Such Gardens Are Not Made by Singing, "Oh, How Beautiful!” and Sitting in the Shade

When we visited our Long Island family in July, Dude's one lament was that we missed the peak of many of his blooms.  He's a landscaping genius, and the beds were beautiful in mid-July, so I laughed off his comment. Then we had a last-minute weekend jaunt to the Island in the middle of August, and now I understand.

Blow-me-down beautiful, and this was only a part!

 

Grouchy and bleary-eyed, we sailed in late Thursday night and left in a whirl Sunday after lunch, but I managed to snap a few more pictures than last time (which isn't saying much, I know).

 

 

 

 

Dude taught Ezekiel the rudiments of soccer.

 

He's a whiz!  'Atta boy, Zekie.

 

He even bounced on the soccer ball like an old pro.  (Olympics, here we come.)

Oooh, that Belly.  What an impressive baby we have.

 

The funny thing about this next picture, apart from the fact that it's blurry and indefinable, is that it's the sole representative of our entire purpose in taking a second trip to Long Island.  John's friend Josh, with whom he's been friends since he was eight, had flown in with his daughter from Colorado for the week, and his mom was throwing him a big birthday bash.  His mom, just so you know, is one of the warmest and most hospitable women who's ever served as a party host, and she can grow eggplant bushes that stretch halfway to the moon. (Seriously.)

The girls swam in the pool, made friends, played on the playset, and admired the chickens. I got to catch up with Uncle Jon and Aunt Karen, who brought Annika her Very Own Plate of her trademark deviled eggs, eat good food (including some of those deviled eggs and the most amazing birthday cake artwork, but not at the same time), and visit with friends of John I haven't seen in over ten years. John stayed up until the wee hours in the good company of a bunch of high school buddies, who remain friends 16 years after graduating.  All this, and what do I take a picture of?

...a string of Christmas lights strung high on a feed bin.  

FAIL.

In better news, I took the following picture on the way home after Susie said in slight disgust, "Mama, can you PLEASE tell Piper that the Eiffel Tower is not in China and that we are NOT in China?"

Christmas feed bin lights + the Eiffel Tower (below on the right) should end this post handily.

 

THE END.