The Season Gets Busy.

7-9-25 VERMONT: Lily, Danna, Matt, and Harrison were here for the Fourth weekend. They helped us get the boat out of the barn and into the pond and pulled the buggy out of the barn. We went to the parade in Strafford, visited the church on the green and the meeting house. We had dinners on the deck, preceded by celebratory beverages.

In Strafford, Coburn’s General Store has been sold by the family to a group of investors from the town, and the transfer happened on the Fourth. A new sign was hung, and everybody marched in the parade. We bought shirts and hats that marked the occasion.

The kids were in and out of the boat harassing the frogs with little nets and actually captured one, but he/she escaped from the bucket.

We all went to an miniature art show/sale at the Justin Morrill Homestead. Judy is bidding on a couple of the items. 

The kids went to the fireworks show in Fairlee. They left after a pancake breakfast on Sunday morning. 

Today, Anna, Gardner, Younchin arrived with GGS Emmett. He is mad about the dogs, his fire engine and his personal chair.

New blooms: phlox, bee balm, rhododendron, catmint, hybrid daylily, red spirea [actually out for a couple weeks].

Seen in the parade.

Parade attendee.

lily and Danna at the Meeting House in Strafford.

Inside the Meeting House.

Hunters on safari.

Beverages on the deck.

Renegade frog.

Water lily flower.

Flower Power.

7-3-25 VERMONT: The flowers are coming thick and fast. Something new every day, but I am not overwhelmed, I am steadfastly reporting it all. 

We had dinner at Cloudland with cousin John and at Casa Brava with Shari and Dave.

We got rain today 0.25 inches in three dumps with sunshine in between.

Lily and Danna arrive tonight with guests.

I planted with help from Hiliary and Matt, two bee balm, Monarda didy ‘Grape Gumball’, three speedwell, Veronica spicata ‘Blue Skywalker’, and two lobelia, Lobelia Siphilitica ‘Great Blue’. They all went on the pond bank.

New blooms: summer sweet, catalpa, daylily, delphinium, daisy, filipendula, mallow, astilbe, ox eye, hosta. 

Maltese Cross is a little gem of bright red.

Daylilies start at the beginning of July and finish at the end of the month.

Ox Eye has aphids on the stem. I'm waiting for Ladybugs to come and eat them.

Filipendula are growing in two beds, these are the first to open. They may be too invasive.

Daisies on the edge of the lower pond. These are the ones you buy, not the wild ones that have been open for a while.

The catalpa tree with white flowers.

Cold Wave.

6-28-25 VERMONT: The heat is gone, replaced by cool, low seventies today and possibly rain later. We’ve eaten at Casa Brava Tapas in the South Street Hotel and at Red Can and had pizza from C & S in WRJ—all good. Tonight  we go to Cloudland Farms with cousin John.

I done more pruning at my slow, slow pace and have the piles to prove it. Next week we get basement clean outs. 

I braved the mosquitos and sat outside for bird pix and caught some blue birds. 

Judy’s new right-side mirror has finally been replaced after many months of waiting for parts from Subaru, thanks to grandson Eoin sending us to a parts-site that actually had parts.  

Next week we get guests for the Fourth Holiday, how many remains a mystery.

New blooms: valerian, fever few, Russian sage. 

Another peony, I like these single flowers better than the usual doubles. and I love this color.

The roses that I planted by the pasture fence years ago are taller every season.

Phoebe atop the barn weathervane.

Bluebirds, parent on the right and immature on the left. The immature bird has a blue tail.

Bluebirds again, parent on the right and immature on the left.

Mother bluebird and immature in the grass.

Tiger Swallowtail on roses.

Luna Moth.

Fever Few.

Heat Wave.

6-24-25 VERMONT: We are in the middle of a heat wave with feel-like temps of 100° plus. So very glad we did the heat pumps with AC, the house is comfortable at 75°. If you’re outside mid-day the heat hits you like a hammer. 

The last rain, before the heat, dumped 0.3 inches on us. Things aren’t drying out that much because of the high humidity. 

I saw an owl that I inadvertently scared away near the upper pond where he/she has been eating crawfish again. I set the game cam up there to try to capture an image. Four turkeys flew over the deck and pond yesterday before disappearing into the woods, and there was a duck on the lower pond briefly. The robins are raising a second brood under the eaves behind the old mudroom. I will try for bird pix when it’s cooler.

Neighbor Valerie gave us about 50 blue Siberian iris that I planted on the western edge of the upper pond and fenced them off to prevent them from getting mowed. We replaced a dead rose by the lower pond with a pink/white rosa rugosa, Snow Pavement, R. ‘Schneekoppe’. I also did some pruning.

We got a new hot water heater yesterday, and today we get a new dishwasher.

New blooms: blue-eyed grass, foxglove, fence roses, yarrow, goats beard, lady’s mantle.

Itoh peony in yellow.

Another Itoh--different color.

Pink Poeny.

Pinker Peony.

Pink and pinker.

This rose opens in yellow, turns pink and fades to white. It had a lot of dead branches now pruned off. I hope it rebounds.

So glad we're in AC.

Chaos Reigns.

6-20-25 VERMONT: As they say, if it’s not one thing, it's another. First the dishwasher didn’t work, and after trying the circuit breakers and checking the electrical connection to the machine, we concluded the appliance was broken. We arranged for a new unit, and for it to be installed Tuesday. 

Next there was no hot water, I the checked the pilot, out, and re-lit it, and it worked, but the plumber said have the gas company should check the thermocouple. They said the unit was installed in 1996, and now everything is wrong, so it needs a replacement, to be scheduled.  

The parts for Judy’s car are on the way, we are informed—we’ll see.

Today was very windy, but with Scott’s help we got the doors changed to screens and the benches deployed in the yard. Yesterday we got 0.1 inch of rain and the day before 0.75 inches.

Yesterday it was incredibly hot, and we ran the heat pump AC and needed a window fan at night. The previous days it was cold and and we had a fire. That’s the chaos we expect.

New blooms: Jacobs ladder, Solomons seal, false Solomons seal, chive, Diablo, peony, bishops weed, celandine.

Peonies, with the roses, are the stars of June.

Irises--blue,yellow, white.

The thyme is right for flowers.

Knapweed with tiger swallowtail.

Mid-Summer.

6-16-25 VERMONT: I came north yesterday. The traffic was light and the trip uneventful—the way I like them. I brought the tomatoes and herbs and some cuttings from California curtesy of Siobhan. She gave me pieces of aeonium and Crassula ovata [money plant, jade plant]. They’re both succulents, so they don’t need much water, just lots of sun. I potted them in NJ and brought them to VT for the summer. Neither is hardy for the Northeast. All the plants are now settled on the deck.

Today I treated the ponds for algae and clarity, filled the hummingbird feeders, counted the new blooms and took pix. That doesn’t sound like much, but with all the rest periods, it was my day’s work. 

The robins have a new brood. I saw blue birds, phoebes and swallows today. There are at least two turtles in the lower pond now. The upper pond is still draining into the lower pond. A merganser landed on the lower pond yesterday but left before her picture was taken.

Judy and the dogs will join me later this week.

New blooms: NJ-St Johns wort, beauty berry.

                      VT-Wentworth viburnum, lupin, poppy, Asian lilac, roses, thyme, dianthus, hybrid daylily, blue star, iris, Itoh peony, weigela, abelia, bachelor button, baptisia, meadow rue, knapweed, master wort, bridal wreath spirea, anemone.

Itoh peony come in unusual colors and here in VT come out a few days ahead of the regular peonies.

Poppies are so vivid.

On the pond bank, poppies in front, roses in the back and iris in the middle.

Also on the pond bank, lupin, anemone, Japanese primrose, iris.

More pond bank, yellow flag iris and reflections.

Tiger swallowtail on the last of the azaleas.

Los Gatos Weekend.

6-7-25 LOS GATOS, CALIFORNIA: We flew from Newark, EWR, to San Fran, SFO, with no delays or cancellations and arrived 20 minutes early. We were  met by Eoin and Siobhan. I used a wheelchair to get to the gate and from the gate. Especially in SFO, there are millions of gates and miles of walking necessary.

In Los Gatos we connected with Joe and Jon and went to dinner downtown at a Korean place. It was excellent. By the time dinner was over it was way past our bedtime, and we checked into Hotel Los Gatos for an early or late bedtime depending on which time zone you use.

This morning we drove to Monterey Bay Aquarium and joined hundreds of other fish lovers for the exhibits, inside and outside. We saw kelp forests, sea otters inside and outside, jelly fish, tropical reefs, shore birds, penguins, skates, sea lions, pelicans, leopard sharks, clown fish, and a thousand tiny humans. In the bay we also saw kayakers, sailors, fishermen, paragliders. The last time we were here, Eoin and Joe were in a stroller, this time I wished I was in a stroller. By mid-afternoon everybody was fished out and we went to dinner at a nearby place, The Fish Hopper, one of many choices on Cannery Row. After dinner, we returned to Los Gatos and hung out at the house playing with their rambunctious dogs, Juno and Friday. 

Tomorrow back to EWR. 

Jelly Fish swimming up and down.

From Siobhan's garden a bird of paradise.

From Siobhan also, aeonium, a succulent.

Outside of the aquarium, coromorants on the rocks.

The kelp forest and inhabitants.

Tufted Puffin.

African penguins.

Sea Otters.

Killdeer.

A reminder of early days in Monterey.