They Mocked My Mock Orange

Butterflies are not pesky, but the deer sure are!  I now have Mock Orange stems. You would think 25 plus acres (really, the monument covers something like 68,000 acres these days), would be enough of a buffet for those doe eyed grazing rats.  Of course you would also figure with our bigger brains and opposable thumbs, we would have come up with a better protection system.  Wrong on both counts. An invisible force field would be ideal or electrified plants.....

The good news is that the plants they don't like, they don't like. A large majority of the plantings are untouched. I did add more lavender and hummingbird mint into the landscape and if it comes down to that for fill, I am good with it. Both beautiful and lovely to smell. There must be something awful in those Shasta Daises to deer, not so much as a bud has been nipped and the few I have are blooming. Who doesn't love bright white and yellow in the garden? The thyme varieties are untouched also as is the phlox.

The gawd awful heat wave broke for us on the 4th. The summer is back to it's normal mix of warm to hot days with a good cool down at night. What a relief for everyone and the little room A/C can take a much deserved rest.



And surprising news. My favorite lame wild turkey hen has another clutch in tow. The last few days have brought the girls out to forage and it is always a treat to see them.



Two hens with about half a dozen chicks each,





 one group much older than the other. I used the super zoom on the Fuji camera to get these shots from the deck. Not the sharpest (you may want to biggify the one shot of the little chicks to see them) , but still pretty darn good. The fox family is alive and well. Once in a great while I will catch one of the adults after dark prowling, but with the summer brings lots of cover and they blend so well, I likely miss seeing them often.

A fair amount of sewing has gone on. Hard to believe but I seemed to have put together a very coordinated bunch of fabrics that will all go from summer to fall and beyond with ease. More white has made it into the mix. First up is a lovely linen simply done in a long sleeved version of the Scout Tee.



 I added a small pleat at the cuff and a shell button. It also has a little tag on the back.



Hard to see in this picture but it is a pretty cream colored piece of silk. I liked the white so much I decided on another version, this one from stash using a left over piece of linen/cotton blend for the top portion and a grey lavender piece of linen saved from doing pillow case hems for my folks last year.



 This one is in process but I do like the color blocked effect.And I couldn't resist dipping into the last of my dogwood tablecloth scraps. The colors just work so well.

A seal brown voile tank/cami top from Simplicity 1810A.





 Works now and will work in the winter as a light soft under layer. Friend Mary provided the interesting geometric fabric scrap. ;) I have voile in black to do up at some point. Even in winter who doesn't like something smooth and silk like next to the skin? Not me!

I resurrected the Sewing Workshop Tosca Dress as a tunic.



 This was a case of loving the fabric and having to find a pattern to work with it. It certainly wouldn't work chopped up and this pattern allows for the front and back to be cut on the fold from neck to hem. The hard part was getting the pockets to match on the slant as they are set to wrap around the side seam wiht the lower corner ending on the back panel.



 It all really had to match and there was only 2.5 yards of this left by the time I figured out something that would suit it.

Lastly, while they aren't highlighted, the pants in an amazing Italian cotton fabric. It is crisp, light to medium weight and very tightly woven.



 The hand on this fabric is perfection and I fell head over heels in love with the taupe and eggplant stripe. It blends with all sorts of things.

I really need to get my book review post together for next time. I have finished some wonderful books starting with my trip reading. There are historical mysteries, non-fiction, fantasy/sci-fi, just a nice assortment and there is still plenty of time for summer reading!

Parting shot: A/C seems plenty cold to me!