WHAT'S IN MY CAMERA THIS WEEK

Too many photos in my camera this week to show them all but this blog is my way of documenting what's happening so I'll just do my best. That's what happens when I only blog once in a while. I don't know where to begin.

I sneaked up on three of my grandkids while they were admiring a big baby eagle flying out of sight while they were weeding. The baby eagle is full grown and was too quick for me to get a shot .

Early Friday morning, around 8:00 am  three of my grandkids were dropped off at my place to weed their mom's garden behind my hedge and one stayed home to clean the kitchen counter and after he finished his work, he biked  from up town to our place for lunch. They are such good kids.

I made a huge pot of spaghetti as we were 7 for lunch. Here they are enjoying their ice cream desert.
The men went for a little nap in the lazy-boy chairs  before returning to work and are not in this photo.

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PLEASE READ ON ABOUT THIS SPECIAL WEED. You may have encountered some before and didn't know what they were good for.  It's a medicinal plant that can save you from a lot of suffering. It's called Jewelweed.
If you ever come into contact with Poison Ivy, Poison Oak, or Poison Sumac, you cut a piece of the stem and split it open and rub the sap on the area that came in contact with the poison plant and the Jewelweed sap neutralizes the effect of the poison.

I was cutting small branches by the edge of the riverbank and I must have come into contact with some offensive leaves below my throat as I was wearing a V-neck shirt. I developed an itchy rash and I was itchy for three days.  I remembered the Jewelweed and I rub some on the itch and it soothed the skin and the itch and redness was gone just like that.

They grow in the shade and damp places. They have a yellow-orange little flower when in bloom and I just picked this one in my shade garden. They spread quickly by seed. The plants are just starting to come to blossom now so the seedpod has not formed yet but you can google it to see what it looks like. Kids love to surprise their friends my making them touch the mature seedpod which explode on contact.

This is what the little flower looks like. There are two types of Jewelweeds but the one with orange flowers are the one that counteract the poison.

They are really easy to pull because they have very shallow roots. They do look flimsy and watery when small but the mature stems are fibrous.

This is a piece of the stem that I broke off and split open. I hope that you enjoyed this little tutorial on Jewelweed.

Meanwhile in my gardens, my pink Grootendorst rose bush is blooming  in this heat.

and  Jackmanii clematis is starting to bloom and has tons of buds yet to open.

Last evening after supper I tackled my very dirty deck with my new pressure washer and it was quite a job as I had to remove a year or maybe two 's worth of mildew accumulation. I had quite a job of cleaning every bars on the rails. I had to stretch over the edge with the spray gun with water flying everywhere. It needs painting but that's another job for another day. I would have to bleach the wood and rinse it well before painting to kill the mildew. (too busy and too wet to take pictures)

My long daylilly bed has surprised me with blooms. I never thought that any would bloom this year because I planted them just before the heavy frost and the winter came early.  Some died because of the freeze and thaws this past winter. I'll have some pictures another time.

Stay cool, safe  and hydrated. Thanks for your visit and  I do appreciate your comments.

JB