August Begins.

8-3-25 VERMONT: Summer always seems to zoom by while winter lasts forever, and it’s cold. Alison and Dan were here for a few days, and Val and  Steve are due in a few days from now. Tonight we go to the Loch Lyme Inn for dinner and to hear neighbor Steve’s band play. We are going with Shari and Dave.

We went to Casa Brava Tapas restaurant with A & D, who were pleased as were we. I finished a temporary wheel for Judy’s pumpkin cart. Judy successfully bid on an old, small table at Smith’s Auction, and it has found a new home here.

The weather is not as hot anymore, but we have had very little rain, and the grass is starting to go brown in spots. The lower pond is down a few inches, but the upper pond is down more than a foot.

Chippers, the tree people, were here during the week and took down the last of the three white pines that bordered the road. it was about 120-130 feet tall and had started rotting in the center. If it had fallen toward the house, it would have been a disaster. They spent less than a day cutting it down in small pieces, any of which probably weighed a ton. There was very little damage to the shrubs growing at its base.

Hummingbirds are very active, they love the bee balm and the feeders, which I am refilling almost weekly. They are very territorial, but for the first time ever there were two on a feeder at the same time. They spend more time chasing each other away from the flowers as they do using them. 

We have red squirrels here, less, I think, than in prior years. Generally the bigger grey squirrels are driving them out of their habitat. I caught one enjoying the blueberries, but I’m OK sharing.

Red squirrel is a blueberry bandit.

The white pine beforehand.

The pine afterwards. I was appalled in a way at how fast it went down--a massive living thing turned to sawdust.

The daylilies are almost done, but the real lilies just started.

Here's a hummer working the bee balm.

Helenium, also called sneeze weed, is actually not especially allergenic, but appears with the ragweeds.

Fall anemone just opened, it seems early, but maybe the plants know more than we do.

Judy's new old table fits right in.

North Haverhill Fair.

7-28-25 VERMONT: They left yesterday, Emmett and his parents, in a car packed to the brim, while we started and finished the clean up. They were among the best guests we've ever had. Alison and Dan are due on Wednesday. 

Saturday we went to the North Haverhill Fair for a look at all the animals and a bit of Fair food, Bloomin’ Onion and pulled pork sandwich. We ate and watched the games and rides and saw heifers, oxen, sheep and goats, tractors, a horse pull and took a lot of pix.

In the garden we have fritillary butterflies and the first monarch of the season. The tiger swallowtails are still here.

There has only been 0.2 inches of rain in the past ten days.

New blooms: cone flower, cup plant, helenium.

Five fritillary butterflies on Cone flowers.

Emmett, Mom and Dad. The new chair was a gift from them.

Emmett on the bench.

Fritillary on filipendula.

Prize winning Swiss Brown cow, can you tell that the cow is pregnant.

Yoked oxen, these are on the small size, big ones are taller than this handler.

Horse pull.

Stuff 4 sale.

Pond bank in July.

We Visit the Birds.

7-18-25 VERMONT: The hot and humid ended today with a cool and windy post cold front and a T-storm. We only got 0.1 inch of rain, but there was 1.15 over the last week. Things still seem dry, and the tomatoes need watering.

Emmett has been to story time at libraries in Norwich and Hanover, but today we did a trip to VINS [Vermont Institute of Natural Science] for the bird show. We saw raptors including owls, hawks, eagles, harriers, and the show with a harrier flying through the audience was the hit of the day. We even got souvenir owls a the gift shop. 

Emmett also visited the alpacas in the neighborhood. 

New blooms: pickerel weed, hydrangea, summer azalea, astilbe, hollyhock, rocket ligularia, meadow rue.

At VINS, this harrier put on a show for us and a zillion other kids.

We saw bald eagles at VINS. VINS is worth many visits.

An almost black flower from a hollyhock.

Summer azalea has subtle color.

Mid-summer pond bank.

Emmett helps feed the alpacas.

Nice sunset a few evenings ago.

Emmett's Here.

7-14-25 VERMONT: It’s been hot and rainy, but we’ve been out and about and doing the Upper Valley. Emmett had been to the Montshire Science Museum twice, to neighbors to see chickens and tractors, both of which he loved. Probably the tractor more than the chickens. 

At Post Mills Airport we watched an airplane take off towing a glider, then land and tow another glider up, up and away. We also toured the Airport Museum of the rusty and dusty. Then we circumvented Lake Fairlee. 

There was also a trip to Woodstock and a trip to Hanover. Emmett loves the dogs, but they are terrified of him and flee whenever he totters toward them.

It has been loads of fun for us and for him and for the adults in his staff.

New blooms: more hosta, more phlox, milkweed, pink filipendula, evening primrose. 

The only flower for today...

Computer Whiz banging away on my keyboard.

Firefighter at work.

At the Montshire, there's a moose.

It was Yaya's birthday on Friday.

Chickens can be a bit scary.

Bubbles on the deck.

Saying hello to Peachez.

Dancin' on the deck.

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.