surprise sunflowers and a summer breeze

Sometimes I feel like I live in a different time zone in the summer. My son and I sleep in so we always end up staying up much later. Meals are later too. While I was doing the dishes after a late Sunday dinner I looked out the window and saw these over the fence popping out of my neighbor's yard.

I think I actually squealed. I dried my hands, grabbed my camera and took a quick pic. Sorry it's a bit blurry but I had to use the zoom and I was already standing on my tippy toes. Sunflowers! It look like these were over 10 feet tall! That's their patio umbrella on the right.I never knew these delightful things were growing in my neighborhood! I can't believe I never noticed them before.

Then I noticed something that hadn't been around in a while. It was cool and refreshing. Crisp with a hint of the scent of over dried grass. So welcome after another 100 degree day. It teased me a little and if I close my eyes I can pretend Fall is just around the corner.

The Delta breeze. A cool wind that sweeps in from the American River about a 1/2 mile from my house. Sacramento is known for very hot summers. We get consecutive 100+ temps that doesn't let up for over 2 weeks sometimes. But this year is unusually cooler. It actually cools down in the evening and tonight we got an extra special treat with the lovely Delta breeze. I love to listen to all my windchimes when they catch a good gust here and there. My poor mini Japanese maple tree isn't too happy about the heat either and I think I almost heard a sigh when the breeze rolled in.

LaLou, our neighbor's kitty always comes running when she hears me out here. She's such a sweetheart though she doesn't care much for my Luna. LaLou holds a special place in my heart because she was the one who helped me through my sadness after I lost my sweet Kushka last December. We got Luna a little later. I always wished I could keep LaLou but she has her own human next door and she practically lives in my yard anyway. BTW, her real name is Buddy. I call her LaLou because when she meows it sounds like 'laaalooo'!

It's too nice out here to go back into the house so I visit my little garden in front. I planted this rosemary when we moved here 10 years ago. It's by my 'garden gate' so to speak. I don't really have a gate but it's at the end of the walkway going up to my front door. I was thinking of the line from the movie Practical Magic,  'keep rosemary by your garden gate', when I planted it. It was a tiny little thing. One of those little pots you could get for $2 at Rite Aid. Now it's huge and when I brush up against it I dream of pumpkins and cider, Halloween and Renaissance Faires.

I also have Lambs Ear spreading everywhere. My son and I planted it together when he was around 5. He loves the soft fuzzy texture and every now and then I still catch him playing with the  leaves. I used to find them in his pockets when he was younger whenever I did the laundry which always made me smile.

I have a project waiting on my table so I let the Delta breeze cool me one more time and then back in I go to finish those silly dishes! Maybe Mr. Petunia might surprise me and finish them instead! :)

I found all of these great books at the library last week. I love libraries, don't you? The ones where my mom lives are better than ours and I found all these during my visit. Now I'm inspired to try all sorts of new things. I just decided to try an altered book project for the first time.

I had this old hardcover book and I started gluing a few pages together a few nights ago.

Here's one of the pages I finished which was inspired by an altered book from the Artful Storybook. I also joined a Journaling in July challenge so I'll post the rest of it this week when I'm done.

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I hope you're enjoying lovely summer evenings where you are. How hot does it get in your neck of the woods? Are you a Summer person or do you count down the days to Autumn like I do?

I'm hoping to get up early tomorrow to catch the first batch of apricots at the farmer's market! They've been super sweet this season. Maybe summer's not so bad after all.