Summer Journal: In My Own Backyard

I'm so happy to see my old friends have found me here! I'm sorry it has taken me a few days to reply to your lovely comments. We went away for the weekend to attend my niece's bridal shower, and I thought I would have more time before we left.

For as long as we have lived in this house--twenty years!--red squirrels have been living in our backyard. They are feisty, territorial creatures. I do love them!

Hummingbirds are feisty, territorial creatures, too, yet so delicate and fairy-like.

I planted five new English roses this year, bringing my rose count up to fourteen bushes! This one is Lady of Shalott:

One of my favorite roses is a beautiful salmon pink one called Boscobel. At first, her blossoms were so pale that I thought David Austin had sent me the wrong rose. She has grown a lot since I took this photo earlier in the season:

 The rose below is the Ambridge Rose. A camera really can't capture her ethereal beauty:

Hanging from a low branch on the pear tree across the street from my house is a basketball-sized, papery nest of a bald-faced hornet colony. Today, the Animal Warden stopped by. He parked his truck in front of the nest, rolled down his window, aimed a can of spray at it (briefly), and drove off.  I think the wasps laughed. I know I did.

Munstead Wood is a deep, dark, crimson rose with incomparable form and scent.

My neighbors down the lane planted two apple trees in their side yard when they bought their house. Those neighbors moved out a couple of years ago and new neighbors moved in. This year, for some reason or another, the new neighbors decided to remove one of the trees. It is sad, because the trees were so vibrant and healthy. Now the tree that is left is dying, we think of a broken heart. Many people don't realize that trees are communal creatures.

Our kittens Rhys and Wyatt are getting  B I G.

Wyatt goes by many different nicknames: Lightning, Stripes McGee, and Ricky Raccoon.

Over the weekend, we got to visit Rhys and Wyatt's sister Miss P (my sis-in-law's kitty). Do you see the family resemblance?  Her eyes are amber like Rhys's and her coloring is a blend of both brothers. All of them have pink noses, and white mittens and shirts.

"The crickets felt it was their duty to warn everybody that summertime cannot last for ever. Even on the most beautiful days in the whole year – the days when summer is changing into autumn – the crickets spread the rumor of sadness and change."~ Charlotte's Web by E.B. White

We are in those days now. I am savoring each one of them, although I know 'nothing gold can stay'. ♥

Love and roses,
Sue