Somewhere it's an Irish Breakfast Tea Day with Almond Butter and Peach Jam Biscuits.

It ought to be comforting listening to the purr of my cat curled in-between upper arm and body, snagging his claws as he kneads his little tootsies into the fold of my sturdy wool blanket; but as I lie in bed counting past sheep number one thousand two hundred fifty one, it isn’t.  He seems content, whereas I am lost, drowning in a sea of emotional invalidation from someone who denies what they say invalidates my feelings.  This is destined to plague me until hell freezes over, so on with the loveliness of living.

Instead of a quiet walk through my mushy, waterlogged garden in the aftermath of a hellacious thunderstorm that woke me up with the sun; I’m halted in my tracks by this gorgeous iridescent midnight purple iris, while my inner self has already conjured up five paragraphs of thoughts on the subject to publish. Where’s that shut off valve?

After a bowl of Amy’s Southwestern Vegetable soup to make me feel healthy, I’m polishing off my lunch with a crispy tortilla covered in melty cheese, a square of Ghirardelli intense dark chocolate, and a mug of hot Irish Breakfast tea.  The screen door is in place, as usual, as robin’s loud song plays with the humidity that fills the space around me while the dehumidifier busily hums its own song in the far away background.

A beautiful day to breath in all that fresh air, as a darkness gently begins to lay hold of the land as layers upon layers of clouds begin to snake their way in over the horizon to summon the early warning that another thunderstorm is on its way in… curtesy of an invitingly warm day.

A boom of thunder hurries me along doing bird feeder and bath duties, then the unanticipated silence of an hours wait ending with rumble after rumble of thunder as raindrops begin flooding the already standing water ground.

Garden Thyme

Cumberland Rosemary

 Conradina verticillata

Garden Sage

Type of Crane Fly, I think.

'Corky' Daylily

Blackberry Looper Moth

Chlorochlamys chloroleucaria

3/4th inches wide with fringe edged wings

Lousy photos don't do it justice :(

'Corinne' Large flowered Clematis

Beautiful flowers that don't survive thunderstorms well.

Ladybug larvae

Pigweed Flea Beetle

Disonycha glabrata

Had to look up pigweed (Amaranthus albus).  

It grows in abundance, and young shoots can be cooked and eaten like spinach.

Clematis 'Arabella'

Color of blue shows up more as purple in photos.

This short clematis has no tendrils, 

but will grow up obelisk when guided.

May Beetle - Jung Beetle

Phyllophaga spp.

Scarab Beetle Family

About 1" long

Ground cover weed with tiny flowers

Golden Club growing in the bog-rain garden area.  

A survivor from the pond that was once here.

It grew up through two feet of soil to survive.

Pond-bog plants are no wimps.

Swamp Clematis

Bog-Rain Garden with Copper Iris

'My Mary ' Azalea 

Lyre-Leaf Sage on dry river pathway in backyard.

Becomes a river during thunderstorms.

Type of sedge on dry river pathway.

Columbine and Golden Alexander (Zizia aurea)

Byzantine Gladiolus

From year 1629

Hardy to zone 6a 

Native Mock Orange

No Fragrance, unlike the non-native type

Ninebark

Baptisia (Baptisia australis)

'Purple Smoke'  

Robin's Plantain (Erigeron pulchellus)

with friend

I think this is a type of moth, but haven't been able to identify it.

5/28/21 Finally identified this as a Cocksfoot Moth.

Austin's left hind leg suffered a mishap

 jumping over the gate to my studio.

He was slightly out of it while on pain medication

for a swollen ankle.

It's nice to have the old Austin back again.  

THE

ALMOST

My smart phone hasn't made me any smarter.

Haven't figured out how to shrink my video

to smaller screen view, so.....

you're presented with five short videos

for one little thought.

Saturday's Critters

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day

My Corner of the World