Summer Of The Sunflower.

I am really enjoying my successful sunflower garden this summer, esp. after it was a flop last year.

I am esp. enjoying the last few blooms of the season.

There's nothing like sitting out on the back porch in the sun looking at the beautiful flowers.

There's beauty even in death.

I even recorded a video yesterday of my sunflowers blowing in the breeze. This way I can look at them, enjoy them and remember them any time I want, even in the middle of winter.

The 12 YR old reminds me of my tallest sunflower as he's so tall now and just keeps on growing taller and taller. He's already grown up past my hubby's shoulders and he's 6 feet tall!

I love this one; you can see the bee just leaving!

This will definitely be remembered as the Summer of the Sunflower. I plan on growing more next year,too.

I also notice as well my mother has this habit of leaving every time I come into the room she's in. It never fails; if she's sitting out the front and I come out she'll go inside. If she's in the livingroom and I come in she'll say, Why aren't you outside? (even though I just spent the past 6 hours outside) or Why don't you go up for a nap? etc. and then she'll get up and go upstairs to her room, and I get the distinct impression she's trying to avoid me and doesn't want to be around me as she'll leave whenever I show up so I asked her about it and as always she turned it around onto me like she always does( that's her 'tactic") and snorts Stop being so paranoid! but when I pressed how come then every time I come into a place she's in she always leaves then, huh..... she gives the lame excuse, Oh, that's just a coincidence, you just always happen to come in at the exact same time I have something to do.....yeah.....right....sure...s he's not fooling anyone. My family just makes me feel so unwanted and so unwelcome all the time, and I needed the microwave to quickly heat up my lunch and the 18 YR old had stuff she was preparingblocking it, all in front of the microwave door( instead of on the counter) and I didn't say anything, I just quietly moved it out of the way so I could open the door and she tears into me snarling, Get your dirty mitts off my stuff! and I sigh and reply Geez! it's not like I'm infected, contagious, or have Cooties or something! and she huffed, That's debatable!! She is the meanest to me of all the kids, plus my mother and my hubby; they treat me the worst. I was really looking forward to her going away to school,too, finally free of her mouth, bitchy attitude, and meanness, and to think she'll likely still be here for yet another year disappoints me too just as much as it does for her. A year delay isn't so much out of the course of your entire lifetime but at the time it seems like the end of the world and I know how she feels because I  was really looking forward to her leaving,too! She's just awful to me and I was looking forward to no more abuse from her anymore.