The Color Purple

Lavender plants on the deck are in full bloom, as are the licorice mint that have spread to nearly every pot, some growing four feet tall, and that purple color attracts bees.  Marjoram in the herb garden also has a purple flower and it also gets its share of attention.  Bees are the only creatures who are working hard and fast in the heat (yes, it's hot again).  Small honey bees are shouldered aside by larger black-and-yellow bumblebees.  It won't be long until the gang of bigger-still all black bumblers takes over.  They work all day, and we share the early evening hours as I go along watering the plants.  I wonder where their hives are, and will they get some rest when they go home.

The earwig invasion was brief and fairly wimpy this year, thankfully.  They are a particularly unlovely insect.  Ants, on the other hand, have launched a full-scale attack.  These are tiny grease ants and they invade every year.  Spraying the door sill from the deck into the kitchen has been added to the daily morning chores.

Mice in the bucket, sitting up on their haunches waiting for milk, make me think of the orphans in Oliver Twist.  "May I have more gruel, please?"

Right now I'm watching over twenty turklets and their guardians meander up the drive on their way to the feeding station under the kitchen oak.  It's a pleasant sight and a nice way to start the day.  Even though they've darned near cleaned me out of plums, it is also very pleasant to see Tawny II and Lady Friend in the orchard in the purple shadows of evening.