Summer Flowers

 Planting flowers was SO late this year.  Usually, I am planting right after Mother's Day (or for sure by Memorial Day).  This year, it was into the first week of June.   But, after a few weeks, they were filling out and looking quite lovely.  The lilies on the side of the house were also a bit late to bloom this year.

June flowers:

The flowers really took off after Eric dumped loads of fish tank water on them.  The nitrogen was like a huge BLAST of fertilizating goodness!   These pics were a few weeks prior to the water dump and don't show how fully luscious and robust the flowers grew to be.  I'd never had such gorgeous planters.

Our big tank's water filter had taken a DIVE when we started the flooring process.  After several weeks of using the back-up system, plus ordering parts for and troubleshooting the big system, it was finally resolved (low pressure from some very light air leaks).  UGH, that was painful.

I also tried another go at a Clematis on the side of the house and another in the tall planter by the main entry door.  We'll see if it goes bananas... then, we'll see if it survives the winter in the shallow pot.  Crossing my fingers!

Now... zoom ahead a few weeks to July flowers:

Sunrise Beauty

In the midst of the morning hustle and bustle, I caught a glimpse of the beautiful view this morning.  Spring... it's finally here! 🥰

Aurora Borealis

 Eric has told me stories, many times, of college days in the far north, watching the Northern Lights dance across the dark winter skies.  I'd never seen them in real life; only in pictures and on TV.

For a month, Facebook feeds were crawling with pictures that people were posting of the magnificent natural spectacle.  I was eager to see them!

During the last few days, my Facebook feed was blowing up again with notes that the Aurora Borealis would be intense this week, given the skies were clear.

Last night, we had good weather and not many clouds.   Eric and I went outside.  I didn't see a lot at first.  We went back a few minutes later and I could see the yellow lights dancing in the sky.  It was gorgeous!  I took some pics.  The pics are much more colorful than the actual Northern Lights that we saw.

Part of the time, I was just taking pictures, as the lights weren't very bright.  Again, the photos were much more vibrant.

This particular picture below really creeped us out.  I just took it blindly as I was looking at the sky.  The blob in the upper left is my finger.  The blob in the lower left is the top of a tree.  The orange thing bolting from the sky was "the something" that gave us the willies... big time.   

As I zoomed into the picture on my phone, it looks like a devil/demon, headed towards the earth.  I'm no conspiracy theoriest, but this one was really strange!

Needless to say, I said a few extra prayers that night, just to be safe!!  😁

10 Days of Venus and Jupiter

 The sky has been looking a bit different the last few days.  Jupiter and Venus are very close together in the sky.  I'm a bit "late to the party", but I snapped this shot.

On March 1st and 2nd, Venus and Jupiter slid past each other on the dome of the sky.  Their closest pairing was shortly after sunset on March 1st (three days ago - doh!).  They passed approximately a full moon's width, or half a degree, apart.

October View on the Lake

 It's been a GORGEOUS October.   I don't need too many words to describe it.  Just check out this view from the kayak, taken close to the North Bridge, facing south on our lake.  Incredible!

Family Photos

 Because Connor would be moving (probably permanently!) out of the house and would be gone, only to visit during holidays and little getaways (*insert very sad face here*), it was definitely time to have a family photo session.  

We had a new photographer this year and she was wonderful!  I like to spread the love when it comes to using photographers, but she will be getting more calls back from us.

When the photographer sent the set back, she sent them in color and also black & white.   There were hundreds of photos and I knew that she hadn't sent a tenth of what she took.  I was surpised, as the package we chose stated we'd get 25 photos and ended up with over 200!  Between the color and colorless photos, I couldn't decide which I liked best, so here are a small mix of both, interspersed throughout. 

This one of the boys is definitely one of my faves!!!

And... my favorites of the boys...    If there's a tree around during family photos, Connor finds it... and climbs it like a monkey.    It's like a tradition now to get pictures of his climbing escapades!

Love this bunch so much.  😍😘🥰💕💖💝