Did you know he has a bird sister?

Not a knife, but we've had this guy around for many years.

Nadia advises a good squash nosh. She is not a fan of showers, TBQH, because she is not good at self-care, and she only takes showers under duress (and then sulks for a while).

A swamp milkweed flower in my artificial pond. I have no idea what's up with the mottling in the petals, but it's really cool and I hope it propagates. #nativeplants

OH WAIT She will do anything for orange juice!

Froggie! Also, I'm assuming this is a reflection, but ya never know, it might be a ghost trapped in the gem

This Botticelli painting of the Madonna, in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. Something about the sweetness of their faces, the delicacy of the translucent fabrics and halos, the color - it enraptures me every time I see it.

Fireworks. Not as many as DC, but who cares? They were perfect.

And as always, it closed with the very American 🙄 1812 Overture. I was unnervingly close to the cannons.

My kid was onstage for some numbers!

The concert was rain-delayed by an hour, but it was fabulous. Trombone Shorty was one of many guest artists.

We too had a rainstorm like the one that hit DC, and we too had to evacuate the area and find shelter during the worst of it. Grumpy Boston cop: “we gotta move 800,000 people cuz of lightning.” A kind family opened their garage for some of us. Impromptu party!

Feel free to ignore the DC nonsense tonight. In Boston, we did “Stars and Stripes” in the rain, with confetti cannons (presaging the real cannons a few minutes later), and a Black piccolo soloist in space. Happy Fourth.

And they did the fireworks right. None of this "biggest evar" nonsense, just a good quality show.

Enjoy my feral Hypericum punctatum, growing in an inconvenient spot in my back yard. The big poofy flowers on the shrubby St. John's wort will bloom next week, it looks like.

Here in Boston, you can't say "keytar" without someone else answering "bear." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keytar_...

I adore suburban Porchfests. Block parties everywhere, dad rock, kids dancing, great vibes.

This clever girl just tried to drop a zucchini on the parakeet. It was a very small zucchini, and she'd eaten half of it. But when her annoying little brother came over and tried to be social, she stalked to the edge of the cagetop, held the zucchini out just so, and dropped it. (She missed.)

Not the NBA finals. Not the World Cup. But community sporting events are fun, easy, and don't cost $8000! Ultimate frisbee tonight: #Boston Glory vs NY Empire. At halftime, people goofed off on the field. And whenever we'd score, a swarm of children raced down the track w/ flags. Hilarious.

In our house's side yard, we have a massive and ancient sassafras tree. She's put up countless child trees over the years, but only where she wants - I can't seem to transplant the sprouts for other people, no matter how careful I am with the roots. She's the MA state champion sassafras.

Obligatory

Same garden, different focus - this time a yellow ladyslipper orchid.

Red columbines, miterwort, and maidenhair ferns growing on a mossy limestone outcrop. Garden in the Woods, Framingham. #nativeplants 🌱 Someday I'll make an alkaline-soil garden like this, but it must have taken them decades. I remember this section from the 2000s - looked old then too.

My sun and stars. This inlay ring made me gasp when I opened the package. I can’t stop looking at it, which I guess is less than ideal when I’m driving or working, but here we are. @peculiarityshop.bsky.social

It’s still trillium season in northern Vermont. ❤️

Proud mom of my UVM ultimate frisbee player. They play on the B team, which, remarkably, made it to Div 1 nationals this year - the first time any B-level team has done so. (The A team, Ruckus, is also going. The only other New England team this year is Tufts.) Yay UVM Bruckus!

I've lived on this property for 30 years. I have never seen trout lilies here before, and I certainly never planted them on this dry hot hillside, but... here they are. What. The only explanation I can think of is that the shrubs here were eaten by rabbits this winter, hence more sun?

It made me think of a Kousa dogwood flower. Thanks!