Sunday, 27 June 2021

Sunday catch up

Summer continues to unfold. COVID cases have diminished, praise be. I'm feeling so much better after what we surmise was a reaction to my 2nd vax! I was negative for Lyme Disease. My GP is sending me for a repeat of blood tests, but I can't face it until next week. 

The aphids, and a cutworm (?) are attacking the milkweed, but the monarch caterpillars are fine.


The milkweed attracts the mosquitoes!

Poor rabbit, I dropper her – you can see where her seat smashed. She's still hanging in! 😜

We had a late frost in spring, and the squash on the left has come back. The pumpkins on the right are growing (my daughter brought me some seeds), but I'm not hopeful, it's pretty late in the season.


A fritillary on the clover!

She is just catching it to play. sigh. Third release in four days.

There are many people who have suffered from the pandemic. Emotionally and financially. I spotted these notepads created and sold on RedBubble, by an acquaintance who is an artist and on disability. She is having trouble making ends meet. 

Our grandies are coming this afternoon for the week, and Grampa has prepared an elaborate graduation celebration as they go into Gr. 6 and Gr. 9 for next year. (More on this later!) Usually they are at day camps part of the time in summer, or canoe camping with the family. They were hoping to go to an overnight camp, but they aren't open.  Such is life. I wonder how many grandparents are stepping up, like us.


I am always hopeful for rain. This petered out to nothing! I was so hopeful on the 25th.

 

We are the stone in the river! The storms seem to follow highway #7!

 Rain, glorious rain! Despite the rain avoiding us the 25th (above), the 26th brought some heavy rains. I'd forgotten to empty the water barrel after the pollen was done. It was putrid, generating bacteria in the barrel. I opened the spigot on Friday, knowing we were getting rain Saturday. We had a total of 16 mm, which was welcomed.


The beauty of the storm, the fish pond is full from the rain barrel. 

This was a weird result of the storm, it looks like a crop circle!

The slugs are happy with the rain.

The LDD caterpillars are slowing down, although they are approaching the end of their life cycle for this year. It's a mystery as to how some are still half the size (20 mm) of the older caterpillars (42 mm). Why don't they all hatch at the same time?

The pine needles are a green carpet on the ground.




These are from June, 2011. Fond memories of eating on a patio in Westport!

The catalpa tree has been in glorious bloom.


11 comments:

Anvilcloud said...

Good Sunday morning. Have a good day, Our AC is on already.

Tom said...

,,,each year we seem to have more and more milkweed, which is GREAT!

RedPat said...

The Catalpa flower is lovely! I'm so glad you are better.

Linda said...

Continue to feel better. You are both fantastic grandparents stepping up when needed. We do the same.

CanadianGardenJoy said...

Hi Jenn .. glad you are on the mend .. I had a reaction to our second Vaccine and it is dragging on as well. It is supposed to be like a sauna here for the coming week . I hide in the house as much as possible. I have missed your posts because I just couldn't sit here for long. I saw the "batty" post and wow .. you took that so well ! I would have locked myself and Sophie in the bat free bathroom and not come out until it was GONE ! LOL

KarenW said...

I hope you continue to feel better. It seems to be hit or miss having reactions.
We had a LOT of rain overnight. We were worried about our lane but it survived. The rain barrels are full again. The garden is growing like mad.

Red said...

I hope you don't get the lovelies who visited my lily. The larvae of the red beetle just about finished all lilies.

The Furry Gnome said...

Our grandson (out in B.C.) goes into grade six in September. So glad you're feeling better. Lots of rain here now finally!

Lorrie said...

You are wonderful grandparents! We will be doing some childcare this summer, too, although day camps are operating here. We are in the midst of an incredible heat wave and would welcome some rain to cool things down.

Lorrie said...

Pressed publish before I was done.
Glad you're feeling better. My second vax is the 10th of July and as I had a reaction (aches and pains and fatigue) the first time, I'm expecting one this time, too. But it's worth it.

William Kendall said...

We got some of that heavy rain too.