all in a row

along our summer kitchen

lives a family of sunflowers 

they are a happy group

🌻

Summer finds

Vintage summer finds at my booth at the Hixton Schoolhouse

Antique Mall in Hixton, Wisconsin.  Flags, farm finds, gardening..

all say summer! ☀️

summer

with thanks

go big or go home

We have beat the annual rainfall record by 7 inches in Wisconsin.

And it shows!  Our Peegee Hydrangeas are flourishing!

                     Heaven for hundreds of bees!

    And our miniature pumpkins!  Will be a bounty...🎃

take the long way home

           Traveling home from my office clears my head...

happy summer

porching it

We are ever so lucky to have a large three season porch off the

summer kitchen.  With 12 windows, it offers sun & breeze.  One

of my vacation "to dos" was to refresh the porch with its mix of

second hand furniture.  Dave repainted the floor a forest green,

which highlighted my love for green in all of the shades of nature.

I threw an old blue floral comforter over the comfy couch and made

sure that bits of red, green, and blue were anchored with white.

With two ceiling fans, a place to grab the right shoes or boots when

heading out the door & tables for eating or setting loads on their 

way in or out...this is a versatile space.  Yesterday, we added buffalo

check valances in a perky shade of Apple green...I will add more of this
color as I nip & tuck over time.

As I type this, I hear the rustle of the breeze through our cottonwood 

tree, one of several pairs of wrens singing, and the melody of a farm

yard wind chime.  Porching it!

sun flower time

they grow & grow & grow & grow

~ ~ ~  then Bloom ~ ~ ~

           Such happy flowers!

filling in

My favorite local nursery has now reduced hours and

diminished plant stock.  All the same, I recently was 

there on a mission to find some hardy fillers for my planters.

I start each spring with my beloved pansies & violas...which

tend to hang in there, but with certain disdain for hot days.  

They begin to straggle over the edges & yellow....blooming 

with their little faces all the while.  So I grab whatever 

annual looks like it will take my planters into fall.  Sedge is

my new favorite...a tall brown grass with curly tops.  Lettuce

in a deep burgundy will work...as will Asparagus Fern.

I dig them in around the yellow violas.  Smooshing in

some Thyme for good measure.  This vintage metal 

ice cream chair was missing a seat....an enamelware

pan (with several rusted holes for drainage) is perfect.

Tucked a bunny in with the plantings....why of course!

It does make me a tad sad when the summer plantings begin

to round the bend on their way to Autumn~~ but I do so

love that season, too!

How are your gardens?  Do you fill in too?

room with a view

I quite adore a sweet view...so feel very lucky

that the row of Peegee Hydrangeas I planted about 5 years

ago provide a lovely view.  I try to plant off center so

that the view is accentuated not blocked.  

*Helps to have a sweet August Rose in the window too!*

Here is the same window from outside against 1857 brick.

Peegee Hydrangias turn a lovely pink as we enter Autumn.

And they dry quite beautifully too.  I ordered them as 

bare root stock and first planted in the spring.  They were 

planted a tad over a mower width from the house, so we can

mow behind & around.

And look what those beautiful Hydrangias hide...command central

(air conditioning unit & Dish Satellite).

 I did the same with our kitchen window, 

 with sunflowers....should be blooming soon.

Ah...a room with a floral view!  

What is your favorite view?

and summer is here...

Summer has arrived, like that special friend you have awaited.

And today is that long long day, when the sun seems to shine into the night.

Homages to sweet summer can be found through our home.

One of my favorites, a vintage suitcase packed with a flag & a pasture of sheep!

Other suitcases also reside in the living room, pale brown, with green to welcome summer.

Summer has indeed arrived, brimming with warm days, flea markets to attend, a local 

parade or two....and days that take a while to come to a close.  

Welcome home dear friend!

and the living was easy...

For just about an hour each evening I sit on our porch - tonight with the fans spinning overhead, flag waving in the breeze outside. Our little August, now into her 4th week of miraculous recovery plays at my feet....free from her cage for this hour. And for this one hour, we pretend that there is not a worry in the world....except for where we might find that nickel scoop of ice cream.

and August arrives

Officially on their own....that is the word for flowers that weather this drought, kittens now graduated (at 3 months) from their mom, goats learning to pasture this summer in a bewildered heat-o-rama.....officially on their own.

Big sister barn cat, Chestnut, attempts to soften the "orphaning" process with wild treats caught in the fields....she hurries to the barn with a mouse or bird and gifts it to the babies. I try to help the plants along with evening drinks of water. The goats slim down to a healthy weight (oh wish I could do so too) with the work of foraging...yet I gift them with tree cuttings in the early evening. And I feel ever so glad that we invested in air conditioning this of all summers.

August arrives and finds us all moving a bit slower. Tonight we are sitting in the potting shed, a former chicken coop....taking refuge from those pesky flies. With kittens playing, a slight breeze blowing, crickets singing, and warmth cocooning us....we welcome August.

whistling

.....that is what the tea pot would be doing outside today! Hot it is.

Finally threw in the towel to this heat -home today, head ache for nearly a week. Tried to rest on the porch, too warm-- so feet up, fan on, laying low. Have a big trip ahead...getting better is on my agenda!

*This tea pot lived high above the kitchen cabinets in my childhood home (now it holds charging cords) it is part of my current view from the living-room couch into the den.

How are you surviving the heat?

corn days

Our farm is surrounded by corn....& this corn is way taller than "knee high by the 4th of July". We feel well guarded by the green stalks standing at attention on three sides of the farm.

As I hung about with kitties - weeding gardens and civilizing grape vine - I felt tucked away from the world. I liked that. Do you ever just need to get away, lose yourself? That is what I needed today, and corn...thousands of stalks granted my wish.

a grand old flag

Just a little wish for a Happy 4th of July!

Stay cool, stay safe....and enjoy this little midweek celebration!

our woods

It is hard to understand how rain can overextend in some places...and be the answer to prayers in other areas.

Our property in northern Wisconsin has received rain. The woods could not be more lush, needing a small mower "haircut" to tidy it up. So Dave mows as I type...with me typing in constant motion as I try to escape this pesky deer fly.

Birch, many variety of evergreen, an apple tree or two, daisies, fern....but no visible bear...even though I am certain I snuck onto the property quietly. Oh, if these woods could talk.

Stopped by Barber Lake...the frogs sang to us like a rubberband band....and Dave skipped stones.

Wishing you all a relaxing weekend...

cool

Finally broke down.....central air it is - installation just in time before today's heat advisory.

Feeling pretty "polar beary" right now.

How about you-surviving the heat?

at dusk

I love these long days...it is 9 p.m., and sweet daylight still beckons us. So I took these final pictures of the day - the field across from our home, my Shawnee in the window. Soon dark will fall - but for now it is dusk, the day is long...and summer is here.

Welcome summer!