Summer's underway.

With the surprise rain we got in the region, scads of fireflies have ended their dormancy in the soil, and my house seems to be ground zero for lightning bug frolics. One night the young woman next door knocked on my door to tell me I had hordes of them in my yard, and that no one else did. Sure enough, there's something here they love. :)

My flowers and herbs and everything are doing well. It's been pretty easy to keep them well hydrated, and even my lobelia are still putting on a grand show. I put a small variety cucumber plant in a big pot with coreopsis, and it's bloomed quite a bit. Time will tell if I'll get enough little cukes out of it to make at least a little jar of home-growed pickles. Fingers crossed.

The basil and mint are going great guns, and the Nasturtiums (my favorite) that I started from seed are thriving. The rock rose is huge and doing well, and even my butterfly weed is looking pretty grand and blooming continuously. I hope to put a few hours in on weeding and planting a thyme and bronze fennel I got in Dallas County last week - the swallowtail butterflies just love bronze fennel, and it has such a nice architectural feel to it.

I was weeding by the rock rose (labdanum) and skullcap last week and a nice  fat little frog came flying out when I got the roots up on a stubborn little clod of weed root. He was so lovely and healthy. I hope he rains froggy death on many mosquitos in my yard, and I hope he brought friends to help in the war effort.

All in all, this summer is quite pleasant thus far.

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I have a job on campus at my university, and someone from another department asked me last week if I knew someone who could work 10 hours a week in his department, and he lit up when I said that I'd be willing to work there, also. He got everything sorted, and now I'm going over to his department whenever I like. He doesn't micro-manage and doesn't even expect me to keep set hours, so I am all over that. I have a limited few set tasks, and I can listen to music or podcasts, and this will be great work once the semester starts.

I'm hoping to get some long-dreamt-of sewing projects off the ground very soon, and I've had marvelous quality time with the puppies.
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Father's Day was a great time at Mom and Dad's. Mom is still mending well from her surgery, and seems in much better form in general. Dad had a good time with all his kids and grandkids in the house. We laughed and laughed, and it was so easy to linger in the good, cherished company Sunday evening.

I'll try to write again soon, and I hope your Summer is as pleasant as can be!