The Summer is Just Moving Along!

Welcome to July everyone!  Today is the 7th already!  Where did May and June go!!  It has been hot here with very little rain but the middle of last week until today we have been humidity free.  Thank you God!!  We did get some rain yesterday which was very much needed.  I had to work 4th of July so no picnics.  I made hot dogs, macaroni salad and cucumber salad for myself after I got home.  That was ok, I was beat.  The store was so busy!  I am always amazed by how many people shop on holidays.  My garden is taking a break from all the many blooms it has been producing.  The glads are all done, the daylilies are slowing down, the bee balm has also been affected by the heat.  The roses are starting to ramp back up again though.  I'm very glad for that because I love the ones I have planted here so far.  The 2 roses I brought here in all the heat from my previous house in Mint Hill (the new owner called me asked if I wanted them because she did not) are doing great!  They have gotten re-established after I pruned some of the "shocked" growth back and watered the heck out of them.  The one, which I think is a beautiful pink rose called Queen Elizabeth has some buds on it!  I'm sure Mr. Lincoln isn't too far behind because it has sent alot of new shoots out.  

Riley has been enjoying the summer.  On night the mosquitoes aren't too bad, we sit on the loveseat on the patio.  He loves to watch cars go by, birds flying around and the smells the wind brings in his direction.

Riley on 7.6.25, the banana tree behind him is getting huge!!

 My roses like I said are starting to ramp back up and blooming, see below:

Eglantyne Rose

Lady of Shallot

Lady of Shallot upclose

My all time favorite daylily of this season is below:

Crape Myrtles are starting to bloom here also and they are gorgeous.  I took this photo on the way home from work in Concord, NC.  Love this color.  Both sides of the street is lined with these.

My dahlias are also blooming.  This one is gorgeous!

I have been knitting on a shawl I am making for Bitsy, my 82 year old friend at Church.  She has a really bad lower back and she gets cold, especially her shoulders sometimes.  I chose Heidi and Lana Sea Glass yarn and it is working out perfect!  She loves bright colors, so this should be perfect for her.

This is just the very beginning of the shawl.  Every so many inches the pattern changes.  Very easy to knit.

This is an upclose of the one section called little waves.

After I found out my cancer was back (we are just watching it at this stage), my Dr. and I decided I needed to rest more.  I cut back my hours at work to 3, 8-hour days, no more big project and that I would take a nap when I was home if I was tired.  Well that last for about 3-4 weeks and I decided I would paint my room.  I was very good about it though.  I took many, many days to complete this project.  Normally I would have gone in and started and finished it in one day.  I didn't do that this time.  I took my time and some days I didn't even paint.  I love the way it turned out.  The color originally was the usual builder's off white.  I picked out Benjamin Moore's Water's Edge.  I did a test swatch and found it too dark for that room.  So I added alot of white flat paint to it and came up with this color and I love it!  So basically it is my version of Water's Edge!

The other day at work they were going to throw out these gorgeous roses because the date of keeping them expired.  I took them home with me on Friday and they still look like this today, which is Monday, the 7th.  They are gorgeous!!

Before I left for the day at work on the 4th, I made this red, white and blue roses arrangement.  There were even a little glitter on the pinkish-red ones.  

Yesterday we had some wonderful rain.  I went to church, then brunch with 3 of my friends.  When I came home I decided it would be a good day to set up a few houseplant pots and repot some miniature roses that needed bigger pots.  This is one of the arrangements I made with pink polka dot plant and white flowering kalanchoe.  I love these 2 plants together!

Last night the sunset was so gorgeous after the rain!  The tree in the first picture reminded me of the one in Gone with the Wind when there was a beautiful sunset scene!  The colors in both photos were just gorgeous and it was even more gorgeous in person.  Nature is truly wonderful!!

I think I will end here.  I hope all of you are having a great summer and enjoying the outdoors when you can!

Have a wonderful day!

Sherri

A Hot Summer is on the Way!

 Well I am pretty sure another hot summer is on its way!  Yesterday when I was leaving work my car said it was 100 degrees and boy was it humid!!  Atleast we didn't have rain yesterday and I don't think we are supposed to today either.  The blue skies are here and there was actually a nice breeze when I took Riley out this morning.  I should get outside and deadhead my daylilies before the heat gets here.  The daylilies have been loving this rain and a few other flowers too.  I have to make sure I watch the new plants I planted last week.  I don't want them to burn up.  Here are just a few things blooming now.

Bumble on my cone flower.

Butterfly Bush in full bloom.

Casa Blanca Lilies.

Red Desert Coneflower

Dahlia

Daylily

Daylily

Daylily

Perfect Peach Pie Daylily

Miniature Roses I bought at work.  I put them in the front flower pot on my porch.  I had pansies in here but they are all done.

My glads.  Love them this year, they are so beautiful!

I have 3 glad arrangements around the house now.  This one is on the kitchen counter.

This one is on the dining room table.  I also have one in the front window on the sofa table .  They are so pretty.

I have been knitting, listening to audiobooks, gardening a little, keep the house clean and that is about it this summer.  Besides work and doing laundry.  I am having a relaxing summer.  I am a little bored without any projects going on, but my Dr. told me I needed to slow down and rest more so that is what I'm doing.

It is hard to see but on top of the armillary that is my little female hummingbird that has been visiting me.  She is teeny tiny!  There are 2 males here also.  I see them fighting for the food I have put on the porch.  They all buzz around that feeder but the little female has ever sat on the feeder drinking for 30 minutes!!  I love watching them.  They are also loving the salvia, canna lilies and bee balm in my garden.

Some of the books I have been reading (which are at 2 different ends of the spectrum) is:

Freida McFadden's, The Tenant

Jan Moran's-Beach View Lane, Sunset Avenue and Orange Blossom Way.  I love this series.

I love to listen to these stories while I'm knitting.  Keeps me entertained!

Well I hope you all have a wonderful summer and it isn't too hot where you live.  I'll be back from time to time!

Sherri

I can't believe it is June 11th already!

Hi Everyone!  June is just whizzing by us!  Where did May go!  We have had an abundance of rain.  I am over that for sure.  I hope our drought is over here in NC.  The gardens sure have loved all this rain though except the roses.  I lost a rose bush and I'm not sure about another one.  I'm watching it.

Here are some photos of all my flowers:

 

Red Dahlia

Nasturtiums

Mr. Lincoln Rose

Lake Norman Sunset Daylily

Hosta

Gentle Gardener David Austin Rose

Eglantyne David Austin Rose

Desert Echinecea

Daring Deception Daylily

Voyager Daylily

Harmony Ruffles Daylily

Remembering Grace Daylily

Inwood Daylily

Picking Berries Day Lily

Whole Peach Pie Daylily

Two types of Coleus

Canna Lily

Riley and I have been sitting on the patio after dinner when it isn't raining and he loves it!

Banana tree on the patio

Little birds fountain I have on the patio.  I love to hear the water bubbling.

Patio

Riley enjoying the patio after dinner the other night.

I completed the knitting project bag I was making.  It is lined with linen and has pockets for scissors, stitch markers, knitting needles, etc. The brown leather handle is there in case you want to hang it up! I love how it turned out

Bumblebee happy on the Butterfly Bush!

I have 2 gardenia plants in the house.  They are both loaded with buds!  My Nana always had a gardenia in the house and it smelled wonderful.  Everytime I smell Gardenia in the air, I think of her.

These glads are from my garden.  I now have some light purple ones blooming.  I'll have to cut them and bring them in too!

This little mourning dove was following me around the garden the other morning.  She went to this little bird bath for a drink of water and then she went to eat some seeds that were scattered from the feeder (below)

I put together this little black table for in between my rocking chairs on the front porch.  The rocking chairs were my parents on their farm.  I like to sit out there and knit or have a cup of iced tea and I always said I needed a little table.  I bought this one on Amazon and put it together when it came.  It is weatherproof and bug proof.

This double begonia is doing so well on the porch.  I love this color against the black rockers and table.

This is a view of my garden the other day from my patio.  I love all the colors and it will just fill in year after year.

The first pumpkin of the season!  I planted from seed milk pumpkin in my raised bed on legs on my patio.

First tomato of the year!!  I have 2 tomatoes in pots.  This is an heirloom one and the other is a Big Boy Tomato plant.  I hope I get alot of them!

Alot of garden things going on but I am taking it easy.  My cancer is back but not enough for chemo right now.  We are watching it.  Pray that it doesn't get any worse and that it just stays like this the rest of my life!  I have cut my hours at work down to 3 days and to 8 hours.  I am doing so much better with being tired now that I have done that.  I appreciate all your prayers you sent me and thoughts, you are all the best!  

That is about all I have for today!  I hope everyone has a great start to their summer and vacations if they are going on one. Take care!

Sherri