Sunglasses & Gas

At the garden center, take off your sunglasses for a look around in order to see the flower’s true colors.

Three places I looked for blue lobelia. None to be found. I went back to Greenhaven Gardens on Route 7 in New Haven, Vermont. The hanging baskets there are stunning, best around. A woman had an outrageously beautiful full round hanging baskets of lobelia. I happen to lift up my sunglasses and to my surprise, the purple flowers are actually blue lobelia! 

Blue and red make purple, as the color wheel goes. My sunglasses are a tint of red-brown. Any blue flower will read purple when I have my sunglasses on. 

Gassed up at Champlain Valley Fuel on Exchange Street in Middlebury at a cheap $4.10/gallon. I stopped pumping at $35.00 US dollars. That is the highest amount of gas I have put into a vehicle ever in my life.   

Beautiful day here in Vermont, sunny, windy, nice ambient temperature, perfect for being outdoors. 

Have a wonderful week

Going for a red, white & blue 
America 250 theme

 

Reflection Monday June 2026

Being sure what something is be it a plant or what a person just said can be enjoyable or frustrating. 

The plant in the photo could be a self seeded might or might not be a sunflower. I think it is a sunflower based on last year’s blooms. 

I now have a photo to use for identification next year. 

Seeing the first bud will be nice. The wait adds a sprinkle of magic to the atmosphere.

What’s going or not going on lately

Spirea
aka Wedding Veil Shrub

 Well, it’s like this. A few heavy stresses appeared on the horizon. Happily, one has positive results with a great feeling of thank you Lord and relief. The other requires gathering up papers, documents, and a revisiting my expository writing skill. 

Weather and my energy are slowly aligning where I might be gardening this week. Tomato plants are back on my Summer container garden list. Parsley, basal, thyme, mint, oregano and Rosemary complete the list.  

What is not going on is the deck arrangement. Everything needed is there. Once flower pots are cleared away, the rest will fall into place. Going light is the theme this Summer.

Note under this blog’s banner is the horizontal space for pages. Since I decided to continue blogging, I feel that this blog should be as I planned in the beginning. Most of the Pages there will start posting in late June

Off Instagram again, I notice a decrease in my YouTube channel watching enthusiasm. Episodes aren’t always numbered or dated well. Creators may film weeks before posting the video. A video may publish between videos more current. 

For example, I just watched a cabin being painted. A video posted a week later as new content, has no paint. New video is about saying good bye to somebody going to Europe for three months. The next current video days later, shows the person barbecuing in the back yard, wearing the same tee shirt!

I feel encouraged to think about creating a balance between what I do versus watching what others do. 

Day 149 of Week 22 May 2026

 

One of the prettiest pansies this year, saving the seeds will be a challenge. Other flowers and vegetables are easy to seed save. Pansies are intimidating. 

Weight loss. For years, my weight would stay on a plateau and not budge much outside a 5 pound range. There have been weeks my weight would be the same days in a row. I finally lost six pounds. And what happens? Another plateau. The good thing is that I’m getting closer to my preferred Earthly weight. 

Have an Earth Wonderful Weekend

Bake cheesy biscuits

Sing to a flowering tree

Browse hiking sandals online

Read about your favorite poet

Plan a Midsummer’s Night party

Write yourself a thank you note

Shop for a table fountain

What did I do all day

Philosophically, I spent my time immersed in thoughts focusing on reality’s impact on the range of experiences my life has accumulated.

I recently looked at a truck, briefly thinking, how do so many people afford them. They are very expensive to buy and run. Then I pondered longer, why don’t I have a truck? Can I afford a truck someday? How would it feel to own and drive my very own truck? Do I really want a black one or the metallic gray with lots of chrome details? Is having a truck a realistic goal? 

I drove a big 4x4 Dodge Ram Charger, that’s like a pick-up truck enclosed, back in the late 1970s. I have driven it on roads as well as in deep Texas mud. Trucks feel safe and commanding. Practical at my age to have a truck? No, it is silly. 

What isn’t silly is thinking out of the box. In Vermont there are a lot of trucks and SUVs on the road. They create a landscape with different vibe than an inner city of sedans. 

I also had a nice nap this afternoon.