Took a break from all the coughing and nose blowing and groaning to wander around outside between thunderstorms and rain showers.

And oh, what a marvelously wet and lovely world it is out there.

I was able to forget about my current life on the couch for just long enough.

P.S. I apologize for any missing photos from here on out. Our second (Yes. I said second.) hard drive in a year bit the dust. Taking with it photos from my camera that were neither saved to the "cloud" nor backed-up on our portable hard drive. Though we had assumed both. Yeah. Technology. Not without it's frustrations...

Sometimes "the best laid schemes of mice and men..."

...go awry. 

Such as having two busy weeks packed full of end of the Summer stuff only to end up with a VERY nasty flu bug, that has been making it's way, systematically, through the house.

Oh well, at least the AC is working.

And as I am the last to get the dreaded virus things should be on the upswing soon.

Now if only the computer's issues could be cured with some fluids and some rest and about three boxes of tissue.

Needless to say I will be coming to you from my phone for awhile...

Well, I have no idea what happened to July. 

No. 

Idea.

It apparently passed by in a blur of swimming lessons, family trips, summer school and as much time spent outdoors as possible.

Now August is here and I have much the same feeling. For already the month is half gone and there has not been a free weekend to speak of nor is there a free weekend yet to be found. 

Anywhere.

And oh, have you noticed the days are getting shorter?

There's a bite to the evening wind?

More blustery clouds are gathering on the horizon at sunset?

Only too soon Labor day will be here and then coming quickly on it's heels a flurry of soccer practices and soccer games.

School will start. 

Once again the library and the grocery store will become semi-deserted ghost towns during the morning hours and the whole neighborhood will cease to buzz and hum. 

Until three in the afternoon, anyway.

Soon the Farmer's Market stalls, filled to bursting with sunflowers and tomatoes and rainbow-colored chard, will be piled with pyramids of Apples and baskets of small gourds.

In my own garden, which has been gradually showing signs of the season change, there will be wildflower seeds to collect and Hostas to divide (always, with the Hostas...). Geraniums and roses to prune.

Hopefully the pots on my patio will yield a small crop of beets and carrots. Not to mention a bounty of herbs.

And while I am content with the number of daffodil bulbs we put in last fall I just cannot help myself when it comes to plans for some Alliums and Tulips and maybe a bit more Muscari?

Anyway, here are some photos of what's still coloring these mellow late summer days in our yard.

(We think the below is a volunteer pumpkin vine; growing amongst the ivy and pachysandra under my front window boxes. Perhaps it is a souvenir from last fall when the squirrels devoured ALL of the pumpkins we put out for display...?)

'Tis midnight now.

The bent and broken moon, batter'd and black, as from a thousand battles,

hangs silent on the purple walls

of Heaven.

Joaquin Miller

This week was...

Fireflies and thunderstorms, Berry colored Hollyhocks and bunches of roses, Afternoons in the pool and evenings in the hammock,

oh so much Soccer and oh so much Tennis, Homemade chocolate sorbet and sticky sweet kettle corn, Chins stained with fresh picked strawberry juice and concerts in the park at Twilight...

Look at us, said the violets blooming at her feet, all last winter we slept in the seeming death but at the right time God awakened us, and here we are to comfort you. 

~Edward Payson Rod

Ok. So these aren't violets. But the quote was too perfect to pass up.

I feel like I wait for this moment all year long.  

This moment.

When my peony bush is in full bloom. 

And the yard and the house are filled with the most amazing scent.

Currently the whites are outdoing themselves.

And in the next few days the pinks I transplanted from my parent’s yard should open. For the first time. In three years.

That's a long wait.

But perhaps that is all part of the charm and the allure that is the Peony.