Sweet Summer

What a glorious week of summer we have had! I am enjoying it because frankly, it's just a teeny blip on the radar of weather here in Minnesota - the rest of the year is winter. Summer is extraordinarily beautiful, and winter is extraordinarily awful, I just wish the ratio were 50:50. According to the pamphlet that I received from the city when I first moved here many years ago from sunny California, there are only two places on earth with weather extremes more severe than Minnesota: Siberia and Mongolia. I wish I had seen that pamphlet before I moved here. So far this summer I have finished a book project for Dover Publications (fun!), hired someone to shore up my crumbling garage foundation (expensive!), tripped on a curb while jogging with dog (a contusion - painful!) and enjoyed out of town guests (intoxicating!) Speaking of out of town guests, aren't these garden visitors beautiful? I planted a garden specifically for bees and butterflies since they need a little help from mankind, and it does seem to attract them all. My neighbors have milkweed plants in their yard, so next year I'm going to beg for some seeds, since milkweed is a staple source of food for butterflies.