Random photos of the weekend

It has been a busy yet somehow laid back weekend.  I actually sat down with Justine this afternoon and watched a movie.  Usually we reserve TV/movies for in the evening.  It was fun.  V was off at a book signing and I was tired after getting up early to do outside work before it got too hot so we had some girl time.
I thought I'd share a few photos of the weekend.  I took a walk yesterday afternoon and snapped a few photos along the way as well as a few others from the past few days.

 The Queen Anne's Lace is the one thing that seems to be doing well in this drought.  Since the rest of the lawn is quite brown it towers above everything- not only in our yard but in others as well. Amazing how much is there that generally gets mowed off in a normal year.

 One of our daylilies is blooming.  Something more fun than the usual orange ditch lilies.

 It's kind of hard to see against the backdrop of other trees but here is our new little (or not so little) plum tree.

 Some of the big trees are yellowing and looking stressed as the heat and drought continue.  These are the boxelders that are on the slope southwest of the garden.

 Watering the melons is paying off!  A honeydew is growing bigger each day!

 And check out all those little cherry tomatoes. But I discovered today that I've got a serious problem with blossom end rot on my tomatoes.  We put crushed eggshells in the soil when we planted them to try to circumvent this but it has been so dry that it doesn't matter. I made sure to water them well tonight.  I'll have to water them more often than I have been in order to (hopefully) keep this at bay.

 And, photographic evidence of a "triple share-bag".  The children have developed this silly habit of sticking their heads in a cloth grocery bag and singing the 'sharing is caring' song.  This was the first time they did all three at once- although K12 was not necessarily a willing participant.  I never realized that they could all three get their heads in there!  Oh, the silly things they come up with!

 Yesterday the boys and I got up early and moved dirt before it got too hot.  This morning, I got up early and finished leveling off the area in the L of the house for the shade garden.  I even got my hydrangeas and ferns planted.   I know it doesn't look like much at the moment but this is an amazing transformation from what was here. This area still needs a lot of work but it is slowly coming together.

A view from the north stairs of the deck.  There will be a patio of the pavers (that you can see the beginnings of)  out here. But first, the debris needs to be cleaned up. Beyond where the patio will be you can see the rose trellis that leads to the goth garden beyond.  The poor goth garden is rather sad this year.  Something ate my columbines and the whole area has been rather neglected.  I need to give it some attention next spring.
So, that sums up the weekend.  Well, that and good food and family time.