Mums Too Early

As soon as I'm up and about each morning I look out the front and the back to see if there's anything new blooming so I'll have a jumping off place for this blog writing thing.  Today it was mums.  Mums!  In July!  I ask you, is that wrong or is that wrong?  It's so wrong.  Mums are for late September into October and maybe November to brighten up the days before winter clamps down and sends everything underground for 6 months or so.  These plants are confused and I will be trimming them back this evening when I get home from work.  It won't hurt them and it'll force them to bush out so that the next time they set blooms there will be more of them and it'll be the right time of year.  That takes care of that.  *dusts off hands*

The Stargazer lily has two blossoms open.  I'm not a fan of pink (never have been, never really will be) but oh I dearly love these pink blooms.  I love the waxiness of them and the freckles and the smell, oh they smell like heaven, so sweet the aroma kind of hurts your sinuses.  And of course it's too humid to open the window and let the aroma perfume the house.  After seeing how hard it was for Durwood to breathe on Saturday I'm not taking the risk.  I can smell it outside, or cut a blossom and bring it inside, yeah, that's what I'll do, snip one, cut off the anthers (the pollen-coated parts, that stuff stains), and float it in a bowl.  The red-orange Asiatic lilies next to the Stargazer are blooming like gangbusters too and if the Stargazer wasn't blooming I'd be all over it but that showy and sweet-smelling pink and white one's got me wrapped around its little finger, uh, stamen.

I seem to be teetering on the precipice of a bad case of Start-itis.  I have one slipper knitted and need to start the other but instead I knitted the second Packers (with a hint of Vikings) Bib, then I started crocheting July Men's Chemo Hat #1, now I've brought up a skein of colorful cotton yarn and the needles to make a mitered bib with ties, and the Oriole Wings Wrap is still in my knitting basket maybe half done.  I'll keep chugging away at the wrap, it'll be a longer haul but those other things can be done fairly quickly.  I need to finish one or two before I start something else.  Help me!  But not right away.

July 7 Paul Cezanne, The Fishermen.  The day was sunny, hot, and still but it was cool in the shade of the willows along the river.  Will and Alby sat with their shoes off and their feet dangling in the cool water.  They each had a fishing pole and between them was a basket for any fish they might catch.  Will's mom had sent them off with bologna sandwiches, an apple each, and a few cookies which hadn't survived the trip to the river.  Neither of them had caught anything yet.  Will had snagged a log or sunken branch and had lost his hook so Alby tied on another one for him.  Alby was better at knots, he was a Boy Scout.

It's Monday, it's payday, I have to go make the week's lunches and then go to work.  I'd rather stay home today.  Usually I'm ready to get up and out but today, today I think I'm feeling lazy.  Maybe the fact that my loaf of jalapeno cheddar bread that Durwood sliced all thin so I could toast it for sandwiches was moldy so I had to toss it took the wind out of my sails today, but I'll go.  Really.  Here I go... soon.  No, I really need to get a move on... yeah, here I go... it's Cheerio time... moving on.  No, really... seeyabye.
--Barbara