Fireworks and Butterflies

Do you think this will grow? My neighbors planted this in my garden over the weekend. I wasn't thrilled that their fireworks were landing a foot from our house. I am glad that the 4th of July only happens once a year. I don't know if I could handle poorly aimed fireworks being launched by drunk neighbors and/or their kids until midnight more than once a year.

Instead of the typical Minnesota 4th of July activities (firework displays, lakes and cabins), my long weekend was filled with to-do list items. Luckily, they weren't the kind of to-do list items that leave me feeling cheated out of my free time. They were all things I had been needing/wanting to do for a while and finally had the time to take care of. I went clothes shopping, spent hours weeding the garden, fertilized the potted plants, washed and blocked some knits (including the newly finished Daybreak Shawl pictured below), helped my mom with some jewelry repair projects, cooked, cleaned, knitted, hung out with Paul and the pets, etc. It wasn't glamorous, but it was a great weekend.

When I was outside working on a bunch of gardening projects, this very friendly Monarch paid a visit to the flowers in my rain garden.

Since we are now in the month of July, I am due for another State of the Garden Report. I'll be posting those updates this week.