Summer salads :-)

Last night, dinner was a salad of lettuce (two sorts), rocket and a sprig or two of that scratchy lettucy stuff, cucumber, peas, and little yellow plum-shaped "heirloom" tomatoes, all from the back garden. (The cheese, olive oil and balsamic vinegar came from Stop'n'Shop.) Even though the lettuces are zooming from seedling to bolted, it all tastes good!

Was a little annoyed this morning to see that the first ripe red tomato had blossom-end rot. Grr. That happened last year too... I think it's something to do with high humidity and then things drying out quickly and then more humidity... But I am going to have a bumper crop of various shapes and sizes of tomatoes, so losing a few won't hurt (and they go straight back to nature).

Must remember to pull all the overgrown radishes, and replant more lettuce...

Last day of July... already

It's Friday, end-of-the-week, end-of-the-month. The sky is low, heavy; almost-misty, but not quite; laden with mosquitos despite the best efforts of the martens who are looking plump and well-fed.

A storm is passing somewhere to the west, between us and the city. It may miss us entirely.

Someone dumped four large, perfect fish at the side of the road near the bay. The raccoons have already been cleaning them up, but the air is tinged with rot. A breeze and forty-eight hours will take care.

The egrets, small and large, have gathered on the wetlands in one large pond and in a few close-by trees. It looks like a conference.

Foggy raccoons

Two adult raccoons lumbered across my neighbour's lawn this early morning, their coats heavy with dew and colours fading into the warm fog that is blanketing us.

Sweet sweet peas

They are flowering, at last, in the large container and its pylon, by the front door. Gentle pinks and purples, and they smell so good. But are they not cool-weather flowers? I planted them early enough... did the nasty June hold them back so long?

The other peas--the snow peas and the peas-for-podding--in the back yard are already almost over.

Washed

Yesterday, and overnight, we had a huge amount of rain. Warnings of coastal flooding with tides two feet higher than usual, but as it was dark by high tide, we wouldn't have known until it was lapping at the door. It didn't. This morning, sunshine, blue sky.

Bella and I paddled through the shallow floods on the corner by the marina and on Forest Road.

I have a tree that I'm sure is going to come down soon--actually, my absent-neighbour-whoever-owns-the-plot-next-to-mine has a tree that is going to come down. It is a small wetlands tree, completely overwhelmed by years of bramble and vine overgrowth; wild rose taller than the tree itself, which is nearly bent double. I was trying to clean it up earlier in the week when I heard it groaning. Didn't want to be pinned beneath fifty years of dead wood, impaled on rose spines, so I left it alone. It's still standing this morning. Maybe it just needs a nudge from the right angle?

Nap time

Sleepy dog!

Little gems

The plan was to have these clambering up the gourd vine which by now should be all the way up to the bridge to the raised garden... but the slugs ate the first packet of gourd seeds, and most of the second... which are now about two inches high. I don't think we'll have many gourds this year but we may have a nice display of vine flowers.

A second variety of crocosmia, this one is more delicate and orange.

A young climbing rose which is a mix of red, orange and pink; same mix as a mutabilis rose (which I still have not been able to find on Long Island); scented too.

The front mixed border

Someone else is watering them today (i.e., it's raining!)

I had forgotten that I bought these beautiful, large yellow daylillies last year, until they emerged a few days ago. The plants are not huge yet, but the flowers are stunning.

Cicadas and hummingbirds

The cicadas are back: emerged from their hiding-places. The first one I heard late last week was an engine-loud, deep-noted one somewhere in a tree near the marina. Now the more gentle ones are finding their song.

I wonder if the size of their "voice" is related to the size of their bodies?

And yesterday morning, a hummingbird in the front garden. He buzzed off under the trees. The feeder is emptying of liquid; it may just be evaporation, but it may be a hungry hummer.

July = garden growing

Every day I am amazed that the deer have not-yet feasted on the hostas. Taken photo so that when the day comes and they are all inside a deer, I can still enjoy them...

The first cucumber!

Crocosmia...

... the first time I ever saw a crocosmia, it was a "volunteer" that somehow appeared in the back garden (aka 45degree wild hillside) in Fair Oaks. The next year, it was twenty. So some of the first bulbs (or are they corms?) bought for this garden were crocosmia of various shades of red and orange. I hope they will multiply prolifically.

July = wildflowers

Flax. A reminder of what used to be farmed on the William Floyd Estate. Now growing by No. 1 Beach, the same colour as the sky this morning.

Please can someone tell me what these amazing flowers are? They are growing next to No. 1 Beach and are stunning... are they wild, or escapees from someone's exotic flower collection? Each flower head is the size of a cricket ball/baseball.

Almost-full moon and the bay like a mirror

Friday evening. Jade ran around yelling, "the moon, the moon!"

FFKAMA karate TV

Just discovered that I can watch recent French karate tournaments (and international-but-with-French-flavour) on the FFKAMA website:

http://ffkarate.cos.eu/CHMONDE2006/CHMONDE2006/film.php

There are a whole lot of videos; take the links on the right of the page. You don't need to understand French.

Tuesday, Tuesday

Morning walk under a glowering sky, heavily grey, warm. Red-winged blackbirds, grey catbirds, and a mocking-bird with a million songs. One ibis lumbering through the air near the wetlands. I thought it would storm, but an hour later the sky is clar, the sun is shining, and the watering-can will be busy later.

July 4th flowers

Nasturtiums in the planter by the front door. Vanilla icecream!

The window-boxes are full of petunias and nasturtiums, and marigold seedlings are growing, flower buds on their way. And so far, the deer haven't nibbled the hostas, which are ready to flower. Maybe they are waiting for the first to open; maybe it's the disgusting rotten-egg stuff (which luckily fades to human senses within a few hours but I swear it smells stronger the longer it sits in the can in the garage).

Red bee-balm; the pink ones are coming up too, but the red is bigger and better.

Water-loving Japanese iris in the right spot at the front of the house.

This hydrangea bush came with the house and is growing bigger each year. The tiny florets in the center are a mix of pink and purple, and the surrounding four-petaled flowers are lavender. It is rather beautiful.

South fork tour

Outer beach, Montauk. Baby daisy plants in the sand. Giant seagulls fighting over catfish. Grey sky but the sun breaking through.

The swing by the lighthouse, Montauk.

We started at the beach at the far west of Dune Road in Westhampton Beach; foggy, mild, children on the beach making sandcastles. Jade braved the water. We walked for a while, then drove the length of Dune Road to the rainbow bridge... and the light became murkier and murkier, it started to rain, and by the time we were on 27 heading east, thunderclaps and lightening strikes were happening simultaneously and the road was a river. Huge storm; if it had happened yesterday, we would have seen the wettest June on record, but today is July and a new count begins.

Late lunch at Nick's in Montauk, rain on the roof. Sweatshirts from the sweatshirt shop (we were not dressed for winter), then To The Lighthouse, though we didn't go in; then to the outer beach, almost wiping-out a cyclist-with-a-death-wish (who in their right mind cycles in front of a vehicle as it is pulling into a parking space???) where the light and the greys and the sand was beautiful but the large raindrops, wet... and then back home to excited Bella-dog and clearer skies.

(It has been nice and summery the past few days, the days that I forgot to write anything... we hoped for the same today but it doesn't matter, it was a really nice trip and a good day.)