A Beautiful Summer

This is a view of the barn and winter hay supply as seen from the gravel road. It looks like we are having a bumper crop of cattails this year, a surprise because it's been so dry:

The little plum tree which produces so much fruit began to lean farther and farther until one day its lower branch actually hit the ground:

So I went into the barn and retrieved one of the cedar posts I'd removed when the Bush Cherry died. I drove it into the ground with the tractor bucket and used 12 gauge fence wire to pull the tree back upright, with a bit of rubber hose to cushion between the wire and the tree trunk:

I began to wonder if the hose was enough cushion, so I got a pool-noodle and cut a piece to put around the hose for extra softness. Now I have a happy tree:

A new Day-lily began to open, but I didn't know what kind it was:

After seeing it fully open, I went back to my original order and learned that it is called a Frans Hals. I also read that it will rebloom in autumn:

And speaking of blooms, my little rock garden had become a riot of color:

The Blue Sea Holly and Asiatic Lilies were putting on a real show:

But the Blue Sea Holly was swarming with Bumblebees and wasps of various kinds. I looked up this wasp and learned that it was Sphex pensylvanicus, or Great Black Wasp. It is a Digger Wasp and stings other insects, paralyzing them, then dragging them down the holes it has dug for its young to feed on:

Even bigger and more numerous was this wasp, Sphex ichneumoneus, the Great Golden Digger Wasp. It seemed more aggressive than the black species and I read that they do sting, so I was careful:

On the day we got our first rain to break the drought, I noticed the reddish morning sky and thought of the old adage, "Red sky in morning, sailors take warning." In my case, I was delighted because we'd had so little rain:

One Sunday I cut some Asiatic Lilies and Blue Sea Holly to put in a vase and bring to church. They were lovely, but my little rock garden suddenly looked a bit denuded: