Our hot spell has broken and it's finally cool enough to enjoy being outside. I've taken advantage of that by getting some trimming done out back. I managed to cut off most of the dead branches on a forsythia bush, however I'll need a saw for a couple of them. This bush and a beauty bush are growing almost as one, so it's hard to trim just one of them. Also, the perpetual wild grape vine has come back (actually never completely went away) and was fastened onto branches from both bushes. I damaged a couple of branches in pulling the vine off, but there is not other easy way to get it off. The bushes are taller than I, so I'm working above my head much of the time. I could get the step-stool, I guess. Might have to do that. The grapevine roots are in the ground, between my fence and the neighbors'. I can't pull the darn thing up. Guess it's time for \Roundup, but I hate to use it when other plants are so close. Anyway, I now have a pile of branches that need to be cut into smaller lengths and bundled up for the recycle pickup. I'll try to get that done this afternoon.
This is the hydrangea bush that grows at the foot of the stairs. It's not quite in full bloom, but is looking very pretty already. Every year, I cut it back and every year it grows enough to make getting off the steps and into the back yard a problem.
The other photo is one corner of the deck. It's looking quite colorful now, with the lilies coming into bloom.
Yesterday, after ceramics, I went for a walk around Lake Elkhorn. The lake is filled with green scum. I guess it's algae. Unpleasant to look at. There were no ducks or geese in the water. Maybe they don't like the green stuff? Actually a few ducks were sitting on floating logs. They seem to have displaced the turtles - I only saw one turtle. I did see one family of Canada geese, on land. I think most of them have raised their young and are now foraging elsewhere for food. I also saw a heron, in a rather odd place. At the end of the lake there is a dam with a sloped surface where the water comes down. It's a fairly gentle slope, but I'm sure it is slippery. The heron was at the end of the slope, looking down into the water below the dam. It seemed to be considering stepping off the slope and into the water. Hopefully, it decided not to do that, as the water there is rather deep.
After my walk, I went back to the senior center to help them set up for a book sale. They do this once a year and get tons of donations. I worked for several hours, helping others to sort the books and arrange them on tables. The sale starts this AM, but volunteers were allowed to buy books yesterday, so I won't be going over there this AM to fight my way through the crowds. Actually I only bought six books, and two of them I already have, so I didn't increase my stock of books very much. That's amazing for me! I really am trying to cull my shelves, but I can't just dump books that I don't remember if I still like or not. I have been re-reading one book by an unfamiliar author and then deciding whether to keep or discard all of them. It's a slow process, but perhaps eventually I will have all my books downstairs in the 'library' rather than all over the house!
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