Our 4th of July Festivities

Monday was a dreary rainy day.Although it was actually the 4th,I think a lot of folks celebrated their big day on Sunday, and it was just as well, since the weather has changed a bit.We attended a big outdoor meal at the youngest daughter's home on Sunday.Her husband roasted a pig and had a big bash to celebrate a few different occasions. The 4th, his 50th birthday,a Thank you to the Fire Department for a great year.All together, it made for a great party. They had a Medivac Helicopter scheduled to land in the yard at the beginning of the party. I've never seen such a sight. The wind gusts from the helicopter stirred up grass clipping from the yard and they blew everywhere,but thank goodness, we were able to cover the food.We all had grass in our hair and on our clothes.The copter had an appointment down the road at a local church function,I think that was the story anyway, so they just dropped in on our party as a favor to the local fire department. They all ate a big dinner with the crowd before departing.It was very exciting to see it land so close. The neighbor's corn laid over pretty good from the force of the wind generated by the copter. I hope it raises back up after the little rains we have been having.Just as we were ending our big day, a really bad wind came up. We all grabbed everything that we possibly could and headed for cover. It got pretty rough for a few minutes, but the worst of it blew over quickly, the rains came, and everyone began heading to their individual homes. We got to our house only to find we had very little rain,and we sure needed a good rain. We have had a few more quick showers after that, so that will help a lot.
The families are all busy doing other things on Monday, so Pop and I took a neighbor friend along and visited the Amish Produce Auction.We are not harvesting anything from our garden just yet, so we planned to pick up a few tomatoes and cucumbers to hold us over until ours are ready. We did get a peck of large cucumbers for the table,$2.00, and two pecks of Roma green beans,$6.00. That is a new kind for us, and I wanted to try them.I'm anxious to see if they taste any different.Tomatoes went extremely too high so we held off on getting those.Hopefully our local Amish will be a bit cheaper. Hopefully,we'll get a bushel of green beans and a few tomatoes from them soon.

This is the Pink Belle Hibiscus. I have several of this variety, but of a slightly different color.

I did get a real bargain on some flowers.They had a couple of pallets of Hibiscus plants. I bought 7 plants for $2. each. Now that was the bargain of the day. I have several plants already, but mine are mostly all cream colored with maybe one pale crimson,not sure of their names, but I bought 2 Lord Baltimore's and the other 5 were ordinary hibiscus plants. The five ordinary hibiscus plants are called  Pink Belle.They are a pale pink with a crimson eye..The Lord Baltimore is a different variety from the ones I've always had. Mom use to have a similar plant when they lived in Georgia.The bloom is huge and bright red.The leaves are very different,too.I am so glad I was able to get the red ones for sure.I have wanted that kind forever.I have a dentist appointment on Wednesday evening, but I hope to get them in the ground earlier in the day.The blooms are so big and beautiful.I can't wait to get them established in my yard somewhere,although it is beginning to look like a maze out there.

This is the Lord Baltimore variety. It has a different leaf from the ones I have always grown. Mom had one of these on St. Simon's Island where the second half of my family moved to and spent  nearly 30 years.

This is a spent bloom from the above plant. Hopefully, I will remember to get a picture of it another day. It is  beautiful .