Garden in June

Early this summer we discovered some new volunteer plants in the garden which are not invasive vines (which are typical)! There are brown eyed susans (rudbeckia):

and bellflower (campanula)

our bird feeder with some new and some old plantings around it...pretty hodge podge for now- but we'll see what does well and then plant more!

st johns wort blooming

allium heads (planted as bulbs last fall)

The veggie garden still growing...

Kentucky Wonder Pole Beans just getting going...

leaf lettuce is looking good as are the onions- tomatoes and basil still pretty wee

sugar snap peas! these were awesome in the late spring and then tuckered out when the hot weather came. they made us feel pretty happy about the veggie garden while the other plants grew slowly early on.

melons, gourds and squash getting going...

our first bell pepper

two salad mixes that have amazing lasted a long time through the hot weather

little marigold bed

zucchini

moving along- pole beans growing taller

strawberries

Summer Evenings on Wollaston Beach

These hot evenings bring everyone out onto Wollaston beach. these pictures are taken from further down Quincy Shore Drive from Ocean St. in the background of the first (and third) photo you can see the silhouettes of the prudential center and the hancock in downtown boston.

Backyard Dining

We rigged up a backyard dining room recently with a couple of sawhorses and a large piece of old beadboard (wainscoting) from the basement. At least 2 of the chairs around the table we picked up on the street in the neighborhood.

George's Island: 2 of 34 Boston Harbor Islands

When family came for a visit recently, we went out to another one of the more accessible Boston Islands- George's Island. We took the ferry from Long Wharf downtown and headed out past Spectacle Island (the first island we visited) to the island that is home to Fort Warren.

The exceptionally built fort was completed in 1847 which was too late for it to do much to defend the harbor but it did house many prisoners of the civil war. it was actually a pretty swanky place to be holed up for awhile- the prisoners enjoyed picnics and had guests out to dine on the fine foods that were brought there from the mainland.

There is a ghost who lingers on George's Island from the days of the civil war- the Lady in Black, the ghost of a Confederate prisoner's wife who was sentenced to death for aiding in an escape and hanged in a black robe made from the fort's mess hall drapes.

On the way there we passed Nixes Mate- the black and white pyramid is a beacon. (more to come on that "island" when we actually go to it- one day)

the "eggs" of the sewage (waste water) treatment plant on Deer Island.

the intensive green roof of fort warren

walking up high on the fort walls

where the canons were placed

the fort continues to host "picnics" and entertainment. my grandmother, nana, is in the audience, watching the Folk Arts Quartet (FAQ) perform chambergrass- a blend of chamber music and bluegrass.

the parade ground and picnicers (and kite fliers)

looking out onto the elbow of Hull (attached to the mainland).

Lovell's island on the other side of the Narrows (the channel).

the granite "Powder Magazine" and some large specimen trees.

waiting for the ferry

a bright hot day for the ferry ride- but plenty of things to see

the marina in east boston where we lived long ago!

downtown beantown

Clam Digging

Often, when the tide is low, small groups of clam diggers can be spotted on wollaston beach. Whether or not they should be eating those clams I don't know. But it makes for some nice shots.