July 19, 2026

Well, July 19, 2026?  What have you got to show for yourself these days?  It has been HOT, HUMID, and everything that we have always associated with this date in past years!  Let's see how that has worked out so far.  I love the colors of the foliage and especially the flowers at this time of year.    Here is a tiny blue Asiatic Day Flower, and one of my faves, which I was calling a Bull Thistle last week, but now have been corrected to a Cotton Thistle for this week.      

Here is a pair of tiny mystery creatures mating.  If you stare at the rightmost photo, you will also see a mysterious being to the lower left of the original mystery creatures.   Who could THAT little spy be?

I may have shown you this picture before, but I just ran into it again this morning. It seems to be an Ant of some sort watching a mother Bug of some sort laying her eggs.  These Ants like to "nanny" the young of many kinds of Bugs.  They get nourishment from the leavings of the babies.  Anyway, this Ant is patiently waiting for the female to lay her eggs.  From then on, she (the Ant) will make sure the babies get what they need to survive to adulthood.

It is such a pleasure to hang over the back fence to see the various kinds of Thistles putting forth their purplish flowers.  Each day now seems to bring a new one or two such flowers sprouting over the fence.  Again, these are the Cotton Thistles of the yard so far.

  Here is a tiny little Bug on my hand - one of the little fellows with a hump on its back.  And yet another Thistle flower!

Here is our common Day Lily again.  It will continue blooming for a week or two more this month.  Next seems to be an old friend, but I can't place it yet.  Maybe one of our readers can identify this pretty flower?  And maybe this next one too?  (IT seems to be some kind of Daisy bud.)

Here is the chief actor in this week's collection - one of the lovely Cotton Thistles!   

Well, while I've been working along on this blog, time has sped by and although I usually get this out by about noon, it is nearly 4 pm already.  Here is a picture of my largest fish, Whitey, having a snack by the edge of the pond.   The tiny white flecks are fish food I shake in from a can.

Here is a the pond with one of the Toads that pop up there from time to time.  

There is something so wonderful about having even a small artifical Pond.  The creatures move in there just as if only Nature had had a hand in creating the scene!  Please visit - and if you give me a buzz, a real visit and we can chat right here by the Pond itself!   Love, Martha