Hi, everyone! Another busy summer day at our house! After cleaning for four hours this morning, I came home and got to work on lots of little projects. Thankfully, Clint had helped me with the cleaning job or I'd have been there even longer. But upon arriving home there was more tidying up to do as well as laundry. It was so dry and windy today that I found Mom taking the clothes down not long after they were hung out.

Clint and I had to do some errands and we ended up visiting with friends. I got to tour their lovely garden. It was such a delight to visit under their canopy out amongst the flowers. Several years ago when my garden was just getting started, I took much of my inspiration for the English Garden from this gal. That's not all I took! She was kind enough to give me starts of numerous plants; the beginnings of my garden! Again today, she generously shared some vivid colored phlox with me. I planted them promptly this evening. I had to begin watering again this evening when the wind died down. It's incredibly dry here. I should have picked black raspberries, but decided to wait. I was just too tired of working to think of going out there. I'm pretty sure this next picking will be the last. Blackberriess are coming on next. They make great jelly too, but we are not as fond of it as we are of the black raspberry.

I tried something new for supper. I batter dipped and deep fat fried some onion rings from my garden onions. Very tasty. These onions are very mild and sweet. So good. The garden is beginning to reward us. Back in the spring when stuff is first planted, it sometimes seems a long time to wait until the veggies can be used. The bean seed packages always give a maturation date. It always seeems to me like that's a drastically long time to wait, but it ends up happening before you know it and now there's an abundance of beans! This reminds me of Galatians 6:9, "And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart." We often have a tendency to quit before the harvest comes, not willing to wait for the results of our efforts. But this verse says we WILL reap if we do not lose heart. There's a law of sowing and reaping that the Bible teaches us. It's a law that the Lord put into effect. A law works if you cooperate with the principles. When you plant seeds, something sprouts like the seed you planted. Corn produes corn; beans produce beans. And this scripture admonishes us to be patient enough to wait for the reaping. Is there something in your life to which you can apply this principle--something you are waiting for that seems like it will never come? I am sure we can all testify to having had something like that at some time in our lives. Be encouraged from the scripture that waiting produces results when you have sown good seed!

As for waiting, I'm still waiting on that yarrow to identify itself. It's definitely a yarrow and I'd have guessed yellow until today. I thought it seemed like the yellow tint had faded out a bit to more white as I gazed at it. It's kind of hard to tell since the sunlight casts a different light on it at different times of day and it's still too soon to tell. More waiting!

More lilies are blooming out there. Now there are orange ones and the lemon lilies are about to pop open. The bluebells of Scotland are very full and a blanket flower in burgundy is very pretty. Another bee balm, this time true red, opened and I noticed that some of the sweet williams are making a comeback with vivid colors. Still all in all it's kind of sparse out there right now, magnified by the dry conditions.

Still no report on the paper-making project. I got set back looking for proper supplies. Still it's a goal! Blessings, LORI