A Series of Unfortunate Fortunate Events

...or maybe I should say Fortunate Unfortunate Events. I can't seem to make up my mind.

Today, July 5, is the first anniversary of The Day the Tree Fell on the House. Ever since that day it has been one thing after another. Some of the things that happened have been very good indeed from the very beginning, but even those that started out on the down side either resulted in things returning to normal, or things ending up better than they were. I'm still a bit sad about the pool, but I'm more happy than sad about it, so that's okay. All-in-all, we have a lot to be grateful for.

One of my favorite days this year was the day the grandchildren (or half of them) conquered the tree.

This is what the tree looks like today.

For those of you who aren't from around here, those tall weeds that almost look like trees--the shortest one is a bit taller than I am--are pokeweed, as in:

Not my favorite song, but I thought I'd put it in perspective.

I don't think you can tell by looking at the picture--the sun was too bright behind it--maybe if you clicked to make it bigger--but the easiest way to recognize pokeweed is by it's bright red stalk. We don't really want these big weeds in the yard, but it's been raining so heavily and so often lately that we're lucky if Bill can keep the grass from engulfing the house, so we haven't been able to worry about extraneous weeds. And really, I kind of like weeds.

Here's something else that has popped up in the yard.

I believe these little cocktail umbrella mushrooms are parasola plicatili. The gray part is translucent, and they look as if someone sliced off the top of the cap and left only the gills.

Since the birth of my newest grandson on Monday, things have begun to slow down around here a bit, and since the next big event is my youngest daughters wedding which won't be until next spring, and my vacation is over, and the hall closet is cleaned out, and my mother is well and has a place to live, I might be able to find time to write more often. I certainly hope so because there are several things I really want to write about, but I guess that remains to be seen.

By the way, the weather today was the exact opposite of the way it was on July 5 of last year. It was very nice, not too hot with mostly clear blue skies. 

AMDG