My daylillies are gone too, sad. Butterflies are still around.

Diamond Head - so difficult to get a good picture while in a seaplane!

On our recent trip to Maine we stayed with my wife's Uncle Dimitri in Camden, Maine. One evening I stayed up late talking with him hearing some of the fascinating stories from his past. His grandfather was the Prime Minister of Bulgaria for a period of 4 days. Subsequently his grandfather was a diplomat and I believe his father was as well. During one stretch when his family was living in Rome, Dimitri was in school there, and one of his classmates was Benito Mussolini's son. On one table in his house I found a gardening magazine that did a piece on a semi-tropical mimosa he was growing and how he converted an open patio to a greenhouse to protect it from the harsh Maine winters. The greenhouse was open for the summer when were there, the tree is still thriving, and interestingly the best view we had of the eclipse was due to the sunlight passing through the leaves of the mimosa tree casting little crescent-shaped spots of light on the wall of the house.

We were up north visiting hubby's brother, sister-in-law and another brother who was visiting. SIL is an avid quilter, works in a quilt store, and teaches classes. She has a number of them hanging on her walls, and they're stunning. When leaving, she gave us this gorgeous quilt. We just love it. It's a large lap quilt, not big enough for a bed, and I can see the 2 of us and the cats fighting over who gets it use it while watching tv this winter!