…more scan play with dried flowers, this one a dipladenia

This morning’s wake up call was the sound of slamming doors echoing through the house. A pleasant coolness felt almost chilly after the week’s heat wave. All morning the wind kept blowing hard with occasional powerful gusts shaking the trees violently, sending needles and leaves flying afar much like rugs being shaken free of dust. A top heavy potted oleander on the deck was knocked over twice until brought inside. A houseplant was knocked off the windowsill. Some tall flowers in the garden are needing staking.

In the afternoon as we drove through the city, we noticed a lot of tree branches and leaves on the streets, still being blown about. Yet the day was mostly sunny and not too hot. Later I learned that this region had quite a storm.

Storms aside, the main event of the day was that we met our daughter and granddaughters at the airport after their long flight from England. What a delight to see them again, and how excited the girls are! They are home for the summer! We’re only sorry that our son-in-law could not come because of work commitments.

I’m continuing to enjoy a relaxing extra long weekend at home, especially observing the ever evolving cycles of blossoming and going-to-seed in the garden, messy in places still but with many rewarding delights for the senses. Another delight is that husband has been installing an automatic watering system on our sunny deck, the one with numerous pots of tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and a few flowers. With our usual summer drought soon to come, it will save many steps back and forth from the kitchen sink with a heavy watering can.

Oh, and happy July 4th to all my American friends and family!