Summer Catch-Up

I know, y’all, it’s been a while! I’ve been fairly busy lately. J arrived home, so there was quite a bit of unpacking and sorting and catching up and, of course, cooking tasty food.

We spent a week with my extended family at Virginia Beach. I love-love-love an ocean beach vacation! This was our first time at Virginia Beach, and we were glad that it was much like its companions a short distance down the coast, the North Carolina beaches that I’ve been visiting since I was a teenager. Just lovely!

I was especially thrilled that M was able to take a break from her summer jobs in Minnesota for few days, so she was able to join us for a bit. Our little family of four was reunited for the first time since we were together in Italy back in March, and the next time is most likely not until Christmas, so that was fantastic. And of course it’s nice to have plenty of family time with the whole crew (my mom, five siblings, and most of their families/significant others) when you’re not just visiting for a day or two.

Speaking of family time, shortly after my vacation, I made a quick trip up to Vermont to help a sister move. She and her family are headed to Savannah, continuing the family southward migration.

You won’t catch my little family moving there: it’s too hot for us! But it makes it easier and more efficient for visiting family, which we appreciate.

Along the way, this summer, I’ve been appreciating my new native blooms, including these little beauties:

That’s bee balm that I grew from seeds at the Seed Swap, plus flowers popping up from new spirea bushes that Cute W and I recently bought from WildThings Rescue Nursery as part of a we-need-more-shrubs initiative.

Oh! And speaking of native plant acquisitions, I stole some plants from my sister’s yard before she left, too, including this gorgeous bunch of blazing star, which has been rehomed from a spot on her wildflower hill to a focal point in our front yard. I actually planted blazing star seeds from the seed swap as well, but they haven’t show up yet (fingers crossed for more eventually).

I’m not sure if these little beauties will exactly survive-and-thrive this season after the dig up-car ride-replanting (I added a stake because they don’t have all the high grasses to rely on anymore), but if nothing else, I’ll score more seeds to keep trying. I’m in it for the long game.

Of course, there’s much more happening, but now that I’ve had a little summer hiatus, I’ll be catching up with more soon. Stay cool, everyone!