We had a house full of company for most of the week. Rachel and her three youngest children arrived last Sunday evening. Our niece Kailie and her family arrived a few hours later. Rachel's gang were here until Wednesday. Kailie's group left yesterday. Next door at the Shillig's, their guests left on Tuesday. So for a few days, there was quite a crowd of us and lots of activity. There were children zooming around on bikes, gators, scooters, and hoverboards. The Shilligs had their slip-n-slide out. The trampoline, zip line, and swing set were in almost constant use. The children went up to the hollow on a salamander hunt. There were games – indoors and out – and feasts, and fireworks.
 |
| Mabel on the slip-n-slide. |
 |
| Truman and Grayson on the salamander hunt. |
 |
| Sparklers! |
The weather all week was perfect, exactly what June should be. The days were warm, the mornings were cool and misty. The evenings were cool and dewy. We had a beautiful sunset on Monday.
 |
| Sunset on Monday. |
On Tuesday, the sunrise was even more beautiful. My walk that morning was delightful. These late spring mornings are full of birdsong. There are two songsters that I especially love, catbirds and brown thrashers. They are both members of the Mimidae family, which means that, in addition to their own songs, they mimic other birds and sounds. Mockingbirds belong to the same family, but we are too far north of their range to have them here. I have a pair of catbirds nesting somewhere nearby. They sit in the shrubs and sing all morning. The brown thrashers are more shy and stay hidden in the thorn wood across the road. Both birds sing rambling songs, snatches of borrowed songs, buzzy sounds, and random squeaks and twitters. They are the perfect musical accompaniment to these luscious June mornings.
 |
| Tuesday morning. |
 |
| Tuesday morning. |
 |
| Tuesday morning. |
 |
| We had a bonfire on Tuesday evening. |
We had some rain during the week, but even the rain was perfect. We needed it. It was nice to take a break from watering by hand. The gardens were blessed by it. Wednesday morning was wonderful weeding weather. It had rained a little in the night so everything was damp, but not drenched. It was overcast, so the sun was not beating down on me. It was warm and humid. Plants relax under those conditions and that makes pulling up weeds as easy as it's ever going to get. I spent a lovely solitary morning crawling from one bed to another ripping out weeds. It was very therapeutic. Just as I was at the point where I needed to stop and go in and eat some lunch, a thunderstorm rolled in. It poured rain for an hour. Perfect timing.
After the rain passed, the weather cleared and it was beautiful. Later in the afternoon, Sarah wanted to go out to see what plants were still available at Coblentz's greenhouse, so she, Miriam, and I went on a little trip. The backroads between here and Mills were spectacular as we drove through shady forest and fields bright with flowers. There wasn't much left at the greenhouse, but we came home with some watermelon and muskmelon plants, a flat of marigolds, and some zinnias and strawflowers. After dinner we went out to the big garden and planted it all. The garden is coming along nicely. We only have green beans and dry beans left to plant and then I think we're done – with the planting at least. Now comes weeks of tending and weeding.
The flowerbeds got off to a rough start with all those late spring frosts and freezes, but now, as we approach the first day of summer, they are beginning to look good. The lupines are at their best now. The poppies are a bit puny this year, but some of them are lovely. Some of my favorite flowers are in the dianthus family – pinks, sweet Williams, and carnations. I don't have any carnations in the garden this year, but the pinks and sweet Williams are bright and beautiful right now. My irises took the hardest hit from the cold. Of the many I have planted in patches around the garden, only one little group has blossoms. And Miriam's water lilies have started to bloom.
 |
| The long border. |
 |
| A patch of Sweet Williams in the long border. |
 |
| Sweet Williams up close. |
 |
| The only iris that bloomed this year. |
 |
| Some of my poppies. |
 |
| Miriam's water lilies. |
We saw that Union Pacific's Big Boy No. 4014 train was passing through the area and went up to watch it. It is the world's largest operating steam locomotive. Big Boy No. 4014 set out from Cheyenne on May 25th and is headed to Philadelphia for the 250th Independence Day Celebration on the 4th of July. It was scheduled to make a whistle stop in Hornell, New York, from 2:00 to 2:30 on Thursday. That's about an hour away from us. We tried to get there in time to see it, but we were running late, so we drove to Canisteo to watch it go by. According to the Union Pacific's site:
"Twenty-five Big Boys were commissioned exclusively for Union Pacific Railroad, the first of which was delivered in 1941. These massive locomotives were built to haul heavy equipment in support of the war effort, normally operating between Ogden, Utah, and Cheyenne, Wyoming. The Big Boys are 133 feet long and weigh 1.2 million pounds. Due to their great length, the frames of the Big Boys are "hinged," or articulated, to allow them to negotiate curves. They have a 4-8-8-4 wheel arrangement, which means they have four wheels on the leading set of "pilot" wheels to guide the engine; eight drivers on the first engine; another set of eight drivers on the second engine; and four wheels trailing that support the rear of the locomotive."
It was pretty impressive. It shook the ground as it went by. I love trains. I've traveled across the country three times by train and I'd love to do it again.
 |
| Waiting for the train. |
On our way back we stopped at The Big Dipper in Almond, New York, for ice cream. While we were there, a storm blew in. It poured rain off and on all the way home. It was 91° before the storm and it dropped to 71° by the time we got home. I was late doing the chores and went out as soon as we got back and got drenched going to and from the barn. But I love these summer thunderstorms – and it isn't even officially summer yet!
Friday morning was warm, overcast, and humid. The air was sweet with that fragrance that comes after rain. I had errands to run in the morning. By the time I got home, it was raining hard. It only lasted twenty minutes and then it cleared. I went out to work in the warm and humid aftermath of the rain. I'm trying something different this year. I'm growing potatoes in bags. The bags are designed for that purpose. I put the potatoes in the bags two weeks ago and covered them with a shallow layer of soil. They grew and on Friday I added more soil, covering most of the stems. If it works the way it's supposed to, potatoes will grow all along those buried stems and when they are ready, I just dump the bags and gather the spuds. We also have a large potato patch planted out in the big garden in the traditional way. They are also growing nicely. The sunset on Friday was lovely.
 |
| Sunset on Friday looking southeast. |
 |
| Sunset on Friday looking northwest. |
Yesterday Sarah, Miriam, and I spent the morning traveling the highways and byways to visit Amish greenhouses. We wanted to see what was still available and get some last things for the garden. Miriam wanted to plant a bee garden out by her hives. We went to four greenhouses and they all still had plenty of beautiful plants. When we got back, Miriam and I planted her garden – catnip, echinacea, gazanias, and bee balm.
The day was warm and sunny. Kurt and I finished our planting in the big garden with a row of green beans. With this warm, wet weather, they should be up in a day or two. Everything is growing and looking good. Now comes the battle with the bugs. We covered all the brassicas with netting to keep the cabbage moths off, and the peacock. We've already sighted cucumber beetles and I sprayed neem oil to get rid of them. I also sprayed it on the potatoes as a deterrent to the potato beetles. We haven't seen any yet, but we will.
 |
| Netting over the brassicas. |
After the departure of our last guests yesterday, the house subsided into quiet normalcy again. We spent the afternoon tidying, doing laundry, and setting things back in place. We have a little lull before the next set of guests arrive. We have a Big Project planned in the interim. Miriam has decided it's time to redo the upstairs bathroom. That bathroom has had problems for a long time and we've done various things to try and fix it, but it looks like a major overhaul is necessary. It has a little tub, just four feet square with a shower. The tub is old and it leaks underneath. We've had to replace part of the floor several times because of it. The water comes down through the floor into the downstairs bathroom and, for a while, the dining room ceiling. So the tub has to go. We are putting in a regular shower instead. I don't know what all the job will entail. Miriam has it figured out and thinks she has the wherewithal to do it. We will help her as best we can. In the meantime, while that bathroom is out of commission, everyone will be using the downstairs bathroom and that will be inconvenient. That will help to spur the upstairs project.
Yesterday was Miriam's birthday. She made her own birthday cake, a concoction of chocolate cake, marshmallow, caramel, and peanuts. The Shilligs and the Kuprovs came over from next door to celebrate with us.
 |
| Miriam's birthday cake. |
 |
| What a cake! |
 |
| Happy birthday Miriam! |
This Sabbath morning, the world was very quiet. It was a bit overcast and very dewy. I took a walk through the garden before church to enjoy the serenity of a June morning. The lilies, the ones that survived the frosts, are starting to bloom now. They were bright and beautiful.
 |
| Lilies this morning. |
With all our guests gone, church was just the usual little core of faithful attenders. But our meetings were good. Hannah was one of our speakers. I was extra tired and fell asleep on the ride home. I'm ready for some lunch and then plan to resume the nap I began in the car. The week ahead looks to be a little cooler as we approach the solstice. I hope it warms up considerably after that. The forecast says we'll have some rain. That's good. I'd rather not spend my time watering by hand. I have other things I want to do. Mostly I want to enjoy these lush and lovely last days of spring.
