I Look Forward to Mondays

Evie and I have a standing date with my momma on Mondays at Botanica. And now that Summer is in full swing, we are meeting earlier to avoid the heat. Yesterday's high was forecasted to be around 100 degrees, so I gave myself a pep-talk to prepare for that, but I was pleasantly surprised by the coolness in the air. I don't think it was warmer than 80 degrees while we were out, the rain cleared and the overcast sky gave us such beautiful, soft light. It felt like a gift!

In the butterfly garden Evie pointed out the Lamb's Ear. So we pet the leaves which were soft, but not quite as fuzzy when wet.

The hydrangeas are in full bloom. It amazes me that these were just bare sticks two months ago.

 

My beautiful momma, Lesa.

The scent of the lavender was so nice, more subtle than we expected, (there was a giant bank of it).

 

These cosmos make me miss the ones that grew like crazy at our last house.

It looked like someone had combed and styled this long grass after the rain.

The butterflies have arrived at the butterfly house!

I don't see blue butterflies (especially with the swallow-tail) very often, so this one seemed special to momma and I.

And we loved the eye patterns on this Buckeye.

Someday I need to get a longer lens for my digital camera... or else I might get kicked out of the garden for wading in the koi pond to take close-ups of the pink-striped lilypads.

We remembered to bring quarters to feed the fish, much to Evie's delight. She feeds it to them one pellet at a time.

Do you see the light one with the long tail and fins? Beautiful.

We have gotten so much enjoyment out of the membership to Botanica that mom gave us! We'll definitely want to renew this Autumn. Construction on the new Downing Children's Garden has begun and the plans look and sound really wonderful!