Celestial Helper

" Sun shines, birds sing, garden angels flowers bring "

Sleepover

Late Summer Meadows

The wildflowers continue to share their beauty, despite lack of rain, and hotter than normal days.
It's been a HOT summer, period.
And so, as we transition into the gentler days of autumn I share with you the last few flowers of summer........

Joe Pye Weed, Eupatorium purpureum, is an amazing plant that is an herb, a wildflower, a butterfly plant and an ornamental for the flower bed.
It obtained its name after a Native American herbalist, named Joe-Pye, cured fevers using the Eupatorium plant.

Though we tend to think of it as a wildflower in the U.S., it's long been an ornamental plant in England where our cottage gardens are so popular.

I enjoy gathering the flowers, stems and all, to hang from the rafters of my potting shed. Surprisingly enough they stay vividly colored until late Winter.

The Wild Yarrow, Achillea Millefolium, also known as Milfoil, Soldiers woundwort, Nose Bleed Weed, Sanguinary, and Devil’s Nettle is a very useful medicinal herb.
Yarrow has also been used as a food, and was very popular as a vegetable in the seventeenth century.

The younger leaves are said to be a pleasant leaf vegetable when cooked as spinach, or in a soup.

Yarrow is sweet with a slight bitter taste. The leaves can also be dried and used as a herb in cooking.

Solidago, commonly called goldenrods, are herbaceous perennial species found in the meadows and pastures, along roads, ditches and waste areas in North America.

Parts of some goldenrods can be edible when cooked, they can also be used for decoration and making tea.
Goldenrods are, in some places, held as a sign of good luck or good fortune.

They are considered weeds by many in North America but they are prized as garden plants in Europe.

Queen Anne's Lace, also called " Wild Carrot" is a common plant in dry fields, ditches and open area. It was first introduced from Europe, and the carrots that we eat today were once cultivated from this plant.

The plant blooms from May to October, and is a biennial plant, which means it lives for two years.

It will spend the first year growing bigger, and then bloom the second year.

Morning Surprise

The Morning Glory vines are growing at an alarming rate, each morning I've checked, but sadly NO blooms.
Until today......I was greeted by the first beauty !


The vines are bursting with tiny flower heads, and so hopefully in the next few weeks, we'll be once again surrounded in the garden, by a splendid display of Summertime 'blues'....

THE MORNING-GLORY

Was it worth while to paint so fair
Thy every leaf - to vein with faultless art
Each petal, taking the boon light and air
Of summer so to heart?

To bring thy beauty unto perfect flower,
Then, like a passing fragrance or a smile,
Vanish away, beyond recovery's power -
Was it, frail bloom, worth while?

Thy silence answers: "Life was mine!
And I, who pass without regret or grief,
Have cared the more to make my moment fine,
Because it was so brief.

"In its first radiance I have seen
The sun! - why tarry then till comes the night?
I go my way, content that I have been
Part of the morning light!"

~ Florence Earl Coates ( 1850-1927 )

Optimism

Real optimism is aware of problems but recognizes solutions;
Knows about difficulties but believes they can be overcome;
Sees the negatives, but accentuates the positives;
Is exposed to the worst but expects the best;
Has reason to complain, but chooses to smile.

~William Arthur Ward

Warm August Nights

How sociable the garden was
We ate and talked in given light.
The children put their toys to grass
All the warm wakeful August night."

~ Thomas Gunn, Last Days at Teddington

Rain Dancing

I was out running errands today, and couldn't help but notice, all the dried-up lawns and dying Cedar trees.....everywhere.
The rainfall has been minimal these past couple of months, and now we are seeing the effects, it's a sad sight.

"Spring flowers are long since gone.
Summer's bloom hangs limp on every terrace.
The gardener's feet drag a bit on the dusty path and the hinge in his back is full of creaks."-

~Louise Seymour Jones

Cottage Dreaming

The cottage homes of England/By thousands on her plains."
~ Felicia Hermans

The Little Home

The little house is not too small
To shelter friends who come to call.
Though low the roof and small its space
It holds the Lord's abounding grace,
And every simple room may be
Endowed with happy memory.

The little house, severely plain,
A wealth of beauty may contain.
Within it those who dwell may find
High faith which makes for peace of mind,
And that sweet understanding which
Can make the poorest cottage rich.

The little house can hold all things
From which the soul's contentment springs.
'Tis not too small for love to grow,
For all the joys that mortals know,
For mirth and song and that delight
Which make the humblest dwelling bright.

~Edgar A Guest

Trees

TREES

I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.
A tree whose hungry mouth is pressed
Against the earth's sweet flowing breast;
A tree that looks at God all day
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;
A tree that may in Summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;
Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.
Poems are made by people like me,
But only God can make a tree.

Joyce Kilmer 1886-1918

Porch-Sitting

Ooh, it's been a glorious day......
One of those days, where the temperature has cooled, and the humidity has returned to the point of tolerable.
A breezy porch-sitting day.
You can feel that Fall is in the air, just around the corner, and I'm excited, because it is my favorite season.
I've always felt that since my birth month is early November it's a coming home of sorts, a kinship to my genetic roots.

"Whilst August yet wears her golden crown,
Ripening fields lush- bright with promise;
Summer waxes long, then wanes, quietly passing
Her fading green glory on to riotous Autumn."

~ Michelle L Thieme :August's Crown

Fun, Food And Frolick

Our hometown of Wilson County has always been known for its rustic quality of life—rolling hills and lovely landscapes with good weather year-round.
Somewhat of a sleepy little town, just far enough away, from the hustle and bustle of the big city lights.



However, every August something spectacular occurs in our county, and the town takes the bragging rights as the State's center of attraction.
The reason is The Wilson County Fair.


Attracting more than 450,000 people to Lebanon every August for eight days of fun at the 240- acre James E. Ward Agricultural and Community Center, the fair has continually been voted Best Fair in the State , and tenth most poular in the entire country.

The first documented Wilson County Fair took place in 1853‚ and featured agriculture and home economics displays and competitions.

While those types of livestock shows and crop judging contests still exist today‚ the fair has grown by leaps and bounds.

The principle to a successful fair according to the organizers:"For a county fair to be successful nowadays‚ it must reflect the community it represents. While Wilson County still has its agricultural sector‚ not everyone who lives here is a farmer.

So we have branched into other facets of entertainment that range from automobile giveaways and banjo-picking contests to demolition derbies and barbecue cook-offs.”

Other attractions include photography contests‚ wine tasting‚ Civil War re-enactments‚ tractor pulls‚ a midway carnival and nonstop musical entertainment.

This event is continuously voted the best county fair in Tennessee . It is extremely clean‚ and each year features fresh and new entertainment. Whether you are 5 years old or 100‚ the Wilson County Fair has something for everyone.

See you at the fair !!

A Serving Of Ginger

He really does lay in this quirky position all of the time......

Summer's Waning

" When summer gathers up her robes of glory, and like a dream of beauty glides away. "

~Sarah Helen Power Whitman

The flowers are fading fast.
What remains are mostly wildflowers and perennials.
Autumn gardening chores patiently wait.

The Bird's Nest

Brown, dry, dead, silent, empty house,
Tree-house, house in a tree,
Not any house,
The house of a bird,
A bird’s house,
A house made of sticks,
Of twigs,
And of leaves,
Small but stable,
Dirty but tidy,
A cradle,
A place of safety,
A safe-house,
Little chicks inside,
Untouchable,
Protected from the outside world,
A fortress,
The bird’s fortress,
A fortress of the sky,
In the trees,
In the forest,
Unreachable from the dangers below,
Safe,
A bird’s nest,
The bird’s nest,
Home.

~Fredrik Azzopardi

Wandering Path

The love of field and coppice,
Of green and shaded lanes.
Of ordered woods and gardens
Is running in your veins,
Strong love of grey-blue distance
Brown streams and soft dim skies
I know but cannot share it,
My love is otherwise.

~ Dorothea Mackellar 1904

Weaving Their Way

The Morning Glory vines are winding their tendrils along the garden fence, at an alarming rate.
I plant them early in Summer each year, and for the past three years, they've graced us with Heavenly Blue blooms from Mid August until late October.

This year, I've also planted it's cousin the Moonflower.
Together with it's heart-shaped leaf, the vines can grow upwards to 20 feet, with six-inch wide white blossoms, that open from evening to the following midday.
They exude a gorgeous fragrance, and illuminate the night garden beyond belief.

Cats Sleep Anywhere

Cats sleep anywhere,any table, any chair.
Top of piano, window-ledge, in the middle,on the edge,
Open drawer, empty shoe, anybody's lap will do.
Fitted in a cardboard box, in the cupboard with your frocks.
Anywhere! They don't care! Cats sleep anywhere.

~ Eleanor Farjeon (1881 - 1965)

Holding Stedfast

When temperatures hover around the one hundred mark, I'm grateful for flowers in pots.
Easily watered, and lush green foliage, unlike flowers in the garden, whose days of looking their best, have long since passed.

"He who is born with a silver spoon in his mouth is generally considered a fortunate person, but his good fortune is small compared to that of the happy mortal who enters this world with a passion for flowers in his soul."

~ Celia Thaxter

Summer's Gold

"Fairest of the months
Ripe summer's queen
The hey-day of the year
With robes that gleam with sunny sheen
Sweet August doth appear."

~ R. Combe Miller