If we were having coffee: Out, about, and in the garden edition

Enjoying the lavender.

Anthropocentric as [the gardener] may be, he recognizes that he is dependent for his health and survival on many other forms of life, so he is careful to take their interests into account in whatever he does. He is in fact a wilderness advocate of a certain kind. It is when he respects and nurtures the wilderness of his soil and his plants that his garden seems to flourish most. Wildness, he has found, resides not only out there, but right here: in his soil, in his plants, even in himself…
But wildness is more a quality than a place, and though humans can’t manufacture it, they can nourish and husband it…
The gardener cultivates wildness, but he does so carefully and respectfully, in full recognition of its mystery.

~ Michael Pollan, Second Nature: A Gardener’s Education

On the street in Salisbury.

If we were having coffee, tea, lemonade, water, or some other beverage, I would be pleased to see you again.  Come on in!  Let’s go to the kitchen, grab something to eat and drink, and head out to the deck by the pool where we can settle in for a nice chat.  The weather is lovely today, isn’t it?  Clear, sunny, and warm, but not too warm.  The rain that came through on Thursday night and Friday morning cleared out the heat and humidity temporarily.  Summer, of course, will return soon.  We should enjoy this beautiful weather while we can.

Scenes from Salisbury on 3rd Friday (yesterday evening).

How are you?  What have you been up to since our last chat?  Are you well into summer activities yet or is it still spring where you are?  Have you traveled anywhere?  Taken any good hikes or walks?  Tried anything new?  Have you read any good books or seen any good films?

Love.

I’m still making my way through Asimov’s Nemesis, and honestly, I’m not sure I’ll finish it.  It’s not a bad book, but it isn’t grabbing my interest.  I don’t care about the characters, and if I don’t care about the characters, I usually don’t care about the story or the book.

The piebald deer. It’s a buck and we saw him on our way home from Salisbury yesterday. The only camera I had was my phone so I took this using the lens of the binoculars to zoom in.

I did get two books from the library, and started on one of them yesterday.  Lisa, over at Arlingwords, recently posted about what she has been reading, and I’m always looking for new (to me) authors to read so I checked online and was able to get Life Class and Toby’s Room (both by Pat Barker) through an interlibrary loan.

One with the flowers, my latest double exposure self-portrait.

As for films, M and I recently watched The Revenant.  We’d both read the book, and we both thought it was quite a good read.  I thought the movie was good, too.  Violent, but that was expected.  DiCaprio’s performance was amazing.

The sage continues to bloom.

If we were having coffee, tea, or something else to drink, I would tell you that M and I went to Salisbury for 3rd Friday yesterday evening.  We had dinner first at one of our favorite Salisbury restaurants, Roadie Joe’s.  Maybe it’s too early to call it a favorite since this was only our third visit, but their food and service have been consistently good.  I’m looking forward to working my way through their menu although that’s going to be tough since they usually have tempting specials.  It’s not an extensive menu, but if I keep ordering a special instead of something off the menu, it could take me a while.

More sage. Just because.

We were able to sit out on the patio and listen to the live music while we enjoyed our dinner.  The weather was perfect for it.  Warm, with a lovely breeze.  This month’s 3rd Friday theme was Paw Prints, and there were lots of dogs out and about with their people.  I enjoyed walking around the plaza after dinner looking at all the art displayed (and for sale) by local artists.  It was fun meeting and greeting some of the dogs, too.

Bloomin’ onion.

If we were having coffee or some other beverage, I would tell you that the growing season is in full swing around here.  We stopped off at a local farm market yesterday and the first of the blueberries are in just as the last of the strawberries are on their way out.  There were locally grown tomatoes, radishes, and summer squashes to be had, too.

A fan of iris leaves.

In our own gardens, the eggplant, beans, tomatoes, and cucumbers have flowered, there is broccoli ready to be picked (in spite of the rabbits who tried to chew it all down), a bumper crop of Swiss chard, and it won’t be long before I’m picking banana peppers.  There are already a few on the plants that look just about ready to be plucked.

The second zinnia.

The scrounger’s garden is a riot of blooms.  The lavender and sage continue to flower like gangbusters, the daylilies are almost finished, the butterfly bushes are crowded with blooms, the roses are practically bent over from the weight of all the flowers, and the zinnias are just beginning to open.  I saw my first Monarch butterfly near the flower garden early this morning.

The first Monarch of the season in the scrounger’s garden.

If we were having coffee, I would ask if you’d like to take a walk.  We could go out to the meadows to see what’s blooming out that way.  It has been a while since I’ve taken a stroll on the meadow paths.  I’ve seen Queen Anne’s Lace blooming near the pond so I bet there is plenty of that to be found in the meadows.  I wonder if the Black-Eyed Susans are flowering yet?  Let’s go see.

First zinnia.

If we were having coffee, tea, lemonade, or something else to drink, I would thank you for visiting.  I always enjoy our coffee chats, and hope you do too.  After our walk, please feel free to stay a while.  You can go for a swim if you like.  I need to get back out to the garden.  The weeds grow faster than I can pull them.  I have challenged myself to work in the flower garden every day for a minimum of twenty minutes. The challenge helps because it gets me out there and once out there, my work time usually stretches into an hour or two.  Even so, I can’t keep up.  You’re welcome to lend a hand if you’re in the mood for a little work.

Queen Anne’s Lace by the pond.

We have had some lovely sunsets lately.  After some work, a swim, and dinner, let’s head down to the Point to see what kind of show Mother Nature is putting on for us tonight.  Sunset is at 8:28 PM.  We should watch for the moonrise while we’re at it.  The moon is nearly full.

Be good, be kind, be loving.  Just Be.  🙂

Beautiful sunset this week.

This post is in response to Part Time Monster’s #WeekendCoffeeShare.  Thank you to Diana for hosting it.  Also, a big congratulations for the #WeekendCoffeeShare being featured on WordPress’s Daily Post.  So glad to see it being shared among the rest of the community!  Put the kettle on, start the coffee maker, open a bottle of wine, or whatever your preference is, and join us.  I’d love to hear all about what you were up to this week.