July 2021

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Understand

There are places I’d like to return to. But not as I was then but as I am now. ‘Cause I’m trying to understand. And I’ve understood nothing.

Leonora Carrington

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elderberry flowers
Does anyone else remember Bert Cooper on Mad Men asking a whiskey person if they had any Spirit of Elderflower? Hilarious…
Oh, the sky!!
Red hot poker – they took a beating with the deep freeze, with hardly any coming up or blooming. Sad face.

First kohlrabi of the season, huzzah!! We like them roasted, in soup or salad, salad rolls, pretty much anyway we can get them. Plus, how cute is Farmer Greg?!

Speaking of Farmer Greg – he turned fifty! Looking good Mr. Half Century!

I made banana chocolate chip cake with banana frosting to celebrate. It was wonderful!

We also went out for burgers and a shingles shot because we REALLY know how to party. If you’re over fifty and haven’t been vaccinated against shingles, giddy-up and go. Seriously, for your very own sake. Unless your sores ooze in a public place (eew), you can’t give it to anyone, but goll-ee does it sound like a nightmare. I’ve heard horror stories of people not being able to tolerate a sheet on their body because of the pain. You can also have permanent nerve damage (ouch!) and multiple recurrences. No, thank you.

Mary and Michael visited us last weekend! How wonderful it was to be together without quarantining beforehand and then hope no one was asymptomatic, as we are all fully vaccinated. So many shots this year, oof. Did I mention we got our tetanus updated, too?

Jesus chills while we puzzle, of course. He’s an old man (almost fifteen!), but is as cute as when he was a puppy and very tolerant of Juniper wanting to romp.

Butterfly cherry pie! We grew all the cherries! Heck yeah…

Sunflower parting shot, ours are sure going like gangbusters this year…

yellow dianthus : low creeping sumac : peony : iris : New Mexican privet : ratbida : echinacea : fernbush : golden currant
echinacea : horehound : yarrow: Grandpa’s potentilla : New Mexican Privet : mallow
mallow – it blooms like mad for months and makes pollinators very happy
crocosmia : foxglove : horehound : sea buckthorn : Apache plume : fern bush : Grandpa’s potentilla : yarrow : dwarf mugo pine
goldenrod : serviceberry : penstemon : hyssop : horsetail milkweed : mallow : amaranth : rabbitbrush : choke cherry
horehound : Grandpa’s potentilla : mallow : foxglove : crocosmia : scarlet runner beans
Nine foot tall sunflowers!!
golden currant : fernbush : ratbida : evening primrose : echinacea : prickly poppy : oriental poppy : horsetail milkweed : hyssop : sedum : dwarf mugo pine
New Mexican privet : fernbush : golden currant : orange horned poppy : brown eyed susan : crocosmia : penstemon : red yarrow : sedum
never-ending rhubarb in a basket bought ages ago in Portland

Though there is always more growing to do, like with the evergreens and a few of the shrubs, I feel like our gardens, and my vision for them, have come to fruition. With the exception of this year’s new plants and the fruit and vegetable patch, we don’t provide any additional water – a xeriscaped haven in the high desert of Colorado Springs!

It is truly exciting to no longer think long-term, wondering what more needs to be added. Everything is here, huzzah! We’ll replace whatever becomes diseased or dies, of course. In the mean time, what a pleasure to wander amongst plants of varying heights, textures, and colors, to hear all the critters and winged visitors, bird and insect alike.

How cute, also, is farmer Greg harvesting lettuce made safe from marauding, but ever adorable, rabbits. We’ve also learned they enjoy echinacea flower petals for dessert, rats. The ups and downs of sharing a space with all the four-leggers.

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Incredible

The incredible gift of the ordinary! Glory comes streaming from the table of daily life.

Macrina Wiederkehr

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While in Cheyenne, I bought a painting of a view of this very mesa from a different angle. Isn’t she a beauty? The wondrous part is that it was painted by a woman named Bev Finger, who shares the first name of my beloved Aunt who lived in Casper for more than thirty years!

A Ferruginous Hawk, maybe?

More fabulous food at The Fort. Tex-Mex fried chicken and a French Dip. And how about the cool interior? It really looked like a fort!

The ever elusive Jackalope…

Better Together

Y E S !

A sunset stroll along the North Platte. A little slice of heaven, to be sure…

Giddy-up!
Aunt Bev during her high school years
Uncle Lyle & Aunt Bev in their Casper house

We had fun wandering Casper and visiting the house my Aunt Bev’s family lived in for all those years. Though she died in 2005, her spirit is still very much there, as creative, independent, and kindly as ever!

On the day of our arrival in Casper, we spied more lemonade stands that we’d ever seen. When we stopped at one, we learned it was Lemonade Day and is meant to teach kids about what it takes to be entrepreneurs, on every level.

The cute kid who ran the stand we visited was planning on buying a new Lego set and giving $20 to an animal shelter with his earnings. Pretty wonderful!

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