~ The Dog Days of August ~

Well at least in photos. The dog days of August did not materialize this year, but Jack is enjoying the great temps and sunshine regardless. Old dogs love a nice summer day -- as they should.

Kirby-Kim Family Reunion - Summer 2009

It is with heartfelt gratitude and admiration to Amy Sievers for her beautiful photography and artistic eye in capturing our family reunion in Maryland this summer. Thank you Amy. And to my friends -- enjoy this slideshow. Turn your speakers on.

STUDIO 205 ~ Amy Sievers at: http://www.studio205.net/

~ Freak Hail Storm adds Adventure ~

Half way through putting a new roof on the house a freak hailstorm from nowhere pelted the area. Only a minor setback while things quickly got covered and when the sun came out the job was completed. The new roof looks awesome.

~ Sampling ~

A corner of the backyard. The 'sandbox' has exceeded all expectations for producing an amazing amount of food in a very small space. Can anyone spot the apples, and a peek at the cherries in this photo? [you will have to click to enlarge the photo]

~ This Poor Chap Must Have Had One Heck of a Migration ~

This is the ONLY butterfly I have seen all summer which is amazing considering I have about thirty-eight thousand trillion jillion flowers in my yard. This poor guy looks like he flew through rain, hail, sleet, and a plague of locusts to get here. At least he's made a few friends with Mr. BumbleBee and Mr. Daddy Longlegs.

~ Two of My Favorite Things ~

Purple Basil

Prostrate Rosemary
Ooooooh... the culinary possibilities!

~ Rescue Project - Summer 2009 ~

Each summer I find a plant at the nursery that is near death and usually marked down to 25 cents or even as high as 50 cents and make it my project to save. Last year it was a most pathetic looking verbena. By summer's end it was the probably the most beautiful plant in a pot. This year this sad little varigated coleus spoke to me and despite, or because of a miserably cold summer he/she? thrived and even flowered this past weekend. I really should have taken a before photo, but suffice to say none of the original leaves are here.

~ I Love Bees ~

Click on this photo to enlarge and see

the iridescence of this guy.

We seem to have a dozen or more kinds of bees this year. These guys are the only ones that stay in one spot long enough to photograph. Those whose legs are dripping with orange/yellow pollen just flit around too quickly to capture with the lens.

Incoming.

Safe landing.

Sour Cherry Jam Anyone?

Absolutely no complaints about the cherry harvest this year. The branches are so laden with fruit they nearly hang on the ground. I just need to make sure I get these picked before the yellow jackets show up. They can pick this tree to the pits in about 24 hours. Birds like the cherries as much as we do also.

Tomatoes ~ The Bottom Line

We had a less than a stellar summer as far as growing vegetables that love hot sunny weather. Collards and beets have done wonderfully, but the tomatoes have managed to mostly grow spectacular green leaves. :) The fruits appear to be ornamental size and a gorgeous green so far. I'm hoping we get some warmer weather and the sun makes an appearance for a week or two to change this. If not -- I'll have resort to the brown paper bag trick.

I was not impressed with the topsy turvey thing-a-ma-jig this year, but in all fairness I don't think the growing season was a good one to judge by. I will give it another go next year. Only a handful of tomatoes of medium size and not even beginning to turn red. I also had a lot of trouble with leaves yellowing which I am going to attribute to the cool, no, make that cold summer.

This plant is over 7 feet tall growing along side the house. It is having a race with the hollyhock next to it -- which appears to be winning at this point. The tomatoes are cleverly hidden deep within the plant. They are decent in size -- a delightful green color.

And finally, the grape tomato plant growing up the fence on numerous stakes and about twenty pieces of twine holding up the 4-5 foot branches. The plant itself taller than the fence which is 6.5 feet tall. There are a gadzillion grape tomatoes on this plant -- all that fabulous green color. If they ripen we'll be up to our eyeballs in grape tomatoes and that is not a bad thing.

~ Mallow ~

Somehow our weather got switched with Seattle's weather this summer minus the rain. Cold and clouds are persistent even to the point of having to turn the heat on in the morning. I didn't think my mallow would amount to much but planting it in the trusty old whiskey barrel has been to its liking. The year 2009 will go down in the books as the summer that never arrived.