I need to change the title of my diary *sigh*

Although the lilac seemed to have died off earlier, it came back with gorgeous green shoots and made a valiant effort once I moved it out of direct sun and heat onto the back deck in late spring. However, once the real heat of summer hit, it just couldn’t take it. A mold of some sort took over the leaves as it did the first time and slowly but surely, it is gone now. *sad sigh* I am going to try again once we get to the new place in the spring, but sadly for now…A Lilac No Longer Grows in Carolina.

Nope, I am going to leave the title as is for it lives in my heart!! (Wow, too much coffee this morning huh folks? LOL!)

I had a very pleasant surprise yesterday. I stepped out onto the front porch at about noon when I got up from my nap after work and it was…(hmm, the concept is so foreign now that I have forgotten the term! Now let’s see…oh yes!)…"cool"! That’s the word, it was actually cool outside!  Amazing and quite welcome. Someone described summers in South Carolina as ‘living in a baggie’ and we are not too far off from that description up here too!

But thanks to all the rain from the tropical storms etc., it is quite pleasant. Oh! My in-laws gave me some "waterlily bulbs" and told me they wouldn’t bloom until they were doused by a heavy rain, hence the ‘waterlily’ nickname. They are actually Zephyrlillies and they said I could water them until the cows came home but the flowers wouldn’t bloom like they will once the rains hit. I guess they were right because they have exploded after Ernesto kinda blew through!

Aren’t they gorgeous??

They exploded around the tree also. They look so pretty next to the dark pink impatiens. That pot has really done well, so well that I call it ‘my pink monster’! lol.

But look what insect infestation has done to the tree. So sad. And so expensive to cut down unfortunately! I just hope the buyers don’t pay too much attention to it. Not much on curb appeal there huh? lol. Two years ago I noticed this strange liquid leaking out of it and was told that a nest of some sort was inside. They died out the first year but last year all the bark fell off and now it’s got ants in it. Well a lot less ants than before since I drown them out every time I water the plants. There’s a whole lot less ants scrambling than there were! But here is another shot of our poor tree…

Not much else going on here. Still just trying to catch our breath. We sent out birthday gifts to the boys yesterday. I was a little late since yesterday was their birthday. lol. Oops. They are a year apart to the day. We will not have to ship out their Christmas gifts this year though since it is our year to have them:) It’s an awful trip to go get them and bring them back in one or two week’s time, but we are looking forward to it. We are really getting into decorating for Christmas and this year we got a Lowe’s charge!! Oh boy!!! Don’t worry DomestiCat, we will be posting photos! lol. And if we can dig up the photos from last year we will post those too. Unfortunately, that takes time which Dennis does not have very much of anymore.

Oh! Speaking of the brat husband of mine, remember the sales ad with the picture of the Mayberry Christmas Village that was torturing me so much? Well, it doesn’t matter if I throw the ad out or not because my darling hubby went and made it the background on the computer!!!!!! I cannot believe the lengths he will go to annoy me! lol. Luckily for him he goes to the same lengths to do wonderful things for me also. But REALLY!!

Ok, I will end this now with a picture of yet another ‘flower’. Her name is Alley (as in Cat lol) and she is also inherited from the previous life before I got here. She is 15 just like her sister Jasmine and she also does not like having her picture taken. Maybe you can tell that, though from the picture? LOL

Hugs all around. Have fun and stay cool!