June, 2017 complete and July ready in my never ending calendar, along with an update on the herb garden and two challenge entries

There's lots to cover today, this final day of June.  June has been put to bed for 2017, at least in my never-ending calendar.  I'm now preparing for summertime fun in July.  Feel free to read the minutia, which is pretty boring this month, since most of what I accomplished was putting out fires that didn't get on my blog or in my calendar.  I made a mess of the scan, too.

July is ready to write in, and on the 18th we will celebrate our 4th T Tuesday anniversary with an ATC exchange.

Lots more to get through today, so I'll start with one final Art Journal Journey entry.

Honoring Rosie's theme of Circles for Art Journal Journey, I'm paying homage to the colors of summer.  Bright, bold, and beach colors are what I think of when I think of summer.

Now let's move onto an herb garden update.

A quick last week in June update on my bedraggled herb garden.  It's been too hot to weed, and the pots are showing it, too.  If it ever cools (we have been under a heat advisory for many days), I will get out and clean this sad, sad area.  Before you ask, that's a ceramic bell attached to my metal compost can that now holds a pumpkin vine.

My three basils I planted from seed are starting to do well.  At first, I thought they weren't going to take hold.  The pot on the front right was supposed to hold parsley, but grass seems to have taken over, instead.

Cilantro is looking good.  After I harvest lots of it, what goes to seed will be coriander.

The oregano plant (in large pot in back) is doing well.  Thankfully, I haven't killed the rosemary in front.

In the far back is dill, which is doing quite well.   The middle pot needs to be cleaned out.  It seems the stray blackberry vine I transplanted is not doing well.  The front is barley grass I purchased from a company called ROAR to support animal rescue efforts.  The grass is for the two fellas' who share my home.

As an aside, one year when Bleubeard was quite young, I planted catnip.  He didn't care for it.  Go figure I have a straight laced tee-totaling cat.

I love dill

I love it so much I plan to plant more as soon as the seed pods ripen.

Ripening blackberries are interspersed with many white flowers, a sign of more to come.

Three lavenders are left of the five I purchased.  They aren't doing too well, either.

My mint, on the other hand is definitely ready for harvest.

I was surprised that the tomato plant I purchased was doing so well.

I might even have a ripe tomato by the 4th of July.  I used to race my neighbor (who died a few years ago) to see who had the first tomato by Independence Day.  I may be the winner by default this year!

And finally,

a Tag Tuesday look at the beach, Joan's theme this fortnight.

I was reminded about this G45 paper when I saw Yvonne's tag yesterday.  I went looking for mine and built my tag around it.  I added sandpaper which signifies sand, and several tiny shells I've picked up over time.

I printed a lighthouse and added it to an old slide mount.  I embellished the slide mount with more tiny shells.

Instead of string, I added a piece of mesh from a sweet potato container.  It reminded me of the mesh nets used by fishermen. 

I think this tag needs something else, but at this point, I don't know what.  I may try to rework it later and update it if I come up with something worthy of your viewing.

Thanks for joining me for this look at my wimpy, wimpy calendar pages and my equally wimpy garden update. Thank you also for joining me at Art Journal Journey and Tag Tuesday, too.   See you in July.