Good-bye June
Around 6:00 pm yesterday with Emi on my lap, I saw a hummingbird gently sip nectar from Agapanthus flowers in the garden. No picture, just a perfectly blissful moment moving towards the end of June. Before that moment June days looked like this…
The Home Place Quilting Bee Community Project officially ended on June 3 with donating the last two quilts to Our House, Inc. This project, funded by the Mississippi Arts Commission, was a labor of love and I’m truly grateful for the ladies that worked with me from August 2025 – June 2026. Sincere thanks go to Ella McPherson (8 workshops), Cheryl Floyd (7 workshops), Thishya Perera (6 workshops), Ann Littleton (6 workshops), Mary Hardy (5 workshops), Lynette Stafford (4 workshops), Sara Wilkerson (2 workshops), Tracy Yarbrough (1 workshop), Deborah Huynh (1 workshop), Harriett Green (1 workshop), Inge Ford (1 workshop), Barbara Brady (1 workshop), and Rolina Martinez (2 workshops). Ella, Ann, Cheryl and Thishya were able to join me at Our House, Inc. to present the last two quilts as gifts to the organization.
Personal quilting time began the following week. I had indigo dyed several pillow cases left to me by my grandmother at a SewJourn Retreat last year in New Mexico that hadn’t been completely rinsed and neutralized. In the heat, I finally finished the long over due work. After air drying them, I was able to split open the pillow cased and lay them out. Since then, I’ve been working on the first piece.
Besides an occasional outing here and there, life evolved around my garden and surrounding ecosystem. The alligator is still around, but thankfully I haven’t seen it. A beautiful egret resides on the pond, and the Whistling Ducks had babies. They are so teeny, tiny.
With all the rain, the garden is very green but it’s almost like there’s been too much rain. Okra, zucchini, eggplant, cucumbers, habanero and jalapeño peppers are slowly growing. Corn stalks are flourishing and fingers are crossed for some corn.
If only tomatoes alone could fill my belly. Lots of Tumbling Tom Yellow and Sun Gold tomatoes have been harvested along with some small okra pods, small Rossa eggplant, and my first batch of young potatoes. This morning’s harvest, also, yielded oregano, basil, thyme, and one little jalapeño with the okra, tomatoes, and eggplant.
A garden would not be a garden without challenges. On June 7, I pulled a purple carrot that was bursting out of the raised bed. However, it wasn’t fully grown. This morning I pulled two plants, one purple and the other with two entangled white carrots. The purple wasn’t ready and I’ll do a taste test of the whites later today. Not much luck with carrots it seems. And as luck would have it, a critter got my last cantaloupe plant and began devouring some eggplant and tomatoes on the lower vines.
Luckily all is not lost because I chose to grow more flowers and plants this year. Seeing them flourishing in the garden lifts my spirit every time.
And it’s Crape Myrtle time. They seem to bloom one right after the other. The three smaller ones in the front start first and the two larger ones on the side of the house start afterwards.
Well, that’s it for June. It’s hot as hell. But as always, blessings to everyone and remember to do what’s best to nurture you, family, friends and your community. Peace, wisdom, gratitude be with us all.