That was some serious rain last Friday evening. I love it. I did not have to haul hoses around for several days.

Before I got to mention the locust blooms, they were gone. How does that happen? I hope everything is in season forever in heaven.

The Oak Bluffs fire station has a great gardener. There is always something of interest and it is nicely tended. This past week I noticed a fabulous ninebark in full blossom. This shrub is physocarpus, a native to North America and northeastern Asia. It comes in a couple of foliage colors and isn’t bothered by the deer. I have a few on my property cozied next to a kousa dogwood and a kolkwitzia (aka beauty bush); all three are in bloom and, I must say, make quite a statement.

Please resist the temptation to hack either ninebark or beauty bush. Like forsythia they want an arching fountain shape. You can cut anything thicker than a broomstick right to the ground. This will allow new, younger branches to flower. Actually, try not to use the expressions “whack” or “hack” in reference to pruning. Know your plant structure before sharpening the saw.

For years I have planted amethyst allium, a short by very large flowered perennial allium. Remarkably, it has reseeded all over my weedy garden. I was so pleased as now I can save some seeds and stop purchasing the pricey bulbs every few years. A Lauren’s grape opium poppy reseeded into my hoophouse. It is chest high and perfect because the wind and rain haven’t beaten it to death like all the other poppies outside in the beds.

Speaking of taking a beating, both the irises and peonies took a hit over the weekend. There are some beautiful red peonies in a bed of blue hostas on Skiff avenue. Lovely!

We started to eat our carrot thinnings. We’re talking tiny with barely any orange coloring but we eat them anyway for the sheer wonder of it all. They are slightly bigger than pencil leads.

My eggplant and peppers have been eaten beyond recognition. I cannot find the culprit. I think the baby eggplants have been targeted by the Colorado potato beetle. They have been bothered in the past by the pest. Honestly, I do not have it in me to start bug patrol already. I do not have everything in the ground yet.

Oh, how I wish I followed my own advice. I can look at a customer’s garden and get right to it. I can boss my workers around endlessly but I just cannot weed and fuss in my own perennial beds. It’s a good thing I have developed a good sense of humor and acceptance over the years. I’m downright fond of some of my weeds. For example, jewel weed. It has lovely foliage and a creamy yellow flower. There is a sap inside the stems — orange in color — which can be applied to poison ivy rash. It offers a bit of relief from the itching.

I also love Queen Anne’s lace; the carrot-like foliage is nice as well as the flower midsummer.

I had a wintered-over patch of cilantro, which has gone to flower. Some red poppies came up in the midst of the patch. I could not have planned a nicer meadowy display. Finally, a purpose for the herb since I do not care for it. I’m one of the 20 per cent genetically challenged who think it tastes like soap.

I simply cannot muster up any outrage concerning the government collecting our cell phone records and emails.

The 1964 Gulf of Tonkin incident forever changed my trust in the U.S. government. Let me just say, I voted for and would still vote for LBJ — Voting Rights Act and Medicare, for Pete’s sake! I was one of those demonstrators living in Washington during the Vietnam war so was no stranger to our secret government. I sat through the Watergate hearings, followed Iran-Contra, did a no-blood-for-oil march in New York city over the first gulf war, entertained some 9/11 conspiracy theories, and oh, did I mention I read everything I could get my hands on concerning the JFK assassination?

Here’s the thing — how can anyone really think those emails sent magically through space in a nanosecond can be private? We know any search results in immediate advertisements on the same subject. I have to add son Reuben’s comment, “If the internet were a real place, you’d be ashamed to be there.”

If our correspondences are to be private, we need to put them on paper and burn them. I’m big on civil rights but I just can’t seem to care about this latest “scandal.”