I hereby declare firefly season open as of tonight. They may have been here a few days ago, I don’t know for certain. But as of tonight —  they have arrived. Whether or not it was due to the fact that I mowed the grass today or not, they seemed to be drawn to it tonight. Rick saw the first one. We were sitting out by the pool having a late night glass of wine, tiki torches lit. We went down into the yard to get a closer look.

As dusk descended around me I sat in the newly mown grass, knees drawn up to my chest, my arms wrapped tightly around them. Fireflies flickered on and off all around me. I sat there in perfect silence just watching. Mesmerized by their flashing lights. Winking so close to my body I could reach out and catch them. But I didn’t. I just sat and watched. A peaceful kind of joy dropped like a protective cloak about me as if nothing in this world could touch me outside of its custody. I was immune from everything happening in the world just then. Just me and the fireflies. They certainly didn’t care, why should I?

I find fireflies magical beings. I am so glad they have arrived for their brief stay here in my New Jersey back yard.

This morning I saved two toads from drowning. It’s true. I did. I love toads. Last year I didn’t see any. When I went out to skim the pool this morning I found a toad floating face down in the water. Oh no! I thought it was dead but when I touched him with the skimmer he moved, albeit feebly. I fished him out and put him somewhere safe. Here he is.

It took him awhile to gather his strength back again, but he finally managed to hop off. I think it’s the same kind of toad that we had the summer before last. The Golden Toad, as I called him.

As I worked my way around the pool I filled my skimmer with caterpillars and lots of spiders. When I got to the opposite side I found another toad, this time a different color. He too was doing the dead man’s float and I thought for sure he was a goner. I scooped him up gently and he moved! Again, I placed him where I thought he was safe from Bella and he too eventually hopped off into the yard.

So, two toads saved. Do you think I’m strange for liking (and sometimes kissing) toads?

Oh yes. Did I mention the pool is open? Yesterday was the first day. Bella did not jump in (thank goodness) but did have some cute encounters with it. She is working on her own blog entry to come soon complete with pics and video. It might be open but we won’t be swimming for awhile. The temperature stands at 60 chilly degrees. brrrrrr!!!!! Hopefully we’ll get some sun next week and the solar cover will help to keep in whatever warmth we might get out of it. We’ll be patiently waiting ...

The reasons why I like this photo are:
the colors
the writing on the building
the slant of the doorway and sidewalk

Well, okay, it’s not technically summer yet but this weekend we made our preparations as best we could. It was a beautiful weekend weather-wise for doing things in the yard.

We put the screens and curtains up on the poolside cabana, brought out the umbrella and the deck lounges and chairs. (Pool not open yet, but hopefully this week!)

I planted some pots.

I did a lot of weeding of the back flower beds. In doing so I discovered two very different columbines. At least I think they are a variety of columbine since the leaf is the same. They are both in different flower beds and very far apart. Here is the double one.

And this one doesn’t open any more than this but has many layers. Anyone have any ideas? They were not there last year and I certainly didn’t plant them. ? Maybe I pulled them up last year in a fit of zealous weeding but they had dropped seeds the year before?

We planted marigolds in the front flower bed. We planted our kitchen herbs in the old dry sink which join the already planted and potted tomatoes on the deck. I am hoping for a great harvest of patio and cherry tomatoes this year.

Last year we didn’t plant tomatoes because we got such a late start with our trip back to Colorado in mid June. This year we decided to stay home for June since it’s such a lovely time of year here and the pool really suffered while we were gone. Plus, we missed some quality pool time, not to mention firefly season! So, this year we’ll do our cabin trip in September instead.

Water dog Bella had fun with her wading pool this weekend too. She is always sticking her feet and head in the water bucket, so we thought she’d enjoy having a bigger water feature.

...testing, testing ....

hey, this is fun ...

i think there’s a bone in here somewhere ...

I have no idea what’s going to happen once the pool is open. I know she’s going to end up in it at least once. Oh boy.

We went to the Warwick farmer’s market and bought fresh baby lettuces, scallions, radishes, bread, cheese, and a mini quiche for our Sunday lunch. Yum. I’m glad the market has started back up again. It’s a summer tradition for us and one that we love.

So, we had a busy weekend but it felt good to get things done. We ended the weekend with one of our favorite meals last night: grilled artichokes and lamb chops “scotta dita” (or burned fingers because they sell them on the streets of Italy and you just hold them by the bone and eat them quick while they are hot!) while listening to the cool vibe of Bossa ‘n Stones, (the Rolling Stones hits done with a bossa nova beat) which we discovered while eating in a restaurant in San Miguel.

I hope you all had a great kick-off weekend to the beginning of summer!

Tomorrow I’m taking you back to San Miguel again. I certainly hope you’re not getting bored with your armchair vacation ...

Some photos just need to stand on their own. This is one.