Johnny is feeling so much better now. We found a traveling “spa” to come and give him a tune-up. The past three times I’ve mowed the yards I’ve had to jump start him. Poor guy. Now he has a new battery, his blades are sharpened, and he has a new oil filter. He runs like new!

So, ride along with me as I mow the side front yard. You can see just how much grass we have, and that’s only the front! Not too shabby for all one-handed driving if I have to say so myself!

I had to dodge several interesting mushrooms as I rode along:

I love this one because its veil (the part that covers the gills before the mushroom is fully open) is hanging like a pretty, frilly skirt around its stem.

We finally have some mushrooms coming up and I’ll be sharing some more photos of them with you tomorrow. Mushrooms are fascinating! Well, at least to me they are.

I hope you all enjoyed your ride!

This weekend Rick and I were pool rats. We spent more time in and around the pool that we ever have. The weekend weather was perfect for it: sunny blue skies, warm but not hot, and just a touch on the humid side. The pool temperature has been hovering between 82 and 84 this past week. Perfection!

After a trip to the farmer’s market in Warwick we came home with our purchases for our Sunday lunch. We had purchased two different kinds of lettuce, a Sicilian eggplant (very light purple in color, less bitter and no seeds!) and some fresh goat cheese. We sliced the eggplant thickly and cut a pocket in it, then put a round of goat cheese inside, drizzled the outside with olive oil and grilled it. A nice green salad rounded out our lunch. We ate poolside under the umbrella, sipping a cold glass of white wine.

After lunch we settled in on our lounges and just floated around letting the breeze blow us wherever it took us. We floated around in companionable silence. Once in awhile our lounges would ever so gently bump into the other, sending us off in different directions. Very relaxing. When we got hot we just rolled off our floats and swam a little; then back on the floats again to read. Before we knew it the afternoon was on the wane.

Nighttime swims are our favorite though. With tiki torches lit, the cicadas getting noisier every night, it just doesn’t get any better than this. In the following vid listen for Rick’s splash as he jumps in, then watch the reflection of the tiki torch as the waves distort it.

Ahhh ... wish you were here!

You’re looking into and through the bottom of my glass just as I was finishing my Manhattan while in Manhattan yesterday evening. I’ve always wanted to do that and thanks to Reya who pointed us to a good spot not far from Penn Station. Yummy!

Yesterday we took the train in to New York City. We had tickets for the Michael Bublé concert at Radio City Music Hall. We find taking the train in frees us up from traffic, driving, and parking woes. I love being able to take advantage of public transportation. We were lucky as the train that was pulling into the station when we arrived turned out to be an express. Must nicer than the commuter that stops every ten minutes and crawls along like a large —and bumpy—slug. We decided to walk the short distance to our cocktail destination.

After sipping our Manhattans and sampling several dishes from the Tapas menu we were ready to make our way to the concert. Again, we opted to walk with the intention of hailing a cab when we got tired. We ended up walking all the way and although it was a bit warm and steamy, it was for the most part enjoyable.

That is until we got to Times Square. If you haven’t been there it’s ... well ... very neon and crowded with tourists. There was such a crush of people it was more like being borne along than merely walking, while all the time dodging people coming the other direction. Here is a mild example.

We made it through the crush of people to our destination:

We arrived just in time to find our seats and settle in before the curtain rose. Radio City is a beautiful venue for concert. Our seats were in the front row of the second mezzanine and we had a great view.

Michael Bublé was good but I liked it better when he sang his “crooner” songs than when he was singing something more contemporary. The band with him was superb and I think they outshone him just a little bit. He might be able to sing well, but he really can’t dance.There were about 3 numbers that both Rick and I thought were outstanding but the rest of the performance was just okay. He didn’t really wow us.

We were going to take a cab back to Penn Station but we weren’t having much luck; they all seemed to have passengers already. So, we walked. Ouch. I didn’t wear the right shoes and by this time had a few blisters popping up. When will I ever learn? We finally arrived home at 1:30 a.m. a little footsore and very tired, but happy with our night out. Whew! I think I am New-York-City-ed-out for now. We’ve been there twice in a month. Well ... maybe in a few weeks I’ll be ready to go back again ... some museums are calling my name ... or was it Tiffany’s?

Last night’s orangey moon as seen through the branches of our trees was very cool. Add to that the fact that the cicadas started up (finally) and that was enough for me to try and capture them both in a vid for you. Do you have cicadas where you live? I love how they sound like they are having a conversation. I hope the motion of the camera as I am trying to hold it steady doesn’t make you motion sick, but just turn up your volume and listen ...

In case you couldn’t tell, I’ve been spending a lot of time in our woods and garden. Having a camera in hand while communing with nature is therapy for me. I can lose myself for hours [if only my camera battery would hold out that long!].

The bee balm is on the wane in looks but very much a nectar magnet for the hummingbirds and hummingbird moths. The coneflowers are the favorite of the butterflies, and yes dear readers, soon you will be regaled with butterfly photos taken over the past week. Egads. I hope I’m not boring you with my “nature” series this week.

If only we had more rain the mushrooms would make an appearance and I’d have to photograph them as well and we have some interesting ones in our yard.

I now know that this little hummingbird moth is a Snowberry Clearwing Hummingbird Moth. What a delightful name ... snowberry clearwing. Sounds like something a celebrity might name their child! His little body looks similar to a lobster, don’t you agree? Look at the way his tail fans out! In the next photo I had no idea I was catching him with his little tongue—or proboscis— all curled up underneath him ... fascinating. I read that the length of the proboscis roughly equals the length of the flower tube that the moth frequents. Makes sense.

Click here if you want to know more about them.

I’ve tried to catch a hummingbird on the bee balm but they flit away as soon as they see me coming. Aren’t you lucky?