Busy Week, Fun Week

We have just completed county fair week and another Saturday at Farmer's Market. Talk about busy!

Our daughter brought her horse to the fair as a 4-H project, and she entered showmanship, pleasure, and contesting classes with him. In one short year she's learned how to care for a horse and how to ride well enough to enter these classes and enjoy it. Even though she didn't place, she rode as well or better than some who've been riding from little on. Watching her perform at the fair was the most fun I've had in years. Fair week was also the most exhausting week we've had in years.

Meanwhile, the cutting garden that I've been tending all summer has yielded gorgeous armloads of sunflowers, cosmos, larkspur and zinnia for the Farmer's Market. But guess what? They don't sell! Imagine that! People kept commenting on them and touching the Velvet Queen sunflowers. "Are these real? Oh my gosh! They ARE! Beautiful!" Not one stem sold. I gave my bouquets away to another vendor rather than take them home. I told her I might just skip the flowers next weekend but she pointed out that they did make our booth space the most attractive at the Market, and that drew people to it. What did sell was my tatting and crochet work and the dried gourds my husband has been dying and crafting into birdhouses. We're running out of gourds and there are 3 more weeks of Market to go. I will be busy crocheting and tatting this week.

Our weather continues to be extraordinarily dry and, for the most part, cooler than usual. Today, however, we'll see temps in the 90s with a desiccating wind. It feels as though a storm could blow up, but Gourdo says there is nothing in the forecast. Our lawn is non-existent, but at least we are saving money on the mowing. Some of the young oak trees and roses look extremely chlorotic. I'm sure the dry conditions have a lot to do with it. Even though I've been watering the roses, it's a very stressful situation for them. On the other hand, Gourdhenge, as you can see in the first photo above, looks marvelous, simply marvelous! 2009 Garden Photos by JulenaJo.