last day of June

Well, here we find ourselves at the end of June and what a lovely month it's been.

Lately it's been raining every other day or so, and when it rains it comes down with a vengeance. But today's rain is the steady kind.

I took a wander about the garden after Wednesday's deluge. There's more rain to come this weekend which may be unfortunate for celebrations here of Canada's 150th birthday.  The rain seems to come the day after Ontario gets it. A funny kind of forecast.

The purple clematis has survived remarkably well

after this side of the composter collapsed on them in their early growth this spring.

looking down on them from the deck

I leave my perch to get a closer shot. Their pistil and stamen are like flowers themselves.

The Echinacea on the other side of the composter are beginning to open

Some flowers seem especially prehistoric to me in their exoticism.

The coral bells are blooming in the middle garden, the yellow lilies beyond.

coral bells- they almost tinkle

Our lawn is more weeds than grass. All the rain has brought out mushrooms that I'm convinced are from the mushroom compost we got two years ago, but Wally won't let me eat them, knowing a sad story of someone he once knew who couldn't differentiate a poisonous one, so we err on the side of caution.

Mallow grows like a weed. It grew where I lived in Ontario and we encourage it here,

even this one, growing out of the crack between the concrete and the asphalt.

It has no scent to speak of, but it's as pretty as a wild rose.

Suddenly I saw a butterfly land on our front porch window and it let me take its picture.

It's an Appalachian Brown butterfly. Considering we live in the neighbourhood of the old range that makes up the north end of the American Appalachians, it makes sense to find a butterfly with this name. I've been seeing big yellow and black swallowtails for the last few days as well but they move too fast to focus on one.

There's a pretty pale flower about to bloom

in a discounted flower grouping we bought a few weeks ago.

Here's another shot of the same kind of flower that has already begun to open.

one of the Pinks in the same pot

We have Pinks blooming for the last 2 weeks in the middle garden

They are so frilly and feminine and romantic.

a wonderful piece of driftwood that I dragged home from the sea ( well, to the car anyway)

It sits in that middle garden as well.

The baby Harelson Apples are coming along nicely.

looking down the hill at Wally's garden with the little peach tree beyond, still braced from last year's heavy load of peaches. A currant bush sits to the right of it.

The Dill is growing fast, all self-seeded from last year's Dill. The red chard are filling in but the radishes have taken off and I don't care for them all that much. I will look for ways to cook them.

The beans are beginning their climb, and behind them, barely glimpsed, is the lettuce which I'm out clipping for our salad almost every night.

The 2 little grapevines are looking raggedy.

We need to figure out some kind of permanent arbour for them.

So far none of the birds are interested in the baby grapes.

Last year they beat me to them.

We still have a few perennials to plant.

Wally's been wanting a roses for the longest time. Though we already got one last week that he planted in the middle garden, it has no blooms.  We caved in at sale time earlier this week on this incredibly gorgeous heritage plant.

Closer up, it smells good enough to eat!

It is known for growing its flowers in clusters.

Crazy beautiful!

The wee roses on the humungous wild rose bush out back of the cabin are filling in quickly.

Their sweet scent fills the air.

This morning- Friday- the rain, as I said is a gentle steady soak. A mist rolls through the hayfield.

The pink mallow in the lily garden has made this sore spot somewhat palatable.

I look forward to the day when we can remove the old cement stairs, sidewalk and even the asphalt, and put the ramp in a less prominent spot as it has proved to be most useful. I'd like a big verandah in place of all of this.

The garden is loving this semi-tropical weather, never too hot, never too cold.

Muji awaits his breakfast.   He's been playing me for kibble instead of his proper meal first for the last 3 weeks or more. Because of his digestive disorders, he must eat his wet food first. I've never had to deal with such persnicketiness in a pet which tests my patience.

Eventually hunger takes over and he succumbs

.It would be funny if it wasn't happening to me 😉

Another coloured pencil drawing. I overdid the left eye and took a chance erasing it and redoing it.

The version on the right is where I'll leave off, the eye corrected as well as the neck, with some extra shading to the body and arms and hair. All subtle changes. Of course there's still room for improvement but I'm ready to move on.

And so it goes. July is almost upon us.

And yet, we have only this moment.

presence