Some catchup stuff, back in May, June, and July
We had a
tree swallow in our
birdhouse. While we don't have a lot of rain in the late spring and summer,
we sometimes have
nice clouds. We
had some visitors, and here they all are on the
Bear Creek Greenway:
Stephen, Tanna, and Hailey, with Wicket at left, Rabia in foreground, and
Tate behind.
Down to Benicia in June
While there, we attended
Fiona's kindergarten
graduation. We went to the T-ball award ceremonies, where
Ian received his
trophy for being an oustanding T-ball player (as they all were). Way to go,
Angels! Later, I took this shot in Evan's and Laura's backyard. The
peach tree is doing well! We went to a community festival at the park, and
Fiona and Ian
enjoyed some ice cream. On the way back to the minivan, there was some
clowning around.
Then back home for
more clowning around,
and finally to the park where
Fiona demonstrated
her climbing ability.
Back home
I shot a few pictures around the yard:
penstemmons,
blackberries (looks
like a good crop of blackberries this year, starting soon),
crocosmia,
mock orange,
common yarrow and
purple wallflower,
and St. John's wort.
On June 29, we had a
spectacular sunset,
although in truth the picture is more spectacular than the sunset itself
(it's the camera, I didn't enhance it in any way).
We have a number of butterfly bushes, and many butterflies around the yard.
Here is a
swallowtail on a
butterfly bush. Also on the 4th of July, we went to
Hanley Farms to see the replica of the
Wright Flyer
they had borrowed from the
Wings of History Air Museum in San Martin, CA. The gentleman in the
picture is Jim Spence, an Orville Wright reenactor. The next morning
a couple of
redtail hawks
were soaring over the house. Our magnolia trees have more than the usual
number of
blossumsthis year.
This one will have opened up nicely by the next day, and, having a short
life, not more than two days later (maybe one), will look like
this.