Babies and Where Are the Bees

First of all, because we all know that babies are the cutest, here are mine. They are over three pounds each now and finally thriving and - knock on wood - doing much better! Each weekend, we gut and clean their living space (they're still kittens, and kittens make BIG messes!). It's a challenge with three little ones who think that everything is a game, but I'm just so glad they pulled through that hot mess of infection that I don't care. I'll put up with whatever they're dishing out. Mama is healing nicely from her spay surgery, and I couldn't be happier for her. She's plumping up, and her fur feels like it ought to - clean and soft, and she's no longer shedding like crazy!!

Can we talk about the garden, please?

So, the garden - I've been a bit stressed over it the past few days. I'm not seeing many bees, and I've only spotted a couple honey bees and a few monarchs and butterflies earlier on in the year. Where are they? We don't use pesticides. I've been reading a few articles about how bees really struggled last year and, although they're making a tiny bit of a comeback, hives died in droves. I cried when I was reading some of the articles. People who had invested a lot of love making their multiple hives thrive suffered loss after loss. They love their bees. To them, it's like losing a part of the earth that they've nurtured all alone. I'm wondering if the hives down the road from our house are simply no longer. I've often wondered if our bees these past few years were part of those hives. Apparently, the varroa mite is the deadly killer of the honey bee in many and/or most parts of the word, and it's rampant, or at least has been in recent months. Praying we see some bees very soon. Something is obviously pollinating the garden because we are getting lots of squash. I just cannot figure it out.

Blackberries are starting to turn! The patch is loaded. These are "domesticated" blackberries, in that the branches do not have thorns. Much better and easier to pick. Of course, if you cannot eat seeds, these are not for you! Or at the very least, you'd have to cook them down to a compote or create a jelly and strain out the seeds. Wonderful flavor but very, very seedy.

See those tomatoes? Lovely, aren't they? THEY SHOULD BE TURNING RED BY NOW. Okay, now that I have that out of my system, let me just say that last year, for the Fourth of July, we had garden ripe tomatoes. Not this year. The cold spring kept hanging on this year and then rain. Lotta rain. LOTS of rain. Did I mention rain???

This past week, however, we turned hot, and now we are getting sunny. Y'all. Sit back and wait for it. Because all of our green tomatoes are going to ripen at one time. If you work with me or are a local buddy, please prepare yourself for "do you need some tomatoes? I have seven thousand of them, and I'd be glad to overwhelm you with them."

I've had two people mention their zinnias to me lately. Okay, here's the deal with zinnias - they'll grow just about anywhere. BUT they do love full sun, so I've shown you one of our strips of zinnias in full sun. That's where a full-sun zinnia patch should be in the process of growing them in upper Northeast Tennessee. Now, my multi-colored patch in the shade? Not quite as tall and only one or two blooms right now. BUT do not fret. Yours will most likely eventually bloom, as will my partly-shaded patch. Also, zinnias are cutting flowers, so when they do begin to bloom profusely, cut some to enjoy in your home or office. It really does help promote new blooms. They should flourish through to the first hard frost in Autumn. My zinnias in full sun have even been known to survive the first hard frost, believe it or not! At times, I've said goodbye to the last bloom as late as the first part of November.

Next up, the wildflower patch. We did not plant this. This part of the garden gets way too much shade, and we are in the process of letting it go to seed/grass and then simply mow as needed. Well, we we were GOING to let it go to seed, but what we discovered for the past two years is that the wildflowers that we planted three years ago have come back all on their own. So in the spring, we just let this area do its own thing. It's wild and woolly, but it certainly carries its very own beauty without any assistance from us.

July sky! Don't forget to look up a few times this month! July blue is spectacular! It has a rare depth to it. It's truly the best month for hanging clothes out on the line. The heat and warm breezes of July can dry the thickest bath towels in no time. It's crazy how quickly clothes dry in the July sun and heat.

July is also a very good excuse for drinking those nostalgic summer throw-back drinks like orange or grape Nehi sodas. Or an ice cold root beer, or Frosty Blue Cream soda, etc. I swear, nothing tastes better than a highly-sweetened, ice cold soda on a scalding hot day. If it's a fruit flavor, even better. Summer was made for ice cold fruit, coconut, lime, lemon - anything and everything that reminds us of the warmth of the sun. It's something to hang onto in the winter when it's nothing but clouds and rain and mushy snow for weeks on end.

Pumpkin plant! There are several mounds of pumpkin plants that have begun to take off. Pictures next week will look very different, as these babies will begin really spreading out and starting to vine. Any squash plant fascinates me. Once they germinate, it's like their green light to just go crazy! Kind of reminds me of kittens, ha ha.

The red zinnia patch is nearly filled in completely. This is about 1/4th of the patch of 1,000 seeds. I they all germinated, minus any that got washed away in the massive rain we had the day after they got planted (don't get me started on that aggravation).

I'll try to get some aerial views of this. It's the first time I've done a giant flower patch in this area. If it works out well, it'll be a repeater next year, for sure. I also have a Pugster Butterfly Bush by this patch. I need to share that picture with you soon!

And, finally, my beautiful Lacey after running around like crazy and having a good time yesterday morning (before the heat set in). Isn't she gorgeous? Adopted February 1st of this year, and I could not be more proud of her. She's come a looooong way. Lacey had to choose to trust us and to thrive in our hands. She's done so, and I have to say, she's doing more dog-like things lately. I absolutely love it (except for the two times that she has ran off with my bath towel right about the time I finished my shower!). Ah, well, Just get out another one, no big deal. She's also taken over my pillow, so my big goal for this weekend is to go out and buy another one so that she and I don't have to fight over the pillow (she always wins but you already knew that).

Y'all, it's gonna be HAWT today. Not hot. HAWT. I was going to talk about summer heat, wood varnish and basements, but that's for another day. I'm seriously thinking about cooking up a mess of green tomatoes this weekend. I haven't made any this year, and here I am, complaining about them not yet turning red. So, I guess I should embrace that silver lining, because you cannot go wrong with fried foods. So today's food - depending on motivation and all that jazz - will hopefully be fried green tomatoes and an orange Nehi. (Did you know that Nehi dates back to 1924 - true story.)

Lots of love to you if you made it this far into the post! Wherever you are, if it's hot there like it is here, be careful in this heat. Stay dehydrated. Try to turn off the news or stop checking your social media apps today, if you can get yourself to do so. I know that it can be such a huge part of us. But give it a go. If nothing else, set an alarm for a four-hour window where you don't read the news, don't check social media, etc. Then, go get an orange Nehi and enjoy it with me. Summer showed up! Let's celebrate!