Happy July 4th!

 Happy Independence Day!!  

One of my favorite patriotic quilts is this wall hanging.  It's a traditional Lone Star pattern, but just on a smaller scale.  This year it's hanging in the living room where I can enjoy it every day.  I actually have several patriotic table runners and a couple of pillows, but didn't put them ALL out this year.  I often keep these displayed most of the summer.

I must preface the rest of this post by saying that I am NOT a gardener.  I wish I was because I love the flowers, but I just don't enjoy the gardening itself.  So any plants here must be pretty hardy.  I was worried that we would miss this orange lily blooming while we were gone on the cruise.  But the day after we returned it looked like this.  It's so pretty, but just doesn't bloom long enough.  By this weekend the last of the blossoms had fallen.  

Along the shady east side of our house is a whole line of white hydrangeas.  As long as I don't mess with them, we get a beautiful bloom each summer.  We did have to remove about 6' of them when we put in a double egress window in the basement family room.  But there is still a row about 15' long.  

Some of the blossoms are as big as dinner plates.  They begin a bright lime green but turn snow white as they open up.  I believe this variety is called Old Fashioned Snowball - or possibly White Wedding.  I just know we've lived in this house for 17 years and they bloom profusely every single year.  

And finally, there is the orange Canna that is blooming in a big flower pot outside the family room windows.  Granddaughter Sophia helped me plant this after the kids went along to pick out some flowers for the porch and deck pots.  The variegated leaves are almost as pretty as the flower.  There is a second stalk coming up that looks like it has a bud too.  I had red cannas along the porch a few years when we lived on the farm (40 years ago) and I actually tried to garden.