JULY IS OVER!!

Where is the summer going so fast?  We ended the month of July by taking two of our granddaughters (8 and 10 years old--daughters of Son #2) to the beach for a few days.  We had a wonderful time, lots of laughs, some fun at the beach, swimming pool time, and great visiting!  Those two girls were so polite and well-behaved that it made our trip all that more enjoyable.

The girls wanted me to paint a picture of them like I did when we took two of the girls to the beach three years ago.  I like this shot below for the colors, the waves and the sky.  They made sure I took a bunch of pictures to use as a guide for my painting. 

The girls also enjoyed early morning walks on the beach where they gathered sea shells and sand crabs (Eew!) so they could examine their pinchers and blue eyes and then let them go again.

On the way home from the beach we stopped off to visit Son #1 and family, and then went on to visit Son #4 and family.  The cousins all had a grand time seeing each other.

And now we move into August--ALREADY!

Spring??

It felt like spring today. In fact, it really felt like summer all of a sudden! They said we set a new record high for this date with 92 about the middle of the afternoon. I did some yard work, cleaned leaves out of my pond, and trimmed up our banana trees that had not frozen back all the way this past winter. The fronds from last summer were nipped by the few freezes that we had. However, big, new green fronds are poking up out of the tops of the banana trees already. And I took a couple of pictures of the potato vines that bloom all winter. I really enjoy looking out on a cold day and seeing the brave little flowers blooming their heads off.

Tomorrow is supposed to be about 30 degrees cooler than today. Our touch of summer was short-lived. However, it really put me in the mood to do some digging in the yard. I am thinking about doing an herb garden in big pots around my pond this year. We have so many trees in our yard that sunlight is a problem for growing many plants. Maybe the container herb garden will work this summer. After reading Kara's description of the fragrance of basil, I can hardly wait to plant some for us! I am thinking about planting basil, thyme, lavender, and I already have some rosemary started to add to the pots. Umm! Fragrance!