Spring and Summer

 

Autumn is waiting in the wings.  The hydrangeas are changing color, and a steller’s jay left a present for me on one of them.  

This was the hottest summer ever in these mountains, and while there have been clouds around we haven’t had any rain since April. 

The roses are looking a little frazzled from the heat. 

Had lovely wildflowers last spring popping up all along the lane where I live. 

Wildflowers are all over up here in the mountains during spring, and the lilacs were beautiful too, as always. 

Summer

Lake Gregory dreaming under the summer sun is a pretty sight to see even though it’s missing so many of the towering pine trees that used to be so thick around the shoreline.  

This is a Watercolor shrub rose.  I love it because its blooms start out looking like this, but end up...

...looking like this!

The hydrangea blossoms are starting to fade, but they’re still beautiful.

Max has a strategy to get through summer; sleep through the hot days and play all night!  

This n' That

A male Black Headed Grosbeak at my feeder; I've seen a female, too, so hopefully they'll have babies. 

I caught Lucy trying to sneak a sip of my tea.  She likes it because I put milk in it, so I have to be alert!  This attempt didn't work for her, happily for me. 

I just stopped and stared for a minute at this dogwood tree in Lake Arrowhead village before I thought to take a photo.  I've never seen a dogwood tree so loaded with blossoms, let alone a pink one with so many flowers! 

Lake Gregory was looking pretty on a day last week. 

I let these roses dry in the vase.  I thought they looked sort of vintage, so I photographed them by my mother's 88 year old recipe box.  It's full of recipes in her handwriting and my sister's handwriting.  Both are in heaven now, so it's one of my most treasured things. 


To see more beautiful creatures click here.
To see some pretty pink things click here.

Cats, Shadows and Petals

Shadows on my kitchen floor...

And the darling person making them...Gloria Alena Rosita Maria de Gata!

There have been lots of clouds around for the past 9 days.  We even got tiny amounts of rain (about 1/4 of an inch) a couple of days ago.  It's been horribly hot, though and horribly humid.  (Well, for up here it's been humid...people who live in the southern states would laugh at 50% to 75% humidity, but our normal humidity usually hovers right around 15% to 30%, so we've all been feeling like limp noodles).

The roses have been liking it though, so it's all good!

Linking with:  Saturday's Critters
                        Shadow Shot Sunday
                        Pink Saturday 


Coming back to say, it's raining really hard here right now, yay!  It probably won't last over a couple of minutes, but we're all grateful for any rain...

A Quote for Monday

How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world. ~~ Anne Frank

Lake Gregory

Last week at Lake Gregory ~

 

clouds, ducks ~

and some roses that wouldn't stop dancing with the wind.

Pfooling Around with Photos...

A lovely bouquet of roses...

Hmmm...

Oh, dear...

OMG!  And, not in a good way...

Wordless Wednesday - Dots

Time for Tea

...at half past three.  Well, nearly.  There's a cold little wind dancing around up here today, telling of things to come.  It isn't saying anything about rain, though.  Hopefully, a wind will soon come along and bring rain clouds with it!  And, even better, hopefully those clouds will be loaded with rain and willing to drop it on these mountains before we all dry up and blow away...

A Quote for Monday and Atchoo!

"Loveliest of lovely things are they
On earth that soonest pass away.
The rose that lives its little hour
Is prized beyond the sculptured flower."  William Cullen Bryant 

The Fall Equinox brought me a nasty head cold, and how I wish it would soon pass away!  But it seems to be sticking around, although I am feeling better than I did last week.  At least my head doesn't feel like it's stuffed with oatmeal mush and some of my brain function has returned.  It seems like I am unable to think when a cold first hits.  Science invented the Internet and all sorts of other wonderful things...why can't it find a cure for the common cold?

Early Autumn Roses

In a pumpkin-shaped cup.  I don't know what caused those odd, grayish shadows on the lace on the left side of the photo.  I kept looking at the photo in the camera, then at the lace cloth, then back at the photo.  The cloth had no shadows, but the photo did.  So I took another, then another...all the photos had shadows!  Must have been the camera pixies...

Roses and Snow

I was down in Crestline yesterday visiting a friend, and she told me about this incredible rose she had seen...at their water company, of all places!  So we drove over to it and, sure enough, the rose was incredible.  The poor thing has powdery mildew and several other problems, but it was blooming proudly anyway. 

By the time I drove home the clouds were rolling in and the temperature was dropping rapidly.  Our low last night was 25 and we had howling winds plus a mix of snow, rain, and sleet.  I talked to my friend today and she said they just had rain and wind down in Crestline, but I keep wondering how that rose fared.  That roses are blooming anywhere in these mountains in April is astonishing! 

Rushing Autumn

I found some candy corn (already, yippee) at the store and a bunch of orange roses, so I decided to put them on the table in my little foyer (is it pronounced 'foy-yay' or 'foy-er'?)  The bowl was full of candy corn when I started taking photos, but someone ate half of it when I wasn't looking!  Probably one of the cats.  Yeah, I'm sure it was one of the cats.

Georgie: "That sounds a little fishy, Mom."  

Lars Olaf: "Mouse droppings, that's what it is, PURE MOUSE DROPPINGS!  Cats don't eat candy corn!" 

Timothy: "Mommy, you told a lie.  I'm calling the cops." 

Oh, all right!  I give up, I ate the candy corn!

Some

Some roses from my garden...

Some dogwood leaves that shouldn't be turning for at least another three weeks...

 

Some dogwood berries that shouldn't be turning yet either... 

And some cattitude from Gloria, who was mad at me because I was gone all day!

Wordless Wednesday - Colors

Wordless Wednesday - Gems

A Few Wildflowers

I spotted these wild flowers while out for a walk...

Wild roses. They used to be much more abundant when we got more rain during the summer months than we do now, but they still flourish in a few places.

Dogbane, which is poisonous to animals, most especially cattle. It's not really a problem, though, because it tastes so terrible that that the animal usually never eats enough to be harmed. It can cause a rash similar to the one that stinging nettles cause if picked by humans. I keep pulling it up, but it keeps coming back. It grows from two to four feet tall and grows along the edges of the forest and in sunny areas.

Feverfew. I just love this cheerful little plant. So many people up here call it a weed, I suppose because it grows so abundantly in the spring and summer. The flowers are only about the size of a dime, and it usually grows in large clumps along the roadsides and in open clearings in the forest. It gets about two feet tall. It has been used for treating headaches, fever, arthritis and digestive problems, but it can cause nausea, vomiting, pain, contact dermatitis and mouth ulcers if chewed or improperly prepared, so I stick to using the capsules I get from the health food store.