Josie's Experiment in Transpiration

We are dyeing Queen Anne's Lace! (This is an experiment Meema and my grownup cousins Amelia and Genie used to do a long time ago when they were little girls and came and stayed for a while in the summer. It was called Camp NoFun and this is one of the things they did.)

We put food coloring in water. I thought we were going to dip the flowers in the color, but Meema said we would let the flowers do all the work.

The flowers will suck up the colored water through their stems, like a straw. It is called TRANSPIRATION.

It does not happen right away. 

You have to be patient.

While I was being patient, the Castle People had a concert. Carmen is on the stage singing. The backup singers behind her are Elsa and Sunflower.

I also practiced with my hula hoop. It is not easy to keep it going.

                                  The blue is working!!!

This was supposed to be red but that's okay because pink is my favorite color.

When Daddy came to get me, he was amazed. He asked me if I used a tiny brush to paint all the tiny flowers. (A Queen Anne's Lace flower is really a whole bunch of very little flowers.)

That would have been very hard. I am glad we let the flowers do the work, even if we had to be patient.

 

The Last of the Daylilies

The daylilies have been glorious all month, but they are winding down...

Oakleaf Hydrangea is putting on a show...

Lavender Bee Balm and Rose of Sharon ...

 

Under This Forgetful Sky

                                                        

First of all, do not be misled by the YA label and the teenage protagonists. This is an important book with an important message for all ages. But it may just be that it is most needful that the young take the message to heart and act on it. Because this is the messed-up world they are inheriting.

The story is set in the not-so-distant future, after the Hot Wars, which left much of the world in wreckage, poisoned by radiation and industrial pollution, and subject to violent terrorist attacks. The ruling classes have retreated to walled cities--Upper Cities-- where life is privileged and safe, where, by mandate, citizens wear 'specs' that monitor their every move as well as showing an alternate, colorful view, an overlay, of their grim surroundings. (Shades of the Emerald City!)

 Sixteen-year-old Rumi Sabzwari lives in St. Iago, an Upper City of post-Apocalypse Chile. His world is upended when his father falls ill with a deadly virus, evidently the work of a rebel group called Las Oscuras. Rumi finds a mysterious map that promises to guide him to the source of a cure. But to find it, he must leave the safety of the city, face the unknown, and cross the poisoned Wastes.

Fifteen-year-old Paz is a child of the world beyond the walls, a world that has been poisoned and drained of resources by the Upper Cities. From her home in ruined Paraiso, she ventures into the Wastes on a scavenging expedition.

When both Paz and Rumi are captured by Las Oscuras and then escape, they form an uneasy alliance that is tested by danger and by doubt at every turn. Who is the real enemy is the question that occurs again and again. In a world of misinformation, who can you trust?

Yero weaves a beautiful web--part road trip, part quest, part romance and coming of age, part edge of your seat adventure. Her prose is stunning-- a girl who "slung daggers when she walked" and "held a room captive with her collarbones." The people and communities encountered on the quest are vivid and sympathetic. And the picture of the divided world, the divided peoples, rings all too true.

In her afterword, Yero talks about her travels in Chile and her awakening to the 'slow violence' done by multinational corporations to lands not their own.  How, she asks, do we tell these complex stories that happened over long periods of time, doing damage so slowly that it was virtually imperceptible? "How do we make visible the web of the world?"

Like all good fiction, that is exactly what this fine book does.

Very highly recommended.

Nothing to Say Today

 

Last Year's Butterflies

Alas, the butterfly bushes were hit by a late freeze and killed back to the roots. They have put forth shoots but there are no blooms. These are pictures from last year.

Not too many butterflies this year either, in spite of lots of blooms on other plants.

The canary in the coal mine is already dead and mankind is paying the price for its blind greed.

 

Rainy Day and Cool

We have been blessed with a day so cool it called for flannel shirts. Happy to be in the mountains of NC!

 

Summer Scenes

Hay in the field . . .

A neighbor's late-blooming wisteria . . .

Fog-bejeweled spiderwebs adorn a gate . . .

A sentinel mullein . . .

Like money in the bank, a barn bulging with hay . . .

BLT--a quintessential summer delight.

 

Gardening Angels

At the PO on Monday, I was delighted to meet and thank the ladies responsible for these beautiful little gardens. 

The ladies were hard at it, grubbing up weeds.

We chatted briefly and I thanked them for providing such a welcome sight in downtown Marshall. I should have asked more questions--were they part of an organization? how long had they been tending this garden? did they have others?

But I didn't. I was too busy enjoying the wealth of blooms that adorned these two small sidewalk gardens.

                             Echinacea in different vibrant shades. . .

Bee balm . . .

Black-eye Susans, a sprawling lavender plant, and some tall reddish-purple plant (Amaranth?) that they said were volunteers--seeded from a planting across the street.

Zinnias and marigolds too--so much color!

Many thanks to those gardening angels--you are deeply appreciated!

 

More Treasure for the Castle People

My Castle People have golden treasure. (It is really painted oyster shells.) They have had six FOREVER because JoEllen who is my Uncle Drew Walton's mama sent them to us back when I was just a baby. I always loved playing with the shells and pretending they were dishes, but when I got the Castle People, the shells became their treasure. Last week, JoEllen sent me a whole bunch more!

Meema helped me write a thank you to JoEllen and I decided to draw a picture of the Castle People and their new treasure. I painted the shells a gold color and added some sparkly gold. 

I did pictures of some of my favorites. That is Carmen in the middle. 

 

Milkweed

And the happiest of birthdays to my first born! I will spare him the sentimental memories and pictures, but I will say that he has always been a joy to us.

 

Too Hot

Actually, not so much hot as heavy, oppressive air. I am finding it hard to do much of anything other than drink iced tea and read. (Re-read, that is, John Fowles's The Magus, a haunting novel.

The laundry gets done, as do meals (shrimp salad tonight.) I wave a languid dust rag occasionally and vacuum when the dog hair is tumbleweeding across the floor.  Water the plants; feed the dogs and kittehs. 

Every chore needs to be followed by a rest spell. Night time is much cooler, thank goodness, though I generally shower and wet my hair before turning in.

No, we don't have AC. 

This heat, this too, shall pass.

 

Got It This Time

 

Dogs on the Porch

We were enjoying a pre-supper glass of wine on the porch and watching a thunderstorm moving our way. The dogs don't approve of thunder and lightning, but they opted to stay with us anyway.

Otter is the least wary of the pack.

Bailey barks at the thunder; Jenny hides behind my chair.

It was all soon over and we could relax.

Bobadog is very good at relaxing.

Not much rain; not much of a rainbow.