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It's Mid July 2024, after several years of drought to extreme drought our NE Illinois area, we have now been deluged this year like much of the country. Very Hot and Wet here in Chicagoland. Upside the trees and bushes are lush and green, green, green.
The long table in the front of the livingroom looks out to the front yard and several bird feeders. We always watch from here and keep our bird books handy for identification.
The rain has been so frequent, you have to dash outside for anything, grab some produce, dump saucers or pick a few flowers, before the next rain.
This is the last magazine subscription coming to our home. Many years ago I eliminated ALL of our other subscriptions, to save paper and the planet---this one is the last subscription to run out. Birds and Blooms is a very cheery magazine, with fabulous photos of birds across the country and information on how to attract birds and their habits.
This is what I call unconscious decorating. I cover my dark wood furniture in summer with lighter vintage tablecloths, the magazine is here with our special bird identification printouts. This stuff has just sort of landed here...over the last month and suddenly it's a
vignette.
The thrifted pot I found last month holds bird books from my childhood with notations inside from 1953-4 of birds seen then. Oddly enough with our climate warming, we are seeing different kinds birds now... different than 60 years ago and others seem to be gone. I haven't seen an Oriole in YEARS.
My Philodendron plant needs repotting, it's scraggly. I moved it from the bedroom to here hoping the light will be better. I dashed outside yesterday and cut the drooping flowers from the last storm and put them in my French enameled coffeepot.
My Poorman's Bouquet: Hosta leaves, Lilies, tops of blooming Hostas, Giant Sedum heads, Coreopsis, Phlox are so rich in colors and a sprig of Sweet Potato Vine that was broken and I'm trying grow roots on. Lilies don't last long, but keep blooming from their buds if you just pull the expired blooms off. This bouquet should last a week.
It's really an exuberant display, and makes me smile. My Danish bird figurines are collected on the table and corralled in a little wagon that I found months ago in a thrift store. I imagine I've tossed some seed in there and they are just visiting.
In the kitchen...
I also dashed into the garden and grabbed cucumbers, two HUGE Green Peppers, the last of the Snow Peas, the first of the Broccoli, and a tiny Zucchini.
We've had a half dozen Zucchini's from our three plants this year already. Everything grows overnight it seems.
I put up a gallon go overnite Dill Pickles recipe here: OVERNIGHT DILL PICKLES on Thursday...so delicious and crunchy, and a large container of Danish Pickles, recipe here: FRESH DANISH DILL OR SWEET PICKLES. I did the sweet version.
The heat and the rainwater are making some things especially (cucumbers prolific) and others seem to be at a standstill. Tomatoes are huge but refusing to turn red. It's already late for tomatoes to begin turning with all this heat.
The last of my potted peas. I may get one more picking, and I plant to do another pot at the end of the month---in a bigger pot that won't blow over. Hopefully I can start them in the greenhouse if it isn't too hot to protect from the voracious critters we have this year.
I'm going to try to make a homemade critter spray...and I will let you know how that works!
See you again Soon!
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