Confused Azalea

My Azalea is confused.  It is blooming now -- in the fall, not the spring.

First, it was just these blossoms. 

But now there are two more buds.

But I'm not complaining, they're beautiful.

But confusing, like life lately.

This Morning ....

This morning, I got my cup of coffee and looked outside and saw this, although it was more blurry (I didn't have my contacts in yet).  Think of it as seeing two bright spots of color in the green.  This picture does not do it justice at all, but you can get the idea.

 

So, after I woke up a bit, took a shower, put IN my contacts (LOL), I went out and looked more closely, and took some pictures.

Bottom Rose

And a surprise new bud

Promise for tomorrow

And the top rose. 

 

Lovely beauty

Don't ask me why I worked from bottom to top today, it's just how I looked at the roses and took the pictures.  :)

Night Blooming Cactus

NIght time blooms

We were enchanted last year we noticed this cactus blooming in our back yard.  Everyone went out to try and see it and smell it, and take pictures, of course.  This is the best night time picture we have.  The cool thing is that the flowers are so open in this photo.

The following photos were taken in the early evening.

The flowers are not as open, but very beautiful.

One day, I saw a honey bee literally wallowing in one of these blossoms -- loading up for her last flight of the day, I suppose.

When the blooms are spent, they fall off the plant, leaving these funky round things with "strings" hanging out of them

And what looks the dessicated remains of lizards on the ground below.

We all climbed the ladder to smell them last summer, and the best description of their scent was "raw peeled potatoes." 

Herb Flowers

While a few herbs have stunning flowers that announce, "I'm here," like rosemary,

Rosemary

Rosemary flowers

many others say it more softly, like thyme, savory, basil and oregano.

Thyme

Savory

Basil

Oregano

Some herb flowers aren't really very pretty at all, like marjoram and dill.

Marjoram

Dill

All of these flowers, and more, are edible.  God's provision is abundant, and I am grateful.

O, Ye of Little Faith

My pole beans weren't producing, at least I thought they weren't.  We looked for beans,  I saw a few blossoms, and a few baby beans -- a couple of which fell off when we touched them.  So we were afraid to touch them.  Honestly, I thought they probably weren't getting enough light, or something else was wrong.

Today, I went out to water, and the tops of the beans were totally entwined in the top of the fence, threading their way in and out of the yard.  As I tugged a bit, I found beans!  Whoot!  And more beans.  Finally, I had to put them in my pocket, I was finding so many.

But I had to look for them. 

Not bad for a first picking.  And I'm so grateful, the bush beans are fading fast.


Kind of like life: God promises things, they're not obvious, we have to search for them, and lo, and behold, He produces in abundance.

Our tomatoes are the same way.  I picked this basket-full yesterday.

And the bushes, although not very pretty, are full of red or almost red fruit.

Our Father lavishes abundant love on us.

And "Poof" They're Gone

Mockingbirds are ubiquitous here, at least in our yard.  We've had at least 5 nesting pairs in the back yard, and I don't know how many in the front yard.

They nest close to the house, like the ones who made a nest in this bush ...

And since it's so close, it was so easy to climb up in this white chair and take pictures.

Most eggs hatch within a couple of days.
 

And they fly away in 10 days to two weeks.  The fledglings look like miniature mockingbirds, and they hang around for a week or so, or at least it seems that way.  Perhaps they just grow up.

I'm suffering a bit of an empty nest syndrome this summer.  My daughter is spending much of the summer at her grandparents' home, and my son is working full time.

Shades of things to come.

"Raindrops on Roses ...

... these are a few of my favorite things."

This song kept running through my mind yesterday morning as I went out into the yard and saw the way the light shines through the rain drops on the rose bushes.  I couldn't quite capture it, but wanted to share these with you.

 

And even on nasturtiums, it's beautiful.

And rain is so unusual here in "Sunny" southern California, especially in June, that it must be documented.  :)