Stars Stuffed in Jars

I recently met an artist who used "starsstuffedinjars" as her email address - I love the imagery of that! Last night was a perfect example of stars everyone that phrase brings to my brain. This summer Missouri has been humid, warm and RAINY. But finally last night the sky was once again clear, filled with stars.

Standing on my deck late in the evening, the sky about the woods behind my house was filled with stars, the trees, flowers and grass were filled with fireflies! It was magical. A few crickets made the silence friendly and it was cool enough to sit and let the twinkling fill my senses.

I TRIED to take a picture, but even my cool new camera couldn't grab the fireflies lovely lights. (Could this be because fireflies are really faeries, who won't be photographed?) More likely that their tiny lights were way too far away from me standing on the deck. But it was a great way to end my busy day.

Gardening with Mom

June is for gardening - before it gets TOO hot and muggy in Missouri. (We sort of overshot and managed to spend the last 4 days sweating buckets!) My sweet 82 year old mother was visiting this week and we managed to turn a corner of my yard into an entryway to the garden. We dug out patchy grass and sod, laid down that black garden weed barrier, stepping stones and a layer of bark. We planted a few baby hollyhocks against the fence and some creeping thyme between the pavers....although it may not survive the current heat. I'm watering!!

Here are the results of our efforts....
BEFORE:


and AFTER:

I think I'll eventually decide to bury the downspout pipe, when it cools off a bit. Quite an improvement, huh?