Lilies

During the summer, the start of every day is Christmas morning for me. I wake up, ooze out of bed and as I'm walking through the hall, the realization that I might have presents awaiting me outside completely overtakes me!

Yesterday when I went outside to see what Garden Santa left for me, I found that my baby buds had become obvious potential blossoms. Ooooo...soooo...close...

This morning, I expected to see buds in the process of opening, but instead found these amazing beautiful blooms. The creamy lilies look like they're dressed with fairy dust, and the peach looks like it belongs in a beautiful tropical garden.

My lily garden has 4 stunning blooms, and there are so many more buds just waiting to stretch out their petals to face the sun.

Man, I LOVE the Beach!

Here in the Twin Cities we've had a beautiful week. Our rain has come at night and the sun has kept our days at 90 degrees and above. I've brought my son and niece (and today my son's friend came along) almost every day this week and they've had a blast! Come to think of it, so have I!

Beau's Birthday

We celebrated our dog Beau's 4th birthday today. Cold cuts, cake, cranberry doggie treats and a living room agility course created the perfect puppy party! The dogs and the kids had a blast and by the end of the party, the puppies were pooped.

"Garden Babies"

These are my garden babies. Many of them are container grown so that when I entertain out back, I can move the flowers around like living art--grow them in the sun and then move them when they're decor!

I have two stationary gardens...that's where the wax begonia's and lilies are. It's a continual work in progress. I'm always looking to perfect the blooming coordination of the perennials. I haven't gotten it just right yet, but it would seem that my joy is in the trying.

Happy Father's Day!

We celebrated Father's Day at my Dad & Char's place. I brought him a fabulous flamingo stepping stone (no, as a matter of fact I had no reason to believe that's what he wanted...so what?) as an homage to the flamingo torture that my sister and I enacted several years ago.

My sister and her husband came and brought Dad a gargoyle. My son and their daughter decided that the gargoyle looked a lot like grandpa, and as he held it up, we realized that perhaps that's not entirely incorrect!

Light Show

Last night I was treated to an amazing light show. Lightening was flashing repeatedly...never more than 10 seconds without lightening. It was entirely unaccompanied by thunder or even rain (at least from my perspective). My son (Hunter) and I spent hours with a camera and a tripod enjoying our attempts to get the perfect shot. In fact, he had a system: He'd politely ask The Universe for guidance in getting a beautiful picture, then wait to feel moved to begin the "opening of the shutter." Between the two of us, we were able to capture some awesome images. I have to say, though, that never in my life have I been able to capture any natural image in such a way that it perfectly conveys the beauty of seeing it first-hand. I think that may be where a spectacularly talented painter might have a leg up on a photographer. Maybe I think that way because the only thing I can paint is a wall!