Painter's Sky

I stepped outside to walk between buildings at work today and had to run back in to grab the camera. The whole sky was covered with the clouds shown in the picture and it was probably one of the most amazing skies that I have ever seen. It looked like an artist's painting.

Working for a Living

Every now and then there is a fringe benefit for getting up and going to work. This is the sight that greeted me when I stepped out the door this morning. I had to drop my bags and come in and get the camera. If I wasn't working I would never voluntarily see a sunrise after all. :)

Out for a Walk

I took Quickbeam out for a walk today when I got home from work. We've been really enjoying the temperate August weather. It's actually been rare for it to be so hot that I can't stand being outside. It's pleasantly cool in the morning and evening, though it still gets pretty hot during the afternoon. Probably has to do with the fact that it hasn't rained in a bit and it's not too humid. I expect that we'll get some weather from Fay when it comes back around, but hopefully it won't be too bad. Until then, I'm enjoying spending time in my garden during the evening.

Almost There

I can almost see the chorus of angels breaking out in song, and the fanfare of trumpets. This week is almost over, huzzah for holiday weeks. :) My boss has been out on vacation this week, so I've been doing her work, my work, and my second assignment work. It's getting crowded in my head wearing three hats. I am really over the whole thing. I am hoping that tomorrow goes better or I'll end up under my desk sucking my thumb. As enchanting as that sounds I don't think it would present a professional image. :) On the plus side, I stole a little time outside in the garden today, pulling grass out of the gravel in the pathways. Such a small thing, but an act of normalcy in this hectic week was dearly welcomed.

Veteran's Honor

Is that not the most absolutely perfect rose blossom that you've ever seen? Strategically captured with droplets of water from a passing rain storm? :) Thank you dear One Truth for the lovely present. It looks lighter in the picture than it actually does, in person it seems to be darker.

The Joseph's Coat rose is still going gangbusters. I can't believe the variety of different colors on the plant. We're going to get a trellis for it this weekend because it's starting to flop over now.

There was a line of powerful storms that tore through Mississippi and Alabama today. Thanks be to God that it wasn't worse than it was. Tornados were sighted right south of the airport, which is right across the street from where I work. So things could have gone much differently today.

Maintenance

Now that we have our beds set up and plants planted for the spring it is time to maintain it all. So when I got home from work tonight I strapped my trusty sidekick to my chest (Quickbeam in her Baby Bjorn carrier), took my pruners and headed out to the garden. I trimmed all of the old blooms off of my roses and cut them back some. They have some black spot issues so Mawavi treated them. We also cut the dead wood off of our poor crepe myrtle trees. For those not in the know, when we bought the house we had them trade out the old dead trees for some crepe myrtles. But a late spring freeze killed the tops of them. I thought they were gone, but they came back in the bottom part of the tree. Now they are looking like they were butchered while we are waiting for them to recover. We puttered around for a while and enjoyed being outside. It was perfect weather today and I want to soak it all in before the hot humid weather gets here. Here's my Veteran's Honor rose bush, getting ready to bloom.