Looking closer, Friends, I feel sorry for the campers

1. Tess has an old, broken camera that she calls her "macro camera". The outer lens assembly is missing and so there's only a single lens on the photo sensor. This allows for only macro shots. She took this photo of a tiny snail on a wineberry. He's hiding in his shell right now, but when he comes out, you can see his tiny tentacles.
2. Morning coffee with friends sharing cares and concerns. S. also shares a bag of fresh Georgia peaches.
3. The clouds are low and heavy with rain. By evening the ground has turned sodden from hours of rain. Finally.

Wineberry season, At least it's not boring, The case is Pepto Bismal pink

1. It's a drizzly, quiet morning for picking wineberries. Tess is a great berry-picking companion and doesn't complain while we fight brambles and bugs to claim our reward. A half mile walk back home, a refreshing shower, and then I'm working on tonight's dessert.
2. Steve made a CD of all the music on our computer for me to play in the car. It's a schizophrenic compilation of everything from Led Zeppelin to Nat King Cole, a bunch of jazz, to Trace Adkins "Honky Tonk Badonk-A-Donk." The afternoon's drive is one wild ride.
3. I love my new glasses! Now that I can actually see what they look like on my face, I'm pleased with the choice we made.

Everyone should have one, Barn Swallows, Red in white

1. We happily relaxed in our exclusive, private pool this afternoon.
2. The bird identification book with its beautiful illustrations is left open near the window. As soon as our daredevil visitors zoom in, I find their markings and identify them as Barn Swallows.
3. The strawberries are pretty, red jewels in the ironstone serving bowl. It's an orphan piece of ironstone, old and aged with no lid and therein lies its beauty.

Nature's pallette, Empowering, Country road

1. Bright pink Sweet Peas bloom alongside the white Queen Anne's Lace. I pick a tiny bunch for my bedside table.
2. I did some cleaning and organizing in the basement today. Each time I go down for laundry, I admire the tidy shelves.
3. The kids all have their own activities today. Steve and I opt out of seeing fireworks and late into the evening I take Henri for a walk instead. It's very peaceful with only one car passing by.

The kitchen to herself, Pushing the envelope, Lavender Blue Dilly Dilly ♪

1. Her pony-tailed silhouette is in the kitchen window, turning from island to oven with a cake in her hands.
2. These swallows do more than fly as a mode of transport. They perform daring aerial acrobatics, soaring, darting and diving in what appears to be a game of fun.
3. I brush my hand over the lavender blooms, releasing it's wonderful scent. Butterflies and bees have been in a frenzy over it for weeks.
4. Steve rented the movie, 3:10 to Yuma. I watched it with him, eyes partially covered. It was very good, though.

I taste a liquor never brewed,

From tankards scooped in pearl;
Not all the vats upon the Rhine
Yield such an alcohol!

Inebriate of air am I,
And debauchee of dew,
Reeling, through endless summer days,
From inns of molten blue.

When landlords turn the drunken bee
Out of the foxglove's door,
When butterflies renounce their drams,
I shall but drink the more!

Till seraphs swing their snowy hats,
And saints to windows run,
To see the little tippler
Leaning against the sun!

Emily Dickinson

What will I fill this page with?, Another view, Not Drunkards Path

1. Turning the calendar page to July so a fresh month is laid out before me.
2. I move from one room to another, changing chairs, lighting and mood for the book I'm reading.
3. The tractor stitches tidy rows of quilting all over the fields and hills.