Ahhhhhhhhhh,

This morning was like a long sigh of relief. May was crazy busy with preparations for Sarah’s high school graduation. (Almost got one post written about it but it was getting too sappy so I didn’t publish it.) And the beginning of June has been really hard on me physically. I don’t know if it was all the work and stress of graduation or if something else is going on but I’ve been in a really rough place for the past few weeks. But this morning I woke up actually feeling refreshed, my body didn’t ache from head to toe, and I felt like my brain was as clear as the beautiful June sky.

I immediately started thinking of all the things I wanted to do today now that I had the energy to do them. First thing I did was strip my bed. I even toyed with the notion of running to Menards to buy a retractable clothesline and installing it on the side of the shed so I could have fresh line dried sheets but figured that may be pushing it. Then I started a shopping list and perused Pinterest for some light, summer dinner ideas.

When I was ready to go to Jewel I couldn’t get Maizey to come in the house. Actually I couldn’t find her, I think she was deep in the woods eating mulberries. So I grabbed my pruners and leather gardening gloves and took a few minutes to prune my roses. Then I remembered that the Nikko Blue hydrangeas in the front yard were blooming.

These hydrangeas were planted by the previous owner and only once in the 15 years that we’ve lived here have they bloomed and that time it was only a blossom or two. They bloom on old wood and usually our winters are too harsh for them to survive unless they are in a very protected location. Ours are right out on the edge of the driveway and get frozen hard every year. But this past winter was one of the mildest on record so they didn’t die back completely and this summer are covered in blossoms. The other thing about this type of hydrangea is that the blossom color is determined by the acid/ph levels in your soil. We have a lot of oak trees in our yard so ours tends toward acidic but we add a lot of compost and mulch so sometimes that neutralizes it. The amazing thing is that while most of the blooms on these shrubs are blue, there are some pink and lavender blossoms as well.

Sometimes I don’t like to cut bouquets from my garden because I prefer to enjoy them out there. But I figured having enough pink and blue hydrangeas for a real bouquet may not happen again so I might as well. So I cut some of every color plus some of the white classic Annabella hydrangeas by the back porch.

I put them on the table in the screened porch. Nothing says June like a screened porch, wicker furniture and a bouquet of hydrangeas. I then went to the grocery store and bought the makings of a big fruit salad and some other light summer foods. When I got home and was unpacking the bags I caught a glimpse of the porch through the window and it made me happy.