Robert is in our hearts on this 4th of July. I bet Robert is watching the tournament and counting every fish caught on Grand Isle. We miss you Robert. You were an inspiration to all of us.
Update on Grand Isle Fishing: Max caught the first fish and the biggest fish. That is $5 for the first and $5 for the biggest. This fish (Sheep Head) is so big that Trip has to hold it up for Max.
This is Pops and Max on Grand Isle.
The cousins are sending in 4th of July pictures from Grand Isle, VA, Europe, Cincinnatti, and Lake Charles. Happy 4th to all!
Zinnias are beautiful until it is time for the next generation. After the flowers are pollinated, the flowers turn brown. The center of the flower is similar to the sunflower we showed you from last year. The flower center is now composed almost entirely of seeds for the next generation of Zinnias.
The Basil is beautiful today (below-two pictures on left). Time to make some pesto. The Thyme (on the right) is also ready to harvest.
Going on a Pumpkin Hunt: This morning we went to each pumpkin patch to see our pumpkins. Some of the pumpkins have pruned themselves and the smaller pumpkins are no longer on the vines. Other pumpkins have continued to gain in size and change colors as they grow. The dark green and orange pumpkins are the smaller variety (Early Prince Hybrid) and the yellow to light orange pumpkins are the larger variety (Dill’s Atlantic Giant). You can also tell the difference because the Dill’s Atlantic Giant has heart shaped leaves. The Early Prince Hybrid has several indentations on its leaves.
The first six pictures below are passion flowers. The first picture is the Scarlet Passion Flower. The second picture is a Maypop (this species is flammable and should not be grown near the house). The third is a Blue Passion flower. The next two pictures are of seed pods from fertilized flowers. The third row of flowers is composed of Dahlias and the fourth row is of Zinnias. The last picture is composed of Zinnias and Sunflowers. Note that this species of sunflower has several blooms per plant which is different from most sunflowers which have one bloom per plant.
We harvested the rest of the corn this morning. We still have enough time to put in one more crop. It takes 78 days for Simply Irresistible to grow from a kernel to a stalk with ears of corn ready to harvest. Our next harvest will be mid September.
The top row of pictures are from the pumpkin species Dill’s Atlantic Giant.
Note the first flower is a female. the second picture shows the leaves of this species and the third picture is a male flower.
The second row is from the Early Prince Hybrid. The first picture shows the leaves, the second picture is a female flower and the third picture is a male flower. All female flowers in both species have a bulb below the flower (picture #7) however the centers of these flowers vary slightly.
Oryne is now in Cincinnati and models her new skirt (from the New Orleans Children’s Museum).
This was Oryne determined to harvest the last raspberry a few days ago.
The fruit trees (below) are finally looking healthy. #1-3 are apple trees and 4-7 are cherry trees. Pear trees will be shown shortly.
BELOW; RIGHTY TIGHTY and LEFTY LOOSEY: The grandchildren could not figure out which way to turn the handle to cut off the water. I realized that I never heard the saying until I was an adult, so it was time to teach them “righty tighty, lefty loosey”. There was a minor hiccup in making sure they knew their right hand from their left. Since they are all right handed, we said your RIGHT hand is the hand with which you WRITE or Draw. After that, it was all down hill and turning off the hose was no longer a puzzle.