Usually I buy red geraniums. This pink one has taken the entire summer to blossom spectacularly. In another month or so I will repot it in fresh soil and bring it inside for the winter along with the best of my impatiens. Last fall I brought a pink petunia inside that lasted the winter and went outside again for a second summer.
Three varieties of Rose of Sharon are in bloom, a rose pink, a lilac blue, and this lovely white with red centers, all blossoming near the road for passersby to enjoy. I might have missed their beauty if I hadn’t walked down the road to photograph the old mill reflected in the river, and happened upon this scene on my return.
The river water is still and clear today. I plan to go back for more photos when the water is disturbed and the air is foggy. I hope to paint the scene in less brilliant light.
On this sparkling morning the goldfinches are threading yellow loops from one tall sunflower to another in the back garden. I hoped the few thistles I allowed to bloom in the field might attract the finches, but saw none until this morning. Now here they are, sharing the blooms with a bevy of white butterflies!
Sunflowers both pale and burnished bloom along with calendula and a few late red poppies. The tree hydrangea is beginning to turn pink. Phlox blooms both pink and apricot. Autumn Joy sedum turns a rich deep rose. To my bouquet I add a few sprigs of goldenrod and purple nightshade and oregano gone to flower. The colors are riotous.
This was the most beautiful Foxglove of the summer…
Have I mentioned that recently for the first time I read the entire poem Endymion by John Keats? Would anyone like to discuss the poem with me? An astonishing coincidence occurred as I realized after reading the poem that the sailing vessel in the antique painting Maria spent a year copying is also named Endymion. She translates the name to mean lover of the moon. Remembering the paintings, those of you who saw them, can’t you imagine this ship sailing nobly in moonlight?
This morning we dug up potatoes, washed them with the garden hose, and used up some bubble soap that was standing nearby in a scrub bucket.
Twice a day, each time I work at Maria’s gallery, I make a point of looking at this lovely creek that I have painted once in fall and will paint again. This is a view at sunset in late summer.
These red-blooming vines twining so vigorously around the birdhouse post invite me once again to get out my drawing materials, make a sketch, make a watercolor, illustrate a poem, do something lovely with this high-summer happiness….
I found one more porch post taking up space in the garage. Since the core is hollow, the post is easily supported on a stake driven into the garden. So far, three former porch posts have taken on an elegant new role as birdhouse stands. This one is completely covered with a wild morning glory vine.
We went blackberry picking in the back woods, ate them on quinoa.
