National Iced Tea Day

Sunrise this morning. I was up and out early and it was lovely, almost 70° and a nice breeze. But our forecast is for upper 90°'s with heat indices near 100° and strong sirocco-like winds (you could already see the wind in those clouds aloft). Definitely a day to stay inside, drink iced tea and watch the Belmont Stakes. As usual I'm picking my horse by its name and I'm going with Irish War Cry - a beautiful Chestnut with 7-2 odds (as I write this). Will my luck picking the winner hold?

June's Full Strawberry Moon at 5:38 a.m.

Twenty-two minutes later, 6:00 a.m., and the sky is pinking on the horizon. Appropriately, the June full moon is also known as the Rose Moon or Flower Moon.

This Brown Hawker dragonfly was peering in my window when I came in to turn on the computer. Wiki tells me it is easy to identify the Aeshna grandis by its size and transparent bronze wings.

I figured it would fly when I went outside for another view, but it stayed long enough. Dragonflies are symbols of courage, strength and happiness. They have long been used in art and decorative motifs. This is the first time I have been able to photograph one up close.

Last night the sun set on what was a very nice day celebrating my friend Ellen's birthday. We've been friends sixty years - since meeting as high school freshmen - and have made a tradition of celebrating our birthdays together since retiring.

She had seen an advertisement for an Antique & Craft Summer Market in the countryside North of Orient and thought it would be fun to go there. I had just seen the same ad and readily agreed. It is always fun to discover new places.
For the past few days I've noticed the catalpas blooming, which I love, but hadn't found a spot easy to photograph them. The owners at Whippersnapper Lane also appreciate catalpas and have planted them along the lane of their property. With permission I satisfied my desire for some close-ups.

The owner, Ginger, told us that prior to retiring and moving to Iowa, they had lived in Denver where she had an antique shop. Last year they added a small building where she offers antiques, decor items and cards featuring her own calligraphy. For a relatively small space, there was an interesting selection. It was fun to just browse, but I did come home with a cut-glass, lead crystal, Lenox vase.

Close up of her business card which on the back gives directions which advise NOT taking 290th as it is a bad road. We avoided 290th going, but coming back I just had to try it. There was nothing bad, just one of those rare dirt roads. Note to self: go back some day when you want to hunt rocks.

In addition to lots of rocks, there were also field daisies growing in the ditches. I've been looking for these as I want to get some to plant. I tried pulling a few, hoping to get enough of the roots to survive. What I really needed was a shovel. In the meantime, I ended up with nice bouquet of daisies on my window sill.

We came back to Creston for lunch at the Garden Cafe. I almost always just have water to drink but something made me ask if they had flavored ice tea. They do, peach or raspberry. I chose raspberry and it was probably the best raspberry iced tea I've ever had - fresh brewed black tea with just a whisper of raspberry. Perfect.

Today I made a pitcher of Asian Plum White Tea. It's time to celebrate National Iced Tea Day and enjoy being inside out of the heat and wind.