I suppose this is a pretty common opening gambit here at The Havens, but a lot has been going on around here!
I have gotten to the point where I am starting to wonder when, if ever, I will have time to open my art journal again. The garden is growing apace, and I really ought to be out there picking peas rather than making a blog post. But I was out near the pond this morning early and discovered that the mosquitoes are rather fiercely hungry this morning, and before I spend a lot of time in the garden I want to put more clothes on.
Besides, I really feel like I need to make a post.
What I did find as I was being eaten alive by mosquitoes is that the spiderwort is particularly beautiful this morning.
There was a tachnid fly pollinating this group.
Pursued by the swarm of buzzing blood suckers, I visited the Hosta Dell, where I discovered a basking dragon fly.
Some of the small sedums are blooming too. These flowers are right around 3 mm in diameter. So darned cute.
I stopped at the swamp milkweed, which has recently come into full bloom. There I found my honeybees busy at their pollinating and nectar collecting chores.
For some reason, they seemed mellower than usual, allowing me to come in close for some shots. This made me curious, so I went to look at the hive, and discovered that they were milling around smartly on the front of it.
I’m thinking that they may be getting ready to swarm, and if they are I am not ready for that eventuality. I was hoping to have a hive available for them to move into, but we’ve been occupied elsewhere for the past three weeks. We are mentoring the niece Zoey who moved here from Iowa a few weeks ago. That seems to be going well. She is quite a bit of help around the house and garden. The rental house went vacant a few days ago and she is helping get that ready for renting again.
See? There isn’t enough to do around here, now I am thinking of establishing a colony of bees that I can tend when I’m not weeding. I need to have my head examined, I suppose.
Meanwhile, out in the front garden the lilies are blooming beautifully.
So far we have picked over 6 gallons of strawberries from the raised bed and frozen them, while eating as many as we care to. That was a great thing we did, building that bed.
And we still have a terminally cute Mallory tearing around the place terrorizing Ruby, who is not really sure what she thinks about her new role as playground equipment.
Things will get better around the time that kitten learns to keep her claws in when she plays. Also, she is teething right now, so she feels the need to chew any and every thing, including Ruby’s toenails, which apparently is not really something that Ruby really wants to participate in. Also, Ruby has developed the strong opinion that it is high time Mallory got weaned, so there is a certain strain in the relationship at present which will pass soon, I imagine.
Meanwhile, I had better get a wiggle on and pick some peas.
the havens 