Gardening, Music

Strawberry Challenge

61 Comments

The high heat has gone away, and we are having pleasant sunny weather in the low 80s. No AC needed. But the summer is still young, and I expect we’ll be using Eva—my name for the AC—many times before the cool snap of fall comes.

No rain yet, but it is in the forecast for this weekend. Fingers crossed because central Maine is dry, dry, dry. One of the driest Junes in my memory.

In the backyard, the evening primroses are in bloom, and the back garden is aglow with yellow, a jaunty contrast to all the green.

Clif took a closer look at these bursts of yellow.

Recently, we bought ant moats to attach to the hummingbird feeders. Filled with water, the moats keep the ants out of the enticing sugar-water mixture. What we didn’t count on was that the birds would view the moats as another place to drink water. Somehow, a nuthatch taking a sip of water from a moat doesn’t bother us one bit.

With all the hostas I’ve planted, the front yard is not as flamboyant as the backyard. Still, there are pleasures to be found.

This week, strawberries came in our CSA share, two quarts of sweet gems. The berries are small but utterly delicious and extremely ripe. It will be a challenge to eat them all before the berries go bad.

Are Clif and I up to the challenge?

You bet we are.

What’s Making Me Happy This Week

Starting this week for my Friday posts, I’m going to take a leaf from Pop Culture Happy Hour’s book. On that excellent podcast, movies, books, music, and TV shows are reviewed and discussed. On Friday, after the lively discussions, the hosts and guests share what’s making them happy. Not surprisingly, the recommendations are media related.

I’m not sure I’m always going to stick to the media for my happy reports. After all, birds and plants make me very happy. But this week I’m featuring Rodrigo y Gabriela, two dynamic Mexican musicians who got their start in Dublin, thus proving that music is one of the things that binds us all.

So if you’re feeling a little glum by all that’s going in all the world, then click on this link. I challenge you not to tap your feet.

61 thoughts on “Strawberry Challenge”

  2. You can make a nice strawberry shortcake with some of your ripest berries. Just press them with a little sweetener and serve on cake or biscuit. Yum! Your garden looks cool and fresh. Thanks for sharing!

  6. Your back garden, with all that greenery and bright yellow flowers is a joy to see as we are right in the middle of our winter…the joys of blogging!

  7. Oh, wow! Great music. Gabriela with the guitar percussion rocked it.
    Your garden looks so lush a beautiful. Hard to believe you are in a drought. And that nuthatch is adorable. I have had chickadees do the same.

  9. I did tap my feet, you were right. I wouldn’t find that strawberry challenge too daunting so I am sure that you and Clif will be up to it.

  10. I love Rodrigo y Gabriela. I heard them for the first time last summer, and I forgot their names. I’ve been trying to remember, and here they are. Thanks for posting!

  11. Snappy music, I love them. Amazing fretwork! Thanks for sharing the link.
    Aren’t Sundrops just the cheeriest flower? It spreads quickly and really makes a splash out there in the garden. I like your Hosta/Jap. Painted Fern combination, too.
    We went to an organic U-pick farm and picked 8 qt. last week and froze 6 for winter. I love opening up a bit of summer in January!

  12. Fabulous music! I’ve been listening to the Tiny Desk from home concerts and loving them. These two are great. I’ve been eating strawberries with plain yogurt in the morning. And a little cane syrup. I need to make some granola, but haven’t gotten around to it yet.

    1. Aren’t those Tiny Desk Concerts wonderful? I’ve discovered so many wonderful musicians because of Tiny Desk. And let’s hear it for strawberries! Oh, yum.

  16. A perfect idyll, it feels far away from the more challenging things in the world right now. I especially love that cheeky nuthatch!

  17. Loved the music! The opportunist nuthatch is lovely too. Why is your AC called Eva? I often name things and there is usually a funny kind of logic to the name .

    1. Thanks! Eva is from the animated movie “WALL-E.” Actually, her name is Eve, but WALL-E, a robot, pronounces it Eva. Eva is also a robot, and by gum, she looks a lot like our new AC. 😉

  23. We’ve had a lot of nuthatches on the bird feeder this year – or at least the same ones feeding repeatedly. There was a baby being taught how to crack the sunflower seeds by the parent bird which was amusing but I’m not so keen on the tapping noise they make early in the morning as they open the seeds on the roof of the feeder.
    I bought an album by Rodrigo y Gabriela quite some time ago now – can’t remember how long but Rodrigo’s hair was still dark 😉 Fabulous aren’t they?

  27. I’m glad your wishes for rain and a good use for strawberries came about – may they all! The picture of the hosta and the painted fern is lovely – pretty flamboyant, I’d say, for those of us not living amongst yellow evening primroses.

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