Resilience...

"Resilience" by Autumn Skye ©2017

I saw this image on Facebook a week ago and, based on the watermark, managed to find the artist's website. Autumn Skye creates beautiful images, and this one is my favorite. It really speaks to me. Were it not for bees, my garden efforts (and much more) would be for naught.

Whenever I visit my kitchen garden, it is abuzz with honey bees, bumble bees and other pollinators. They allow me to work among them, too. If I don't bother them, they don't bother me...and I always leave blossoms for them to feast on, too. I know they need the nectar for the hives up the hill, or to nourish themselves for the winter ahead. I'm more than happy to share.

"Jasmine Bees" - ©2018 DLiljegren-Brynwood Needleworks

 

I had a lovely day yesterday with Daughter-in-Law #2. We went shopping in Cedarburg (WI), shared a delightful lunch at an old stone farmhouse restaurant called "The Farmstead", and even made it to a local farm market (Witte's) so I could bring home fresh produce for dinner.

 

Before I turned for home, I stopped at the home of one of her and our son's friends. They have concord grapes growing on an arbor in their back yard, which they offered to me for the picking. I'll be sharing grape jam with them when I make it today.

 

When I arrived at their house, I was greeted by a huge jasmine bush (comparable in size to those we had in Florida), and the fragrance was intoxicating. I knew I'd be taking a picture to show you. When I got closer, I saw that it, too, was humming with bees. It was a veritable feast for them, and they weren't wasting the opportunity! (I managed to capture two of them in this shot.)

 

After taking a few pictures, I walked to the back of their yard, where they told me I'd find all the grapes I cared to pick. I was also warned about the mosquitoes, which are legion in Wisconsin this year. No kidding, I had to battle them to harvest about three gallons of grapes! I pulled my jacket up over my head and closed it across my face to keep them from swarming my ears and face. Even so, I left looking like I'd played goalie in a dart game! My face was pocked with "sting and go" mosquito marks. Thankfully, they weren't full-blown bites, and by the time I got home, the redness had disappeared.

Handsome and I will be making Grape Jam and the last batch of Zucchini & Pepper Relish for this year, plus canning pears over the weekend. All that will be left is applesauce. First things first. I can almost smell the grape goodness rising in the kitchen.

Summer Breeze...

You know I adore the star jasmine bushes thriving in our back courtyard.

Yesterday, Handsome and I went in search of the perfect green touches

to place in the beautiful blue planter near our front entryway. What

we found was a gorgeous variety of jasmine called "Confederate". 

It was love at first sight.

The vines are loaded with white, fragrant blossoms which

will provide a sweet welcome for our friends and family.

 Every time I open the door, the smell of these white blooms

beckons me outdoors. It reminds me of "great days of summer,

the jasmine's in bloom..." from Seals & Crofts "Summer Breeze". 

It's going to be fun watching this little vine take off and fill

our entry corner. I bet the bees are going to love this spot, too!

A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood...

Today dawned sunny and dry. This time of year can already be humid in Florida, but not so today. It was the perfect day to work outside and give our garden shed a much-needed spring cleaning.

Handsome and I moved everything into the yard, and then we swept the cement floor, put up a great tool-hanging system, moved a few things from the garage to the shed and really streamlined our yard equipment.

Kes spent the day staring at the shelf where we keep her retrieving dummy, and every once in a while, we'd stop our work and toss it a few times for her. It's nice to see her still moving like a puppy, but now that we've all had our dinner, she's sound asleep in her favorite spot in our bedroom...snoring like the senior citizen she is.

We've made a game of working outside during hot, humid weather. The work sessions are short, punctuated by quick dips in the swimming pool to cool off, and then back to work. Today, because the weather was cooler, we waited to jump in the pool until all our work was finished. A friend who is currently visiting his second house in Pennsylvania called to tell us it was snowing there, which made our afternoon dip even sweeter.

We ended our day with a meal featuring salmon on the grill, so I took a moment to enjoy the fragrance of the jasmine bushes in full bloom in our back courtyard. I couldn't resist taking a snapshot of the flowers which grow over a small monument that my dad brought up from the bottom of a Wisconsin lake when I was a kid. He and my mum gave it to me as a gift, and it's one of my treasured possessions. We brought it with us when we moved from Wisconsin eight years ago. I think of Dad every time I look at it, and now with the jasmine growing all around it, I can't help but smile whenever I walk past it.