the weekend before Joe's 39th birthday

water
in the garden

a little of each
tomatoes:
indigo rose, moonglow, yellow cherry, gold metal, cherokee purple, and dester
plus a few okra

each day we try to have a little 'art time'
for a few days it was 'watercolors'

The Wake of a Beehive
BYOB
it's dead, collapsed
died while I was in Wildwood
here all the scavenger honeybees arrive and take
we scooted right up close & occasionally got whacked
in the head by a heavily-ladened departing bee
totally non-aggressive
they're just here to steal

helping her set her arrow on her bow
learning a split-finger hold

kept vigil with the corpse till sundown

waiting on the boilin' pot

one gourd plant
the largest I've ever seen
it's roots are in the old compost pile & under the chicken coop
hundreds of feet of vines and many gourds
and it's only July
this thing will grow until the killing freeze in November

mexican sunflowers, zinnias, & 15 pepper plants up front

purple basil
which really no one will eat
except me sometimes
BUT
I've found it is a really great filler for cut flower arrangements

lush Anasazi beans

anise hyssop
which I started all from seed
the bees and wasps LOVE LOVE LOVE it
I do too
a bit from it each time I'm near it

rosemary    purple coneflowers

coneflowers

Indigo Rose
tomatoes
nearly black on the top
and orange on the bottom when ripe