The more help a man has in his garden, the less it belongs to him. ~ William M. Davies

Today it's supposed to be in the upper 90s. Yesterday's high was 84. The day before that: 60. We have definitely...finally...jumped in to summer. It's been a long time since we've had such a long-lasting cool, rainy summer. Our 'saving grace', so to speak, is that a dry, warm wind is blowing, too, keeping the stickiness away. Not that we often have high humidity here in the Pacific Northwest, but anything over 60% is considered kind of uncomfortable. My sympathies go out to the rest of the nation sweltering in 90+ degree heat with around 90% humidity. How on earth do you people do it?! I spent one July in New England in 1968 that was one of the hottest on record up to that time and I have never been so miserable in my life. Or so sunburned after a day at the beach. A day on the Pacific coast...at least up here in Oregon and Washington...is nothing like a day on the Atlantic.

I've had a few people ask for pictures of my yard. I'm going to see if I can use my daughter's phone to snap a few to post. She can then email them to me and I can put them on here. Technology amazes me. And I used to think Polaroid cameras were pretty slick.

The grandboys and I will be spending most of the day at the pool today...the kiddie pool in the back yard, that is. They 'helped' me mow the white clover blossoms yesterday in preparation for today...don't want tender little feet running around and stepping on bees. I can't imagine what kind of picture we must've made with the boys on either side of me pushing that old hand mower around...my daughter sure seemed to get a good chuckle out of it. We had planned on getting the pool ready yesterday but the boys took a long nap. Instead, they took their child-sized shovels and shoveled mown grass - from Dear Hubby's mowing with the power mower - off the compost pile in to a yard debris bag. That kept them busy and happy for the hour or so before their dad picked them up. That, and playing whiffle ball.

I got this photo of Scarlet Sage off the internet. I have a huge bush of it and it's in full glorious bloom right now. It's irresistible to hummingbirds. The other day when Dear Hubby was out back shooting targets with his longbow a hummingbird came along and perched atop the tip of his bow! We seem to get more and more of them every year.

A quiet week, a nice week. We'll probably go on our walk early this morning before the heat arrives. Burgers on the grill tonite. Life doesn't get much sweeter than this.