must be taken care of. If every thing could be taken care of by stopping at one place that would be very easy. Most trips require multiple stops. Some of the stores are very cold so I keep a lightweight shirt in my car to wear into these stores. I do see people hugging themselves as they shop through these stores because they were not prepared for the temperature changes from their car to the hot outside air and then into a cold store.