The Yarden in July and August

I wanted to get pictures of the garden changing throughout the summer, but what with 2 weddings to prepare for and various other activities I wasn't as thorough as I had hoped.

However, I did manage to do pictures both in July and August and I can compare them here:

Tomatoes in July

Tomatoes in August

You can even see the scarring on the poor delicious things from our hail storm!

The birdbath bed in July

You can just see the birdbath from this angle.

My favorite flowers in this bed this year were the Foxgloves here by the yellow wasp trap.

LOVE them!!

View from the other side in August after an entire month of drought and then finally some rain.

if you are the discerning type you will notice the milk weeds on the left.  Yes I let them grow in my flower beds if they so choose.  And the Monarchs love me!

My hanging strawberry plant in July

Still looking good in August!

My big pot of gorgeousness in July.  I love the yellow Begonia in there with the pretty pink and purple Petunias.

In August the Petunias have taken over, aided by the sweet potato vine.

the poor Begonia has gone into hiding.



A little hanging basket of trailing vines

I love all the different greens, but I did throw a couple of volunteer Jumping Jacks in there to add a bit of color

Still jumping away!

more hail scars here too!  

July porch plants

August porch plants

yes, rearranged but you can figure them out!

Breakfast on the porch in July

I must do breakfast on the porch this month!

or perhaps some gratuitous bridal shower pictures of eating on the porch in August?

or I could make myself a salad with my tasty August cucumbers



and my yummy August tomatoes

Bridal Shower Garden Party

This past weekend, 3 of my 4 lovely daughters helped host a bridal shower for our second bride of the summer.

The very lovely Bride

in her very lovely hat and garden party dress

First we have some 1/2 pint jelly jars decorated and ready to be filled with iced tea, strawberry lemonade, or cucumber lime water

 mini croissants filled with chicken salad



cucumber sandwiches



Fresh fruit skewers



cherry limeade mini cakes



also strawberry lemonade mini cakes



 there were mini double chocolate eclairs too, but they hid during the photo taking

vintage wedding decorations



the big guy making a break for his sheds to get away from the women



Sister of the bride explaining the meanings of flowers,

 and the bride picking out special flowers for a special bouquet



She picked them all!

well duh!



another bride photo



some most special ladylike guests



gramma of the bride

and big sister of the bride.



one particularly charming little guest sang a song for the bride

sigh, you could die from such cuteness!



and a most lovely time was had by all



Rated V for Violence

 random picture above to capture your interest.

Actual blog starts here:

So, the house has been vacuumed, paying special attention to the ceiling corners.  Anyone who lives in the country in August will understand why.

Deeming myself safe I blithely waltzed into the bathroom the morning after said vacuuming.

ugh ugh UGH  that was a gol darn cobweb I just walked oops, waltzed through!

What the heck!  AND 3 long legged spiders speeding their way back up the wall to the ceiling!!!

Grabbing a broom, because I'm brave like that and I need something with a 6 foot handle to deal with these unwelcome critters, I went on the attack...  (this is the violent part)

WHACK!  WHAM! SMOOSH!! 

All the while I am yelling very loudly "NO NO NO YOU CAN NOT TAKE OVER MY HOUSE!  BACK TO THE FIRES OF THE DEEP WITH YOU!!" 

Once there was  nothing left but a miscellaneous leg or two which I quickly discharged to the toilet, I heard the big guy in the other room............

"You tell those spiders Ron"

think we like Harry Potter around here?