Back From the Dead?

I make no pretense to be a gardener. In fact, I struggle to keep the plants in my patio plot alive. 

Last year a plant started to grow unplanted by me. I finally decided it was a sunflower that sprouted from a seed from the bird feeder. I considered it a gift from God.

This summer when a plant near where it had grown came thru the soil, I thought maybe it was another sunflower. I didn't treat it as a weed and didn't pull it up. To my amazement, it got taller and taller and branched out. It looked something like the Rose of Sharon that had been in our plot when we moved in in 2011 but died in the harsh winter of 2014. We had cut that bush down in the fall of 2014. My husband calls it the Big Weed.

 I found on the internet that Rose of Sharon usually doesn't flower the first year, but it had a late start so I was hoping maybe in August there might be a few blooms to verify its identity. Wednesday morning when I opened the blinds I found many of the tips of its branches chewed off. There will be no proof this year. If it is a Rose of Sharon, it is a miracle. A plant cut down suddenly reappearing 4 years later!

The hoof prints indicated a deer had eaten this bush. Unfortunately, it also ate all of the colorful pretty portulaca blooms as well. The landscaper had planted on Tuesday a hydrangea bush in the middle berm between the condos. It also was pretty badly chewed up. I'm thinking the deer saw that nice tasty specimen and then wandered over to my plot to see what else might feed it. I have never had my moss roses eaten. The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away.

The rudbeckia are blooming now in the front corner of the condo. The Stella d'Oro lilies did not open when my neighbors' did in June, but are blooming in July. The front corner looks nice. 

The time a few hours before sunset when there are long shadows is my favorite time of day.

Here you can see a sidewalk in the background behind the geraniums. This sidewalk was something the residents have wanted for a long time. Lots of people walk on the easement from the condos over to independent living and health care. If the grass was wet even from dew, lawn clippings stuck to shoes. Muddy places also weren't conducive to walking nor the uneven contours of the ground.

Since we live at the end of the cul de sac, we had quite a show of the construction work. Trucks and machinery parked where my husband usually parks his pickup. It took two weeks to make this sidewalk. A middle-aged man and two teenage boys started it when we had outside temperatures in the 90's with heat index above 100. They even worked on July 4th. They used with our permission our outside faucet and sat under the shade of our front lawn pear tree. They stacked boards used as forms for the width of the concrete next to the west wall of our house and stored a wheel barrow there. 
They finished while we were in Michigan so we missed out on a few dusty and noisy days. I've only used the sidewalk once because of rain or because I had heavy loads of books to haul to and from the library necessitating the car, but I am sure it will get more use. We don't know whether Grace Village will clear it of snow; if so, that would mean being able to walk in the winter.

Floored

The installers finished the master bath and kitchen floors yesterday. The new flooring looks good, and I think we will be happy with it for many years. The duraceramic tiles should be easy to clean, too.

The "weed" I decided was a sunflower did bloom. The lower branching stalk that was nibbled off has the start of a flower, but since we usually have first frost by the end of October I doubt it will ever flower.

The moss rose plant against the house continues to put out blooms, too.

I may still try to take the seed pods and sprinkle them further out where I can see the new plants (if any come up) thru my window.

A cooler day today though upper 70's and low 80's forecasted for next week midweek. It seems like autumn though.

I saw a gorgeous magenta sunset as I drove home from a funeral last night as though the sky was paying tribute to the departed saint as well. There have been way too many funerals for us to attend the past 10 weeks. At least these acquaintances and friends loved Jesus and are in heaven.

Drought

My part of northern Indiana is officially in drought. We had lots of nice rain earlier this spring, but hardly anything in May. Unirrigated farm crops are becoming stressed. My patio plant is thriving, however. In Texas we called this plant portulaca and it was usually in hanging baskets. Here it is called moss rose.
When we moved in last summer, this plant was about the size of a dinner plate and had a few orange blossoms. It died back in the winter, but came back this spring with lots of “baby” plants around its perimeter. Now it is spreading and the seedling plants are merging with the parent to form a ground cover. There are lots of blossoms in orange, yellow, white, pink. I am enjoying them because if we have a hard winter in 2013 I don’t know if it will reappear or not. I don’t have any experience with moss rose.

We experienced a drought of mail, too. Since we subscribe to the Wall Street Journal, we should at least have found that in our box. Yesterday my husband called the post office. The substitute postal worker who delivers our mail thought it was to be forwarded. It has been sent who-knows-where and may or may not come back to us. The good news is that we did receive mail on Wednesday and an apology.
We also had failure of our Dish Network DVR and the loss of all of our recorded programs and movies. Bye-bye Downton Abbey, farewell special on Jackie Kennedy Onassis and wedding of Kate and Will, so-long the movies we recorded during our 3-month special of free Starz.
These are the prickly things in the bowl. Perhaps a lesson in what is really important, but kind of hard to give thanks. I know: my TV still works, the retirement village waters my lawn from a well so it is green, and my mail service has resumed. Life is still good; just a little hard to swallow.