I arrived home from my short trip to Utah at midnight on Monday. I wrote all about my trip in the last Journal sent on Tuesday. Because I just wrote, it seems like the week has been short and uneventful. I spent some time every day trying to restore order to a garden neglected for five days. It is amazing what goes on when I’m away. I think the weeds and the lawn can sense that I’m gone and grow twice as fast.
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| The long flower bed. |
The weather was wild last week. On Thursday morning when I woke up it was 38°. I never thought I’d have to worry about frost in the middle of July. But the temperature rose rapidly after that. By Saturday afternoon we were at 87°, which is about as warm as we want it to get here. And there was lots of rain, of course.
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| The pompom poppies are blooming now. |
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| And the sunflowers. |
On Wednesday morning I opened the beehive. I could tell by the way they were acting that they were getting crowded and I needed to give them more room. It was a wet and cloudy morning, not the best circumstances for working with them. They are always grouchy when the weather is like that, but I proceeded anyway. I was dressed in my full bee regalia – jacket, hood with veil, and gloves. As I worked, the bees mobbed me, but I was protected. Then a bee managed to sting me through my glove on the first knuckle of my ring finger on my left hand. It hurt like crazy. After I finished, I closed the hive and didn’t think about it anymore. My finger was sore, but not too bad. Later in the day it swelled up and got painful. My wedding ring was preventing the swelling from going down, but my finger was too swollen to get the ring off, no matter what miracle procedure I tried – and I tried them all. For three days I kept ice packs on it worrying that I’d have to get the ring cut off. Finally on Saturday morning I was able to wiggle the ring over the knuckle and off. My finger began to heal immediately. I don’t usually have a reaction like that to bee stings.
This is the season of baby birds. There are baby robins everywhere – the second batch of them. And they are already working on a third batch. A robin is trying to build her nest in the hanging fuschia on the front porch, which will damage it. I keep tearing her nests out, but she is very persistent. I may have to move the plant. Barn swallows built a nest under the eaves of the barn, the first time we’ve had them there (I think they like the new barn roof). I’ve been watching them tend four babies for several weeks now. On Friday the babies were big enough that they all flew away. There was a nest of chipping sparrows in one of spruce trees in the woodland garden and their babies left nest on Thursday. I don’t know where the crows nested – I can never find their nests – but their babies were out of the nest last week too. The parents and their young moved from tree to tree all around our property every day, making a lot of happy noise – cawing, gurgling, and clicking. The only birds to nest unsuccessfully were our turkeys. After giving her more than enough time, I finally took the hen’s eggs away on Friday. They were definitely rotten. So we will have no new turkeys this year.
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| Baby chipping sparrow. |
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| Robin's nest in the fuschia. |
Friday night we went to the Hill Cumorah Pageant. It was my first time this year and Stacey and Hannah’s second time. It was the next to the last night and I wanted to see Josiah. He’s been in Palmyra since the 26th of June on the Pageant work crew. He helped set the whole thing up and then was assigned to work on light tower #1 during the Pageant. When we got there we met him on parking lot duty, then when it was time for the Pageant to start we met him at the bottom of light tower #1. I watched him go up that tower and was amazed. I could never do that. It was a great night for the Pageant, warm with a nice breeze. Josiah will be there another week helping to take it all down. We’ll drive up and bring home on Friday. He’s had a great experience. We’re so proud of him!
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| At the Pageant Friday night. |
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| Josiah preparing to up the tower. |
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| Up he goes. |
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| Higher. |
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| At the top. |
This weekend was annual Wellsville Balloon Rally. People come from all over to launch hot air balloons. Most years we don’t go, but this year our branch had an information booth on Main Street and Stacey and Hannah volunteered to take a shift in the afternoon. While they manned the booth I ran errands and checked out the book sale at the library.
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| The branch's booth at the Balloon Rally. |
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| Main Street in Wellsville during the Balloon Rally. |
My parents and Miriam will arrive sometime this week for a visit. They are driving up from Hollie and Jim’s house in North Carolina where they’ve been visiting the last few weeks. We’re excited for them to arrive here.
It is hot again today and I love it. Hot meaning 85°, which is hot for here. I’ve been waiting for weather like this for so long. This morning when I got up it was already warm and there was a light fog and heavy dew. With the heat and a touch of humidity and the smell of cut lawns, and all the green, it is perfect July weather. After church we had our favorite Sabbath lunch – sandwiches and potato chips – easy to prepare, easy to clean up. Now I’m ready for a nap. It looks like we’re going to get thunderstorms later this evening. I love summer.
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| Warm and foggy Sabbath morning. |
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| Sabbath morning. |
