It was quiet, with almost everyone at the City Museum, conducive for getting things done inside and out between rains.

I actually got a lot done in the garden.  I cut back the old, spent broccoli trees, etc., trimmed the natives along the herb wall, laid down and watered in cardboard paths in the veg garden, repositioned sprawling melon vines and tomatoes, and generally restored things to some semblance of order.

I discovered red okra ready for cutting.  And the one zucchini (hopefully of many) doubled in size overnight.  It looks like a real garden again, with actual food in it.  E harvested more potatoes.  Oh, and there’s a resident bunny, helpfully weeding for me.  S/he kept on mowing while I took their picture.  (E also mowed the lawn.)

And you get an unsolicited bonus post, just because.

Kids can teach you a lot about how not to act as a grownup, but many of us miss the lesson and keep our  inner self-centered kid alive and well.  (Just a metaphor.)

Example: Tall mountain of recycle cardboard in dining room falls on kid.  Kid complains someone (else) should do something about it.

I say, it goes in recycle can outside.

Kid states that is not on his chore list, and checks list to confirm it’s (theoretically, not necessarily in fact) someone else’s job.

I state it’s not on my list either, as I go to dispose of it.

Kid says, you don’t even have a chore list!

I say, exactly!

Kid explains he’s too tired to do more than the required minimum.  Too much lack of sleep partying last night.

Which is legit, being a kid, but.  I think you see what I’m driving at.

Many of us never grow out of it.  The rest of us get left holding the trash bag.  Kids have sort of an excuse.  So-called leaders have none.

Meet Loucious of Borg.  Resistance to his new doggie pool was futile.  S and I “persuaded” him with the hose, frisbees, and treats to love the pool.  It’s his favorite new game.  Now he is assimilated.  Of course I forgot to take exhibit photos, you’ll just have to trust that this is him worn out by devious design.

Naturally it started to thunder and rain for a few minutes, but that was enough to water the garden so I didn’t have to.  Look at all these happy plants, including yet another one of last year’s elephant ears coming back up!  Best of all, here is the first ripe tomato of the season!  Let the harvest begin!

And another exciting discovery–the mystery flowers crowding the front of the veg garden, swallowing up the zinnias and calendulas I planted, are native blue lobelia!!  I must have planted them, too!?  My evil “plan” of turning the garden into an almost-native flower jungle is working.

Update: I saw a zucchini, finally!!

My eyesight is noticeably worse lately.  I drove multiple times today and it was hard to see, even in daylight.  It’s also harder to read.  I can’t get new glasses until I get the surgery, and I can’t afford any more medical debt on my low fixed income.  Driving and seeing are skills I need to help people out and not be another dependent.  It’s a catch-22.

It’s still brain-poachingly humid out, but every so often I go out back and weed something, just to feel useful.  Right now, everyone’s in their room or couch, sleeping or chilling.  Even Avdi wasn’t feeling well and had to come home from the office and lie down.  Too much partying!!  (J.K.)

Most of the action is outside, with plants energized by the rain and heat.  The blue skullcap and pink phlox are blooming up through thick natives, and the loofah gourd vines are finally climbing up the makeshift trellis.  This weird yellow ‘shroom has been appearing in the rock garden.  Poke is poking up everywhere.

The three sisters mound finally looks like a thing, with corn, bean, and squash plants getting big.  Under giant jungle squash plants, the strawberry bed is possibly no more (again).  I think my chaos gardening scheme is already in progress on its own.  Survival of the bad-ass-est.

It’s Avdi’s _?_th [classified] birthday, the one we celebrate!  Yesterday the 4th doesn’t really figure in our calendar, unless you like to celebrate genocide, slavery, and hypocrisy.  Or enjoy patriotic parades and fireworks in memory of the cost of greedy colonialism.  Anyway, Avdi’s birthday is what counts, though who’s counting!

Yesterday I finally made it into the pool!  OMG, it was womblike!  Only the brewing t-storm could coax us (S and I) out.  I just stayed in my wet clothes and didn’t feel hot anymore.  Oh the luxury.  Meanwhile, the garden was luxuriating in the eventual downpour.

Avdi went out, and I spent the night.  K had friends over for MtG, etc, and pizza was had.  They went to watch the fireworks.  Eventually the party moved onto the patio for celebratory setting off of bombs right under the windows.  S and Loucious and I bunkered down on Avdi’s bed all evening.  I said it’s like Gaza, S asked what’s that, so I told him about the genocide.  So appropriate.  Y just continued to camp in his room, where he’s pretty much stayed since camp.

Today, S decorated, and E got busy baking the obligatory birthday apple pie, plus a bonus STL gooey butter cake.  I brought a pie, too.  (We really do like pie.)  E put candles in the apple pie, and Jess brought vanilla ice cream.  Even Y came out.  We all did our part to let Avdi know he is loved and appreciated.

You risk turning into a fried egg every time you step outside.  Even spraying yourself while watering feels like a sweat lodge.  Yet somehow the incentive of money gets the lawn mowed (by E).  Some people are crazy, or desperate.  Dogs know better.  Loucious turns right around and runs back into the house!

Plants are a little more hell-tolerant, as long as they get watered.  New flowers keep appearing out of nowhere.  I discovered at least two elephant ears coming back from last year, in sheltered areas.  Same with glads.  It’s literally like jungle conditions.  I wonder if we could grow citrus!

And back in I go.

And the heat from hell goes on, extended version…

Last night Avdi and I had our monthly date.

First we checked out O’Connell’s Pub, an Irish STL tradition, with a cool dark welcoming vibe, Guinness on tap, and a burger for me to die for!  Each evening they have a  traditional Irish special.

It was World Cup USA v Bosnia Herzegovina night, and every pub had watch parties going on.  The enthusiasm here in STL is huge and noisy.  We speculated about who the large Bosnian population of STL would be rooting for in public!

The next place we tried, Perennial on Lockwood, was packed with fans cheering on the US, and too busy to remember us out on the warm patio, so we split for our next and final stop, O+O pizza in Old Webster, for excellent crafted cocktails at the bar.  My agave sunset was the perfect summer drink.

I felt totally spoiled, as usual.  After I went home, Avdi and kids had a night swim in the pool.  I’m still considering it.

Today, hotter than ever, I watered ours and the neighbors’ gardens, and adjourned to AC, where A was working at the table, and S was (mostly) quietly doing whatever he does on the sofa.

Here’s what’s happening out in the hellmouth (out of doors):

This intense heat and sun is just the thing for flowers, if not humans.  I’m also noticing more bees and pollinators out.  And a little baby bunny keeps hopping between hiding places ahead of me.  This is the part where I’m letting trees, natives, and whatever I can’t stop recover and fill back in.  When it cools off, I hope to further expand the woody edge outward, and maybe some other areas, into the lawn.

I’ve read about chaos gardening, and in this one case, chaos makes sense to me.  It’s more like what nature actually does when we’re not trying to control and manicure it, or dictate where you think plants want to be.  You mix all your leftover veg and flower seeds together,  loosen soil in, say, the veg bed, scatter the seeds evenly, and lightly cover.  Then you sit back (other than minimal maintenance) and let nature duke it out.  Sounds like something I would do.

Other than that, I’m still considering a garden sabbatical year to allow the soil to recover and improve.  I would heavily leaf-mulch and compost everything over winter, then let whatever’s in there just naturally germinate or reseed.  From what I’ve done and witnessed this year, I believe the whole landscape will do most of the work and grow more profusely and colorfully, with a minimum of management.  One big random surprise bouquet of veggies and flowers!

Or, if you’re thinking that by sabbatical/chaos I may mean my own depletion, you may not be far off!