Flowers and Parades

Fresh off our August vacation, I will attempt to test the limits of memory and recall what happened in July. Of course, there were flowers. In July things really get kicking, including the weather. If you are familiar with the mid-Atlantic, you know that it's the humidity that really gets you. We had several days of 90+ temperatures with 80-100% humidity. On those days I usually don't start working in the garden until it's starting to get dark, which is a race against time now that the days are getting shorter again. The flowers though, the flowers are amazing.

We live in an odd location. The county is a suburb of Washington, DC, contains about a million people, and is one of the most diverse in the entire country. But if you travel to the edges, you're suddenly in farmland and the vibe is completely different. There is a local 4th of July parade that we go to every year that features the odd tradition of every float throwing masses of candy to the kids. It's a combination of Halloween and Mardi Gras, with children going nuts and swarming the street. It also features Santa at the end, as all parades in July should. 

Literally anyone can sign up to be in this parade. It's mostly local businesses and fire engines. One year there was a grocery store delivery semi truck. This year there was a bunch of kids hanging out in a dumpster. The bar is low, my friends.

The dahlias have started producing and I'm reminded why this is such a popular flower. They are truly showstoppers. The bugs also love them which necessitates putting organza bags over each bud to protect the flowers. The bag strings are always getting caught when I try to pull them off which leads to much colorful language. 

The above is "Edinburgh" which is my favorite. Below is "Hollyhill Black Beauty" which is also my favorite. The cool thing about dahlias is that they just continue to get better and better as we get into fall. The same plant will produce flowers that look completely different from the first blooms.

It's all about the angle, right? If I crouch down in the corner of the yard, I get get a photo that disguises all the weeds and McMansions, making it look like the garden is a lush paradise. You can't even see all the bug damage!

For some reason my workplace decided to have Take Your Kid to Work Day in the middle of the summer instead of on the actual day in April. Mary was already signed up for camp that day, but I took Cora and she absolutely loved it. Between making slime, putting Mentos into Coke bottles to make a fountain, and watching fun science tricks, she did not get an accurate picture of what work is like. I have never gotten to make slime at work! The whole thing must be to trick kids into wanting to have a job one day, and then when they get there it's like, "HAHA actually you just have to sit at this computer all day and listen to people complain. No, you can't just make fire turn different colors."

I managed to escape giant zucchini for years, but this year the girls wanted their own garden. They planted some seeds and watered them a few times, and then proceeded to forget about the whole thing. Still, zucchini grew because this plant will survive the apocalypse. They resulted in some delicious chocolate zucchini "bread" (i.e., cake) and something called a zucchini pie, which was like a crustless quiche. Both were delicious.

At the beginning of the year I set out to finish up some lingering projects, and I've finished most of them! I completed an art journal, and this month I finished the last page in my watercolor sketchbook. Almost all of the paintings were from tutorials, so I'm hoping to branch out now and start painting my own compositions. 

I also finished my quilt! The quilting went way faster than I thought because I ended up with some free time over the long 4th weekend, when the kids were at their grandparents and I was blessedly alone in the house. I got the whole thing done in a few hours while listening to an audiobook. I had originally planned to hang it on the wall, but it's migrated down to the couch for now. Next up, I have ANOTHER unfinished quilt to work on. After I finish that, you can guess what I'll do. Start another and then take 10 years to finish it.

On to the last month of summer break; school starts in 21 days!