A flower I have never noticed before....

Roger wanted to get out and go for a drive today...so we headed south. We ended up at some more strip pits...some were in the process of being reclaimed. Others were just beautiful. We had our rods with us and actually stopped and threw our line in for a few minutes....Roger caught a real nice bluegill. We didn't stay long, but if I had had a zebco, with bait and bobber, I could have stayed at this one place all day. Except Roger wanted to explore the area.
I am not sure how long we drove around this area, but am sure we only saw a few of the strip pits. We need to actually plan some of the days like this and leave really early...we left around 9:30 this morn, and it is at least an hour's drive down there.

And on top of that, there are the stops we make for me to take pictures. I guess I need to go and not take out my camera till we get there. That would give us more time....

Anyway, I noticed this flower today. I don't know if I have seen it before or not, but I think it is really beautiful.

Garden views

The other morn when I had my camera out I took these photos....I like the simplicity of them.
I planted some birdhouse gourds along the fence....I can't even remember if I have ever planted these gourds before. I was hoping they would grow up the fence....
and they are, but they are also growing up my tomatoes and the tomato stakes. I almost feel I am in a jungle when I am out there.
But I am still glad I planted them. I just hope I have some gourds that reach a good size.

And they don't seem to slow the tomatoes down....I made 4 quarts and a pint of salsa night before last, and need to make more. I like making salsa because I cannot find any to buy that tastes good consistently. Year before last I made 26 quarts of it, which lasted Sarah and Jeremy and us till this year. Though Sarah may have been out a little while.

Our other daughter, Rachel, likes thick and chunky salsa, so she had rather buy her own because my salsa has lots of juice, which is the way I like it.

Simon's Cat 'Fly Guy'

I just have to share this....I found it by accident today. I have seen the other three Simon's Cat videos, but this was new to me. Cats--you gotta love 'em!