Is he reading nature and garden blogs?

The engineer-type husband – yeah, I’ve talked about him here before. He isn’t inclined to the see beauty in bees or spider webs glistening in the morning sun but will react to a sunset once in a while and urge me to get my camera. He’s far different from me in so many ways and I usually roll my eyes when says, “Give me the facts – just the facts.” Facts are good but a constant stream of them bores the hell out of me. I find our differing views to be quite funny.

He wanted the project to be his own. The pond garden expansion is mine, he declared. It’s a small expansion surrounding some new Bradford Pear trees he recently planted. The design, rock, and plants will be my creation. My choices.

Well, go ahead, Michael! Knock yourself out! Whatever! My only suggestion is when you get to the garden center, look for perennials.

He needed some verification. Perennials? They come back every year, right?

Yes. And don’t come back here with anything that resembles your prize pick from last summer. You know - that retarded tree by the driveway?

More than odd grasses that tickle his palms, he likes this Mugo Pine most of all. Well, he claims he likes it... The eyesore’s growth is stunted, maybe because I refuse to water it. Located near the driveway, I’m always tempted to back my car into its trunk enough to cause an uproot… Oops. Sorry…

He arrived home two hours later with his hand-picked treasures. I heard his truck back up the driveway and wished for self-control and a sense of humor, at least. Fully expecting to see flats of Marigolds or sickly, non-descript grasses, I was first impressed by the bench.

Benches are great. I have been missing one. Ten very small plants surround it.

What? Prairie Splendor Coneflowers?

Crème Brulee Coreopsis? Who told him about Coreopsis? I know I didn’t!

And several beautiful shades of pink daylilies including some Pandora’s Box purple, yellow, and white?

I was speechless. I didn’t know what to say! He began digging the holes and I planted.

Every evening, before the sun casts long shadows and when my outside chores are almost done, I chill out on my new bench. I breathe deeply and focus not on this difficult month, but what might fly by any second…

A battered Zebra Swallowtail made me dizzy. They’re hyperactive and the most difficult to photograph.

This is the second species hummingbird moth I’ve found, all infatuated with Verbena.

Mid-morning view. Michael did good.

He must be reading nature blogs. Yes, that’s it. But he’ll never, ever admit it!

Update: Bella is on the mend, but slow going. A steroid is a very strange medication. Wonder drug? Maybe, but the side effects stink. I hate drugs. I constantly check on her.