More bees, less wasps.  A very good thing!

Butterflies regularly floating overhead.

Dragonflies abound.  From the super tiny one who just landed near the spigot for a morning sip of water (full-wing span about the size of my pinky nail) to the very large one I saw yesterday, all transparent with a black body and black triangle tattoos all over its wings, perched quite comfortably atop a flowering shrub.  It was surely 4″ side to side.  Dragonflies eat pests, especially enjoying the mosquito-as-a-snack, and thus the next good sign.

Mosquitos.  Have hardly had any.  One or two evenings we were bothered, but mostly, we are kind of not being eaten for dinner.  Which is lovely.  Shout out to the dragonflies for chomping them up!!

The pool water is clean and clear and a wading pool sits nearby for tiny feet.  Water toys and floaters brighten the backyard vignette despot the intense heat.  My hibiscus are all madly flowering, each shouting “Grace!” upon opening.

As for the gardener, whose neglect and late-late-late planting and attention have been quite noticed, she is deeply and fully aware, with great gratefulness, of how the garden responds with beauty and forgiveness…anyway.

Despite the dry-dry-dry, intense heat, life grows here.  Abundant life.

From the patio swing early on a summer day (with piping hot coffee in a vintage jeanie-green cup and my new MacBook Pro, sincerely yours :: The Tender.