More rain last night and this Monday morning, fortunately not hard but just as wet. The sun has managed to break through off and on though not for long and the dog and I are tired of being housebound how on earth did people who live in apartments do it for a whole year and so we ventured out a few minutes ago. Holy fucking cow and I thought the mosquitoes were bad a couple of days ago. They are so thick and fierce they swarmed me and the dog almost immediately, nearly carrying us away as if they were flying monkeys. In we ran as they tag along on clothes and bodies so that once inside they are still attacking. Even if I doused myself with repellant I don't think it would stop these fuckers. I did notice while I was out there that these 10 days or so of rain have beat the petals off most of the yellow coneflowers so I'll be pulling them out, neither has it been kind to the petunias but I think they'll recover as soon as it dries out.
Two views of the yard...
what's blooming foreground: porterweed, black and blue salvia, black eyed susans; mid-ground: red salvia, society garlic, day lily, elephant garlic; background: pink rose, white althea with red throat
purple coneflowers, white althea
Sunday Minnie was letting me know in no uncertain terms that she wanted to go for a walk so I put the harness on her and out we went but had to cut it short as it started sprinkling oh joy and we did make it back to the house before it started raining in earnest but just barely. We saw this though, when we started out. I had watched the dozen or so vultures earlier in the day picking at whatever it was and as we got closer I could see that it was a big turtle and my heart just sank immediately thinking that Big Mama had somehow gotten out but no, she's big but not this big and the head on this thing must be 3” in diameter. Looks like it crawled out of the ditch and got run over. Monday, something had dragged it into the street and today it's gone altogether.
Well, I did get the book I was reading read in record time. I'm bored with FB and Twitter, I'm caught up on reading blogs. If this weather doesn't break soon I'm going to have to resort to cleaning house to keep myself busy. Or, I suppose I could do a drawing. I do have a picture that needs to be hung as well as some of my glasswork.
I'm still not feeling the urge to create, after 44 years of drawing and crafting everyday, I wonder if I'm done with all that. Surely not.
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Monday afternoon the sun finally came out breaking up the overcast into huge puffy white cumulus clouds towering up into the sky. Once again Minnie was bugging me to go outside so I went and stood in the sun in the street away from grassy things. My sister saw me and came out to ask me why I was standing in the street. “It's the most mosquito free spot I could find,” I told her.
I finally did my yoga routine Monday morning even though that one spot on my upper arm still hurt and after, it didn't hurt any less but it didn't hurt anymore either. And I did go to class last evening just modifying certain asanas and to my surprise, this morning it feels much better. So now I'm afraid to test it, waiting til this afternoon to see how it feels.
Poor tortoise!
ReplyDeleteI hate seeing that.
Your yard looks verdant from the rain. So there is that. I can sympathize about the mosquitos. That's one good thing about our lack of rain- they are not horrible. But the yellow flies are.
I'm glad your shoulder appears to be improving.
yeah, I should probably have given warning. I found it more interesting, it's head was so big. I think it was a snapping turtle.
Deleteme too, glad about the shoulder/arm so maybe whatever was pinched or compressed has finally unpinched. still feeling good.
I've been creating both fine art and crafts since the 1950's. All desire to create anything new has now flown over my head.
ReplyDeleteI went through a period of about two years once before doing no new work. it was a year last December when I finished the last piece I made.
DeleteI'm so glad that the sun has returned and you have a respite from all the rain. Your yard does look beautiful.
ReplyDeleteSo sad to see that tortoise. What a bummer.
Good to know that your arm is feeling better even after doing yoga. Yay!!!
If you talk the way you write we would have a very fucking funny conversation. Lots of "F" words flying off randomly every few seconds. I'd fucking love it!
me too! fuck is one of my favorite words and I use it liberally. I have to watch my tongue at SHARE though around all those churchy people.
DeleteI feel your sense of imprisonment! Then the mosquitoes, just in case you were missing any fun. We still need rain. I'm carrying water to my plants.
ReplyDeleteWe have competition level mosquitoes, not yet fully revved up though.
it's gotten mostly overcast again and they're still predicting the possibility of rain for later today and tomorrow but I think these storm systems are finally clearing out.
Deleteno outside hose bib?
Good description of the mosquitoes as flying monkeys! Sounds dreadful tho! I remember when I was a kid that the mosquito spraying trucks would come down the street and we would all run out to watch! What poison was that we breathed, I wonder!?!
ReplyDeleteprobably DDT. we would run through it.
DeleteOh my the flowers are going crazy in your care! Beautiful! No, You may never stop drawing and arting, it simply can not happen!
ReplyDeleteI imagine I'll get back to it sooner or later. I might even draw a poppy for memorial day.
DeleteSo glad that is not Big Mama turtle, but I'm sad a turtle that large lost its life.
ReplyDeleteAs for the rain, we can use it, and have been promised it for several days. Now it's delayed to tomorrow, when I'm going shopping.
Poor turtle, I hate seeing that. Your mosquitoes sound awful.
ReplyDeleteAhhh... sooo sorry about that turtle. For something that has such a long life, to have it ended that way... but then its body went to feed the birds, and that's important too. Still sad. Mosquitos this year are horrific. Robert was watching a baseball game on t.v. and suddenly the pitcher called time-out and headed for the dug-out. He came out with a can of bug spray and sprayed in a circle all around the pitcher's mound. Seems they were zeroed in on him to the point where he couldn't concentrate! Whew!
ReplyDeleteRoads are killing fields for turtles and tortoises. We see that here a lot. I am so sorry for your rain and you can certainly cast a spell and send some up our way. It is terribly dry here.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful gardens! The 2nd garden in the shade makes your house look so cute and cozy:)
ReplyDeletePlease read my post
ReplyDeleteI was afraid for Big Mama - but now I feel guilty at how relieved I am. Poor big ole guy.
ReplyDeleteYour yard is deceptively lovely. I don't spend a lot of time outside here, but it feels like the mosquitos aren't as bad as they were in Ohio. Maybe I'm delusional. And maybe I just doomed us to the Mosquito Summer of Hell. Ha!
I love these big clusters of flowering plants. I had to fight for something like it here as the gardener comes from a long (male) line of straight-in-a-row garden designers.
ReplyDeleteLook after that arm!
Rain, rain, but oh how beautiful it has made your garden. Take care of that arm, though I suspect yoga will only make it stronger.
ReplyDeleteI had such a sense of dread seeing that turtle photo and thinking it was Big Mama! I always hate seeing turtles that have been run over. It doesn't seem like it would be difficult for a driver to avoid them, and some people run them over just for sport!
ReplyDeleteI have never missed the mosquitoes I left behind in Florida.
As for your creativity, everyone goes through dry spells. Rest and recharge!