Today's blog post is brought to you by Nature

Who needs a gardening book when you have brilliant blog friends? That's todays motif. Clicking makes the pictures a little bigger but I hate a slow loading blog so not very much bigger.

The first item up for display is a known entity. The unknown factor is the bloom that appeared this morning.



I thought these were more "decorative because our leaves are purple" sort of plants. This morning this one said "Surprise!"

I can (I think) identify some of the ground cover in picture number 2 as myrtle, yes? What about that yellow flower? A wildflower maybe or something more definite?



#3 is a bit of a mystery that may or may not be solved before vacation. My heart of hearts is hoping it's a dahlia but that seems so unlikely. It also may just be a gianter leafed version of #2. Or it may be a giant weed



Finally (#4) there's this little something something living happily in the "bad dirt.".



My zen mind says "flowers are flowers- there are no weeds." My "want to be a little bit of a garden planter mind" wonders "garden member or eradicate?"

In fiber news-the crochet afghan is moving right along as is the Queen Anne's Lace. That lace is going to be a doozy. The spinning wheel is going back into time out. It's more frustrating than happy-making right now and I'm all about the happy.

In cooking news- That Jello-mold high lasted well into the late evening yesterday. I was laughing and joyful all day long. It wasn't just Mr. Sophanne who was the funny guy although he did have the best line of the day. *insert Brooklyn accent*

You know what comes after jello don't you? long ominous pause puh-ddin'

There may or may not be jello molds arriving from ebay in the next week or two.

Today's mission- unless I change my mind- will be to cook some chicken in that ceramic pot. (I'm thinking if I put chicken broth and garlic in there on a low temp for a few hours, I can't go wrong.) Then I'll turn said chicken into creamed chicken (as per a recipe in the Woman's Day Encyclopedia of Cooking (now and forever known as WD-EOC). I'll mash some potatoes and see what fresh vegetable I can find-comfort food city- unless I change my mind.

This is one summer that will not be filed under the category of "Wasted."