Big Time Happy is the yellow daylily pictured first. Custard Candy is next.

The brightly colored daylily below is Fooled Me. The big spider daylily is named Chevron Spider. 

The pink daylily pictured next is Breed Apart, one of my favorites.  Frequent Comment is the next one.

Mardi Gras Parade is the daylily below, and another favorite, Paper Butterfly is after it.

Brookwood Early On is the yellow daylily next. It is a dwarf. The pink is named, Inexcusably Attractive.

Strawberry Candy and Web of Intrigue are the last two daylilies today.

It was a beautiful day here today, and I did get a lot done in the garden this morning.  My friend Kathy is coming for a visit Sunday evening. I was hoping I could get the garden in shape before she came, but realistically, I knew I wouldn't be able to get that much done. Just one more day really, and I need to vacuum and dust too.

At least I am more or less well. Just a nagging cough that is hanging on. Kathy is my best friend from high school and still lives in our home town of Quincy, Illinois. We worked at the same dime store when we were girls and have kept in touch all these years. She won't mind if things are perfect for her visit. Kathy is a big scrabble player and beats me just about every time we play. We play over the computer and voice chat while we play, so it is almost like being together, but it will be nice to actually be in the same room to play. I'm sure Kathy will beat me in person too. I just hope I win one game while she is here.

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Find
of the Day: Global Warming and the Price of a Gallon of
Gas

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This is my favorite time in the garden. Every morning new daylilies await at dawn. Each bloom lasts just one day. Some people consider that a drawback, but there are always other buds coming on -- and every day is different this way.

Edith Sigler is the name of this first fansy daylily. The next is a miniature called Eenie Weenie.
 
Ed Brown is blooming for the first time in my garden. The next is named Dominic.

Emperor's Dragon is the purplish daylily above. Shady Lady is the Yellow one with the reddish eye.

Ponca Brave is the striking bi-tone daylily above. Pink Ambrosia is next.

Bright Sunset is the bright orange daylily and Red Flag is the next one. It is a very large spider.

The last two daylilies are Igor, a very large one, and Happy Returns, the yellow.

My cold is nearly gone. I just have a cough that seems to be hanging on, but I'm feeling much better. I worked in the garden all morning and really enjoyed it. I doubt that I'll really catch up this year. I just got too far behind with my garden work when we got the puppy and then when Mom died I didn't do much at all in the garden for a few days. Then getting sick, really cinched it. I am simply not going to catch up. I've resigned myself this year to a garden that is just a little too wild, but it is looking pretty good anyway with the daylilies taking their turn.

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Find of the Day: Cartoon

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Rosie Joy got her first hair cut today. We didn't want to stress her out since this was her very first experience at the groomers, so we paid a bit extra for the express, which means they did her from start to finish with no cage time. We got her done at Pet Smart because you can check out how she is doing through glass windows.

She did really well, and the groomer said it was hard to believe that it was her first time. Of course, Rosie loves everyone and so the biggest problem was that she wanted to play with the groomer. Below are pictures with Rosie sporting her new do.

Rosie Joy is doing well and is pretty much house broken now. No accidents for a solid two weeks. She still tries to eat everything but that may be getting a little better.

Our biggest problem is that she doesn't eat well at all. I fear we have spoiled her terribly in that regard, and may have to do something drastic to get her back to eating well. She doesn't want to eat anything but people food, and even then we practically have to hand feed her to get a few bites down her. I don't know where she gets all the energy she has, but she seems to be happy and healthy in every way I know how to measure. She will be five months old Thursday.

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Find of the Day: Something to Think About

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Skinny Dipping is the name of the big spider daylily below. Betty Warren Woods is the ruffled light yellow daylily pictured next. Both of these daylilies have bloomed for the first time in my garden this week.

Helix is the name of the next daylily below, another spider daylily. Canadian Border Patrol is next. These two are new to my garden this year, as well.

 
Awesome Blossom is below.

I'm not totally sure what the name of the velvety red daylily below. I'll try to find the marker tomorrow if it is still there. It may be Fires of Fuji or possibly Bama Bound. Whichever it is, I love the velvet texture.

Raspberry Pixie is the sweet little red daylily below, and the next is another new one named Art Gallery Fringe.

El Desperado is the name of the last daylily.

I'm glad the Garden Festival is over. I did work one shift at our plant table but they were able to find a sub to work my shift in the tea room, so I got to go home at noon yesterday and take a nap. I've done little more than nap today, too. Surely with all this rest, I'll be well very soon.

We are supposed to have a storm come through the city tonight. I hope it brings rain, but the line of storms could also be bringing hail, 70 mile an hour winds, and possibly tornadoes. I hope I wake to a wonderful thunder storm  -- and only that. We really need the moisture.

AM Update: A wonderful inch and a half of rain and still falling. No damage from the storm. Thank you, God!

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Find of the Day: Real time HTML reader
Another Find: Arthritis Pain Relief

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Kindly Light is the name of this wonderful spider daylily. It is a biggy, and I'm so glad it waited for a relatively calm day to open its first flower. I have another big spider daylily that has had four blooms, all of which were blown off the plant  -- or to tatters -- before they were open an hour. It has more buds, though, and I expect you'll be seeing a picture of it in a few days.
 

Antique Gold is the name I've given this gold daylily until I know its true name. The next daylily is Moonlight Masquerade.  The last picture shows how I've let my garden get away from me this year. Those pink flowers are commonly called pink primrose, and is one of those invasive plants that will take over if turn your back. This year I turned my back just a little too long. Still, I have to admit that they are pretty this time of year. The rest of the year, they look and act suspiciously like a weed.  

I have my voice back now, though it is still pretty hoarse. This evening my throat is getting sore, which is not the direction I wanted this illness to go. Gill brought me some chicken soup this afternoon -- and some bread pudding, too. It was delicious. Isn't that just the sweetest thing for her to do? Gill is such a lovely generous young woman.

I am hoping that I will be well enough to work my shifts tomorrow at the Garden Festival. I'll let you know how it goes. 

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This may be the longest time I've gone without posting -- almost a week. Anyway, I thought I better check in and let you know what is  happening  with me.

It has been a horrendous week. I've been ill -- and have laryngitis, and though my voice was only a whisper for a couple days, I can now be heard at least.  Of course, going to bed until I felt better was not an option. Chris and I had to clean out Mother's apartment and find a home for it all. (She was a saver and had an incredible amount stuffed into a two room apartment) As it was we didn't get out when the rent was due on the first, but the director of the Senior Village where Mom lived, was very nice about it.

So in the last week, we've thrown away a mountain of junk, amiably divided up what we could use (or wanted) between three siblings, gave the rest away -- and all that was after a stressful week when Mom died and we had to arrange her funeral. No wonder Chris and I both got sick. She is nearly well now, but very tired. I am still sick -- and tired, but forging into the necessary paperwork involved in a death. There are times in life when you just have to do what has to be done -- no matter what -- and this has been one of those times.

Our garden festival is this Saturday. I am supposed to work a three hour shift at the plant table and another three hour shift in the tea room. Unless I make a remarkable recovery tomorrow, I don't know how I'll manage it. At least the garden festival could get along without me, though I would hate to burden my friends by not showing up for my shifts.

 I have lots of daylilies blooming -- some of them for the first time -- but have had no time to take any pictures to post. We are having very high winds today with gust of 45 to 55 mph. There is a good chance of severe weather tonight, so I hope I don't lose too many daylily buds to a storm. I wouldn't complain if we got a little rain though. We've had brutally hot weather the last few days with no moisture, so we really need it.

All this will pass, though -- and life will be good again. It has just been a rough patch. We all have'em.

Oh, I do have good news to report. Rosie Joy has not had an accident on the rug for over a week. She is getting very good at letting us know when she wants to go out -- and during a very chaotic time in our household. Good puppy!

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I hardly ever see this yellow columbine because it is behind a Viburnum that is getting quite large in the corner of the back garden. It needs shade which is why it is there. With only baby trees it is hard to find a shady spot for shade loving flowers. The Mexican hat in the second picture is really a wild flower, but I like to have a few clumps of it around. It blooms nearly all summer.

I was blown away when the tropical amaryllis growing beside the foundation  put up a third scape. I had been pretty amazed when two scapes appeared a couple weeks ago with a total of 10 blooms, but a third one from one bulb is above and beyond. It must be happy there. My purple coneflowers are beginning to bloom -- just barely but there are plenty of buds, so if the weather doesn't get too brutal too early, I should have lots of them.

I'm enjoying the spiderwort, the purple/blue flower below. It is the first time in my garden and everyday it has more blooms. I know it is a spreader, so I hope I'm not sorry someday that I gave it garden space. Right now, though, I'm happy with them. A black-eyed stella daylily is the last picture. I have oodles of buds on daylilies all over the garden. So many of them were new ones last year and this year are just big enough to call them clumps.

Chris and I are continuing to work at Mother's apartment in the afternoon, organizing things in anticipation of dispensing with her things and cleaning out the apartment next week. We are putting like things together, throwing out real junk and the mountains of old records that go back years. We brought home a big box of jewelry last night to organize. I had no idea Mom had SO MUCH jewelry. We sat at my dining table all evening finding matches for the earrings and untangling the chains, then putting them in plastic baggies so they wouldn't get all tangled again. We'll keep a few things, but most of it will find another home. I think Chris is at her house right now putting the earrings on little cards.

Chris has a tendency to get bogged down with this chore -- because she has always believed that "if a job is worth doing, it is worth doing right." Very commendable, really, and I wish we had time to go through every box of pictures and every letter, etc -- but it would take much too long if we did. I'm afraid I am being a little bossy in my efforts to make progress and not work such long hours that we get sick. We both are nursing slight colds, and there is so much more to do before we can be sick 

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The Asiatic Lilies have started to bloom, as well as the daylilies. Stella de Ora are the small yellow daylilies pictured.

I don't have a name for the gold daylily below, but Isolde is the purple daylily beside it. The blue, purple, and pink flowers are larkspur.

We are making some headway in creating some order of Mom's affairs. It's going to take a while, though. We are working on it each afternoon after I put in a couple hours in the garden. Our brother is next coming Monday to help find a home for everything.

Rosie is doing better. She still is not eating very much, but seems to have plenty of energy, so I'm trying to not worry.
I'm off to bed now... My finds of the day will have to wait until I have time to find them.

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We've been preoccupied with trying to make some order of Mother's affairs before we clean out her apartment. Chris and I have barely scratched the surface of things that need to be done, but we are making progress. I have spent the first hour or two of the day in my garden, however. I've needed to badly -- not only to trim off spent blooms and pull weeds, but my spirit has needed to spend some time there. The garden has always been a healing place for me. It is looking a little wilder than it normally does this time of year, but colorful.

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It was a lovely service. I had been concerned that the chapel was too small -- that some friends of Mom's would have to stand. I don't believe there were any empty chairs, but it appears everyone had one. I think Mother chose well when she wanted it there at the Superbia chapel, because the people with whom she shared the last few years of her life were able to attend.

Several family members I didn't expect would be able to come were there, also, which warmed my heart. Gill was there, too, at my side. I've come to love her and think of her as family, so it was good to have her there.

The words spoken at the funeral were perfect and celebrated an extraordinary  life of service to others. Mom was well remembered and well loved.

I want to express my appreciation for all the condolences and kind words of comfort in the comments on this blog and on Mom's. Thank you for your concern and affection. It means a lot to know Mother had so many people follow her blog and who cared.

I came home after the family dinner following the funeral and took a nap. I needed it. Rosie Joy had been ill last evening and kept me up most of the night. She is much better now and I expect she will be fine. Nothing appears quite so sick as a sick puppy, though, and we were very concerned.

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