Happy 4th of July

We had a quiet day at the house. Rachel grilled some of her delicious pork chops. We had some crackers, cheese, and sausage. The sausage was delicious deer sausage given to us by the Castro family. We had some Amaretto Sours and watched Jeopardy with Jared. It was not as hot as it has been. I was really comfortable out in the back yard, especially in the shade while sitting on the PMP (Poor Man's Patio). I couldn't help but think of the 4th of July celebrations of my youth, today. Holidays are always bittersweet when there are so many who you can no longer celebrate them with.

Please note that that is an old fashion cheese and cracker plate. It is not a charcuterie board. I don't think my mama even knew that word. This is exactly how she would have done it, but the sausage is deer sausage. Mom would have used cervelat or summer sausage. The drinks would probably be Campari and bitters or Cuba Libres. I included this photo because the American Spirit, celebrated today, is very much alive at our house.

Rachel has always grilled the pork chops. I used to grill other things, but she has a magic touch when it comes to pork chops. I included this image because eating these delicious pork chops makes me feel alive.

This is my favorite brand of BBQ sauce. I fell in love with it when we went to St. Louis as newlyweds. I have carried cases back with me when we drove, ordered cases shipped to the house, and carried bottles home in my suitcase when we flew. We has a scare when they stopped making it for awhile, but it is back in production. "Don't baste your BBQ. Maull it!" I included this photo because Maull's brings our BBQ to life.

Plumbago

I can hear the wedding march in my head with this one.

Flame Acanthus... You may remember that these plants all came from a few tiny ones that were in a planter by the PMP. Rachel moved them to the landscaping about three years ago, and they have really taken off. The humming birds love them.

There were three of these cicada shells in this patch of Flame Acanthus. This patch hasn't bloomed yet. It is usually about a month behind the other one.

This is just a closeup of the yucca. I love these curly white threads that grow out each summer.

This is some kind of Texas native vine growing up and around the stem of the yucca.

When you see the Wildzone from the PMP, you realize it is a smaller area than it appears in my other photos.

Esperanza

The roses are near finished. If we get more rain later towards Fall, we will get more.

I just love Pride of Barbados. This time, I wanted some of the pretty leaves in the shot.l

I have no idea what this is. It is in the planter by the PMP. Borgollius????

Some more vines and native plants in the Wildzone.

This cardinal is a mystery to me. He has a definite blue patch on his back. Mutation? Paint? I have seen him many times, but just haven't figured it out.

Olive is such a sweetheart. It breaks my heart that she is downstairs shaking in terror while all the fireworks go off. At least she gets a pill to help out a bit. We are too afraid to give one to Vinny after his stroke. He is completely back to normal, but the stroke happened on a night he was medicated for the thunderstorms.

I took about 20 shots of this mocking bird. He never did strike a good pose. He was sitting at the top of my neighbor's tree.

This little house finch was enjoying eating all my seed in the Bird Buddy Smart Feeder today. I don't think it ever snapped her photo. She is a lot smaller than he looks in this shot.

This guy was at the top of the privacy fence. I liked the look of the weathered boards creating jagged peaks. He looks like a monster at the top of a mountain. I think I am going to try and catch some coming out of their shell tonight.

Here are the planters by the PMP. When I water, I literally fill these up until they overflow.

I don't know about this cardinal. Is it an ugly female? Is it a juvenile male? There was one that was even uglier last summer. This one is always somewhere nearby.

another shot of my Wildzone...

We stopped putting out hummingbird feeders. They never used them. We have enough native flowers to meet their needs naturally.

I'm happy enough with these shots. They were taken from pretty far away.

These beauties are Mourning Doves. I see them in the area occasionally, but never in my yard. This pair was out there at least twice today. I was able to crack the patio door open enough to get the shot without scaring them. Later in the day, I was about to try again, but a firework blast scared all the birds and the squirrel that was feeding with them. They all flew off in a panic and the squirrel ran up a tree before I could even get my camera.

This bird is even uglier when it doesn't put its crest up.

I put this beautiful white-winged dove here so you can compare it to the mourning doves. The mourning doves have those lovely spots and more contrasting shades of color. But, they don't have the beautiful big orange eyes with blue eye-shadow like the white-winged doves.

I was watering the landscaping when a beautiful grasshopper jumped up into the Pride of Barbados plants. I dropped the hose and got my camera off the patio. When I got back, this butterfly was there.

This is a pipevine swallowtail.

It took a bit, but I finally found this grasshopper. He was HUGE!

I saw this one in the Mexican Feathergrass. I think is a slant-faced grasshopper.