Squirrels Riding Sunflowers
This is THE view in the garden this year. It translates in photos but is even more colorful in person. Behind Harriet the tithonias (Mexican Sunflowers) expand in all directions with their orange flowers. Ryan says they are his favorite thing in the garden this year. The intensity of their color is mesmerizing.
I sit and take in this scene most mornings and most evenings. Below are some highlights from the past week or so.
Recent reading:
The Art of Patience: Seeking the Snow Leopard in Tibet, A writer joins a nature photographer on an expedition to photograph a snow leopard, an endangered and elusive animal. Lots of hiking in snow and being very cold. They sat for hours in hopes of seeing one. I love knowing people do these things. I wish snow leopards were not endangered.
“I had learned that patience was a supreme virtue, the most elegant, the most neglected. It made it easier to love the world than claiming to transform it. It urged one to sit before the scene, to exult in the spectacle, be it only the quivering of a leaf. Patience was humankind’s reverence for what was bestowed…to wait was to pray.” -Sylvain Tesson
Exalted, Fiction story about an internet astrologist and another woman. The chapters alternate between these characters. It read fast and was fun.
Garden notes: The sunflowers are open and opening and some are drooping and some have been fully consumed by squirrels (I saw this happen! A squirrel sat on the bending arch of a sunflower and rocked back and forth eating its seeds. So funny!).
We had a Diana Fritillary butterfly visit last week, an endangered butterfly. It lays its eggs at the base of wild violets that the caterpillar then consumes. We let the wild violets go, well, wild, this past year and unknowingly made a welcoming space for this beautiful butterfly. I feel so proud and happy about it.
The tansy is about to bloom its little yellow buttons. I planted two plants in places it could be contained, as I read it could get out of hand…I’m still exploring the balance of all the advice out there for gardeners.
The hibiscus is blooming less and less. We got our first cucumber two days ago–Harriet yelped with delight in finding it. We have maybe eight cucumber plants in the yard and some are doing great, while others seem lacking. I’ve taken to planting multiples of what I want most desperately to see or eat. Lots of cherry tomatoes, probably a handful per day. I want more than that though; is that greedy?
I keep waiting to see if the swallowtail caterpillars will start eating up my fennel I planted for them. Here’s hoping. I collected seeds from lettuce (fancy trout!), mustard greens, and strawflower/golden everlasting.
Yard salad ingredients this week: Red malabar spinach (a vining plant!), cucumber, cherry tomatoes, lambs quarter, carrot tops, carrots, marigold, dandelion greens
Listening: Hidden Brain: Passion Isn't Enough: The Rise Of 'Political Hobbyism' in the United States, My heart wants to heal our world, to do my part in that work. That sounds like such a cute and optimistic thing to say, but I feel it so strongly. This episode offered such good insight into why people feel so passionately and angry about their views these days, and it offers some approaches for talking about harder topics and how to start to bring more understanding between varying people.
Making: In addition to painting sunflowers in the backyard with Harriet (above), I finally finished this tank top for myself (Pattern Gemma Tank from Made by Rae). The fabric is from an incredibly soft old sheet and the binding is from a spool of handmade binding I got at a roadside antique shop. I didn’t mean for the armhole binding to be on the outside, but it’s a happy accident that I love.
This is a photo of tithonia reaching for the moon. Good for it.