Teddy Bear Sunflowers

I went to a Pilates class in a new place this morning. …One of my teachers has opened her own studio much closer to  home with lovely light,  echoing acoustics and an overactive cooling system for 8am. While I was gone, OilMan went down to the mailbox to get the newspaper and Blake, who has a fondness for remote controls, found the one for the gas fireplace. By the time OilMan got back with the paper, the remote control was in the living room, and the fireplace was blazing. It was the same when we had small children…just when I thought I had 'childproofed' the home, Dana crawled outside and ate  a poisonous mushroom from the lawn, Matt climbed out of his crib and onto the roof, or someone left the door open and Tim crawled out into the road.

When I got home, I took my coffee out on the porch and watched the finches squabbling like prima donnas over the Supreme Blend birdseed, and the orioles gobbling grape jelly. The butterflies continue to frustrate me with their balletic dance in mid-air, never alighting. The zinnias continue to grow ever taller and smaller, and the dahlias are almost finished.This usually happens in late September, but we seem to be at least a month ahead of ourselves this summer.

While OilMan practiced at his 'driving range' in the field, Blake quietly destroyed several feet of irrigation tubing. He gave himself away when  he came running into the house with a dripping wet head. 

We are being asked to refrain from using gas driven weed whackers, lawnmowers and leaf blowers in the middle of the day to prevent sparking a fire.  I personally would be happy if all of them. were banned. Who has a lawn left to mow anyway?

My thoughts are with all the firefighters and soldiers battling blazes throughout the Western states, some of them from as far away as Australia and New Zealand. Three young men lost their lives in Washington. I fervently hope that there will be no more….

My thoughts are also with Jimmy Carter, former President and humanitarian, who spoke yesterday with grace and great dignity about the spread of cancer in his brain.