A bit of this and that

I’ve been gazing out the kitchen window all week at the spectacle of the daylilies coming into their prime. They are really going to town and I’m especially enamored of this pairing; the cones of the Echinacea flowers are the same color as the deep orange lily, and the purple of the petals provides a fantastic contrast.

This reddish day lily is one of my top faves and I’m glad to see its spreading.

Mr. D came back from the nursery today toting this new Echinacea named “tomato soup”, I think its going to blend in nicely.

As I crossed the lawn to pick a few apples, the young red-shouldered hawk that’s been stalking our yard swooped up and landed in a cedar tree on the edge of the clearing. He let me get very close, taking picture after picture but finally he flew. A few minutes later David spied him on the edge of the woodland path and the bird was completely unperturbed by D. walking past several times. I’m hopeful he might make supper out of Flopsy or Mopsy and relieve us of the task of having to dispatch them.

Here is a little fruit sampler, check out the size of those blackberries, made to look even fatter by the fact that the apples are actually rather small. Our first apples are now beginning to ripen up, this one is called Carolina Red June, they are tart and a little soft, Macintosh like, we are trying to pick them a little early hoping they’ll be crisper, not sure about how to pick apples, never having had them before, but we are excited at the prospect and have 4 other varieties still to ripen up.

Heading out to the mountains tomorrow for a few days in the cool highlands, I’m eager to dip this body into some chilly water. We picked a good time to go, supposed to be scorching hot down here all week long.