Poppies, hollyhocks, pussycats, hydrangeas

The gardening and a couple of consulting projects I'm working on have kept me pretty busy. It is so nice to have a variety of activities to keep my brain from getting soft in the summer, and the gardening is a great balance for that, allowing me to return to a state of Zen. Given the weather forecast, it looks like I will be doing only evening gardening next week. I was quite intrigued, last week while gardening, by all of the bird activity in our backyard. We had robin parents feeding and teaching babies to fly, as well as cardinal and purple finches doing the same. What was most intriguing to me was watching the baby cardinal being fed alternately by her parents and by the purple finch parents who had their own nest full of babies in the Boston Ivy that grows up the north side of our house. I'm curious as to whether this is a rare or typical occurrence in the bird world, and I just now remembered I have a friend/colleague who is an ornithologist, so I will ask him about it.

The cats like to gather outside when I'm working in the backyard gardens and watch.  Lila and Mimi scream repeatedly at the top of their lungs for me to come pet them.  They are quite rude and demanding about it!  The others ask for love occasionally and much more politely than the two loudmouths.

This is the first year in over decade, at least, that our pink and blue hydrangeas have bloomed. I guess the mild winter didn't kill off the old growth as it usually does, and old growth is what blooms. I can't get a single photo that captures the stunning bright blue color accurately. I'm getting very concerned about the drought and the implications on the food supply (both for humans and animals). I'm trying to stay on top of keeping lots of water outside in a variety of containers so the outdoor critters can find the drinking and cooling off water that they are so in need of. I worry for the little guys who don't live near a neurotic human who obsesses over their water needs. My husband returns today from a trip to Michigan, so my chore load will lighten up again very soon. L and I have enjoyed lots of girl time while he's been gone, watching 'scary movies' the last two nights and had one of our traditional no-daddy dinners, where we have cereal and/or waffles for dinner. She and I love a dinner of cold cereal on a hot night, but it doesn't make the husband quite as happy.