Ahhh…. one of our favorite things to do in summertime. The slowness of a summer river made the most recent trip a relaxing, lazy coast downstream. Along the way several turtles were spotted, some new-ish graffiti, a couple of small furry types, and a heron which didn’t appreciate how long I was staring.
This has been a truly beautiful summer.
I found this awesome bottle at Treasure Mart a bit ago. Apparently Space Foods Co., based in Baltimore, declared bankruptcy back in 1953, before distributing any of their product, or even filling the bottles in most cases! It was going to be flavored syrup for home soda machines. Now he’s just a cool bottle, or bank I suppose, as there’s a coin slot in the cap too.
The leaves are dropping, the caramel marshmallows have returned to Sweetwaters Cafe, the Frozen Assets have played the first two games of the season, and I’m wearing tall argyle socks. It must be autumn.
Before I become lost in the carboard, foam, ruffles, doo dads and whatnots of constructing Mario, Baby Peach AND their karts for Halloween, I’d like to share a few more sculptures. Meet Agatha, Cele, and Humphrey.
Every day we have checked on the progress of our peony, watching the ants go to work, and delighting in the fact that transplanting the lone surviving perennial (other than countless daylilies) from our home’s past was the right decision. Each spring this sad peony would start out optimistically, but by June would be desperately reaching for the sunlight, unable to reach out of the northern exposure it was condemned to. After much deliberation, last spring my son and I transplanted our long time resident to a sunnier spot only 5 feet away from its previous location and hoped. and… success! This spring the small little peony is the largest it has ever been, with nearly double the blooms of even the best year in its past. And in the course of our own peony’s success we have come to delight in the impressive blooms so heavy that their stems can barely hold them up.
Imagine our delight in finding out that the Nichol’s Arboretum right here in Ann Arbor has an impressive peony garden, home to 234 peony cultivars with plantings dating from 1927. The sky was threatening rain, but we decided it was well worth the risk of getting wet to see these beauties at their peak.
With all of the amazing and different varieties, I found myself taking countless pictures, smiling at the color and scent of all those flowers, and delighting in my son’s excitement as he ran from bed to bed calling to show me yet another amazing bloom. So without further ado, here are some of the photos I took yesterday. It’s nearly impossible to choose a favorite.
I realized yesterday that nearly every facebook status update of mine in the past month is either me digging in my garden or watching the Red Wings. Now, although that is certainly not the entirety of my life, both are quite serious obsessions of mine. Since I’d rather not talk about the Wings’ triple overtime loss yesterday afternoon, I will instead talk about my garden. Or, more accurately, show some pictures to compliment all those “digging in my garden” posts. I think I may be suffering from verdant amour or is it amorous verdure? Either way, when I see that weedy expanse at the side of my house, I’m thinking :”oooh! more digging!”
On April 5th, the downtown streets of Ann Arbor were filled with the characters of the 3rd annual Festifools Parade. The weather was ominous, with storms surrounding Ann Arbor, the radar showing groups of yellow arriving and then splitting around our town as though all of those porch prayer flags were working their magic. The awesomeness of this parade gives me the warm fuzzies about this town I live in. Next year, we HAVE to make a puppet.
