My dahlia have begun to bloom, I just love them, they are the most wonderful things in a North Carolina Garden, the heat just doesn't phase them, the only thing that bothers them is the weight of their own stems and blooms which quite often results in them taking the "dahlia nap" on the lawn, which results in me having to find some heavy duty stakes to prop them up with. This one bloomed today, while lying quite happily on the lawn. Once I got a stake and got her properly propped up I was able to take some shots of her.

The most amazing thing happened this weekend. We were in Myrtle Beach, for our annual meet up with the Band Boosters dinner and general drink too much beer and have fun gathering. As is our want my husband and I played a round of stupid golf (aka putt putt golf, or mini golf). As is the norm on these courses the water is dyed blue, so it has more of an impact. As I wandered around the course shooting an almost consistent set of 4s (while my husband was shooting an almost consistent set of 2s) I thought that if they did not dye the water blue then what a wonderful resource it would be for wildlife. All these streams and ponds would be an absolutely wonderful breeding ground for frogs, toads and dragonflies... what a pity it is that they dye the water blue and therefore turn it sterile. As we reached the 17th hole of a particular course I looked into the large pool by the side of the hole. It was teeming with tadpoles, and as I continued to look there were baby frogs leaving the pond and venturing out into the world. As I picked my ball out of the hole I noticed a baby frog had got himself stuck in there, so of course I had to rescue him, placing him into the flower beds around the hole. I mentioned this wonderful phenomena to my husband, wondering at how the tadpoles and frogs could exist in the blue dyed water when he said "perhaps they use food coloring" HA HA light bulb over head, perhaps they do, and the tadpoles can exist and thrive in these artificially created rivers, streams and pools. Is that not neat?

There is a tree frog in my kitchen. I don't know where he is, because despite looking I cannot find him, but the minute the tree frogs in the Canna bed outside the kitchen window begin singing my tree frog in the kitchen joins in. I am hoping there are enough flies in the kitchen to feed him, if not I am going to have to seek him out and evict him, can't see him starve or anything like that.

Why do I keep getting e-mails telling me "how to loose weight" first up if you are going to send me an e-mail do me, and the world, a favour, learn the basic usage of the English Language. One does not "loose" weight, (unless perhaps one is speaking of the "loose" feeling of one's clothing after one has "lost" weight but I digress), you "lose" weight if you do anything, you do not "loose" it. Another example of this massacre of the English Language appeared in my local newspaper one day "hundreds of local workers to loose jobs" it was all I could do to stop myself driving down to the newspaper's head office and smashing out their windows with large bricks, I was almost foaming at the mouth to see that a newspaper, of all things, had plastered such a headline on page one of the front page of their paper. Recently I received a response from the NC ABC Commission to an application for a permit. Written in red ink across the bottom of the cover letter was the following "is this person going to be the sight manager, if not then we also need an application from the sight manager." As I gazed in awe at these words it occurred to me that a) this person is working for the State government, b) this person, due to the fact that they are working for the State government, obviously has either a high school diploma or even a college degree and c) I did not realize that one has to hire the services of an optometrist in order to run a bar. Is it just me or is the basic skill of spelling one of those things that is being let go in this present world? While I understand that most teenagers and techno-savvy peeps communicate by means of abbreviations so that GTG, BRB, CU, LOL, are considered acceptable ways of communication it means that people are not required to know how to spell. Quite often at the office we receive letters from people who are in jail or prison. On reading the letter it is quite obvious why that particular person has ended up in said jail or prison, the fact that they do not have the ability to express themselves in writing (and one would imagine through speech). The mangling of the English language that one sees in these letters makes one wonder how on earth these people EVER passed a standardized test in Kindergarten let alone in High School. Now, perhaps working for a boss who was an English Major at Duke, and having excelled at English in school, I am a little more picky than most but come on people, if we can't communicate properly then where does that lead us? Are we going to start saying to people as we leave their presence BRB, instead of articulating our enjoyment at a particular situation are we going to say LOL? We are loosing our ability to articulate, and yes that was a joke. (And you bet your sweet bippy that I ran this through spellcheck before I posted it :))

As sad as I was today about Mini-me, after I had buried her I came back into the house and looked out of the kitchen window, just staring, as one does. As I was staring a Purple Finch and two young fledglings alighted on the feeders. The Male was trying hard to feed while the two youngsters were busy flapping their wings and demanding to be fed, the male jumped from one to the other, stuffing sunflower chips into their mouths but it was never enough, they always wanted more. It occurred to me at that moment, that just as there was death, there was life all around me, almost every bird that I have inhabiting my garden has a clutch of chicks right now, from the Red Bellied Woodpeckers to the Bluejays to the Carolina Chickadees, life is all around me, new life, new joyous life, and in the midst of my grief I smiled, smiled at the perfection of nature as she gives us new lives. More dragonflies hatched in the pond today, almost perfect in their form, and looking closer there is now toad-spawn and treefrog-spawn in the pond, life is all around me, and in the midst of life, how can one be sad about death? Life, life is what can lift our hearts.

This morning I got up and wandered out to the car to get my tea cup (its a huge travel mug), which I had left in the car after my trip to Columbus County on Thursday. As I approached my car in the driveway, I noticed that Mini-Me was asleep on the lawn, only it was raining, and no cat in their right mind would be asleep on the lawn in the rain. Much to my dismay as I approached her I discovered that she was dead. She had obviously been clipped by a car, as there was blood coming from her mouth, but other than that there wasn't a mark on her. As I was in my bathrobe I went back into the house to dress so that I could collect her and lay her to rest with my other departed pets. I didn't cry until I laid her in the ground, and stroked her and said goodbye. She was a precious kitten, and I shall miss her terribly, as no doubt will her Mum and brother. However, I am mindful that she has already crossed the Rainbow Bridge and is now no doubt playing with her brother Harry and getting a good grooming from my chow-cross Dweebe. The one thing that comforts me is that I know she is waiting for me, and one day we will see each other again.

The Rainbow Bridge

Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge.
When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge.
There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together.
There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable.
All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor; those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by.
The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind.

They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent; His eager body quivers. Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster.

You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart.

Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together....

Author unknown...

Mini-me is on the left.

I just love this time of year, my gardens are at their best, come summer, when the temperatures are topping 100 things will tend to poop out, but today, the lilies were bursting forth, the roses are blooming, and things are just looking wonderful, so of course I couldn't resist taking some photographs.