Rare sightings

The fireflies have been absolutely spectacular this summer. As in, I have added them to my calendar every night this week so I don't miss the show. At dusk, the species near ground level light up, and then as it gets darker over the next hour, the species at tree level light up. 

After all my spring garden woes, the summer garden is now a lovely place to be. I had to replant when an animal or insects got some of the smaller seedlings, but it looks like I'll have green beans, eggplant, and tomatoes very soon. And I've come to terms with the inexplicable death of most of the asparagus plants, and will be turning that into an extra bed for fall-producing plants.

I haven't felt much like blogging, and have no real excuse. But I wanted to capture a few highlights of the past month.

In May, I went camping with my physicist friends, something we've done for many years (excepting 2020, of course). The adults were all vaccinated and my friends have literally embraced my efforts to fill my hug deficit, post-covid. The highlight of the trip, besides hugs and singing with people again, was sitting around the campfire and watching the International Space Station fly by. There are handy webpages for helping you figure out when you'll see it, but once you do, you can't miss it - it was a bright object whizzing across the sky, and it was amazing to imagine astronauts up there just living their lives in space.

My peonies bloomed. Peonies were the flower that prompted me to design the cottage garden in front of my house, because I had run out of places to put new shrubs. Peonies take a few years to establish themselves, but the scent was worth the wait, and as a side benefit I get a beautiful garden. Now that I work from home permanently, I've arranged my desk in my living room to have a terrific view of the garden, something that cheers me up year round. In fact, today I saw my very first hummingbird, something that was so exciting that I interrupted a meeting to announce the event.