Once again, last weekend was hot and humid bringing up claims of “I hate summer” on the job sites. Here it is early Tuesday morning after an all-day rain on Monday and I have started a wood fire. That’s not actually true — it’s more of a newspaper/cardboard blaze. Who knew I should have hauled wood over Memorial Day?

Last week’s last paragraph made me laugh. I meant to say my Dad watched the signing of the peace treaty in Tokyo Harbor in 1945. The typo read singing. The thought of my Dad singing or witnessing it was, to say the least, out of character.

I am prone to contempt prior to investigation. I always thought I disliked beet greens but recently I picked some from early plantings. They were too perfect to go into the compost so I steamed them in a rich garlic and chicken stock with a bit of coconut oil. They were not delicious but were good. I’ll have them again.

Some years ago, I gave up weeding large portions of my perennial nursery. As luck would have it, I’ve become fond of some of the so-called weeds. I have irises, oriental poppies and flowering chives in masses of buttercups, forget-me-nots, yarrow, ajuga, cilantro gone to flower, oxeye daisies, and various grasses with lovely seed heads. I could never have thought up the design that Mother Nature provided.

Of course, there is always a down side — mugwort, dock and spitting cress are some of the biggest pains. Spitting cress, especially, is problematic. A person needs eye protection when attempting to remove it. The seeds end up in mouths and hair.

Easily 10 or more years ago, DiAnn Ray gave me a clump of Caesar’s Brother Siberian iris. They are downright spectacular and have multiplied like crazy. They are a velvety dark purple with impressive greenery.

You would, however, be hard pressed to match some of the bearded varieties. I have some Raptor Reds and Poem of Ecstasy that are fabulous. FYI, a bearded iris smells like the color, for example purple-grape, orange-citrus, white-vanilla. It’s a great show-off for children.

Back to the weather, there is no bad weather only inappropriate clothing. I have some good Guy Cotten rain gear. I spent all day Monday outside in it and only got wet down the jacket zipper. I did keep an old terry cloth bathrobe in the truck in which to wrap my soaking self while driving.

I thought about my maternal grandmother, Nonnie. She never used a clothes dryer (neither do I). She went to her clotheslines dressed in rolled-down stockings and arctics. Who remembers artics? They were boots that went over a person’s shoes. Nonnie put them over her old lady chunky high heels. I love my mind-picture of her.

I have a couple of dictamnus aka gas plant. They are blooming now and somewhat resemble foxgloves. I went on the Google and found that they are called gas plant because they emit a volatile oil which will ignite the air above. Some think it may have been the “Burning Bush” known to Moses on Mt. Sinai.

Fifty years ago this week I graduated college. On my first morning home my mother woke me to say “They killed Bobby Kennedy.” Seems like yesterday. It is worth reading Chris Matthews’ A Raging Spirit. He captures the man, his decency, commitment to our country, and love of his fellow man.

Kristy Kingsbury Henshaw sent me a Graydon Carter editor’s letter. I need to share some of his thoughts. This may close my column for the next few weeks as I cannot say it better.

“God, I love this country: Only in America could a serial bankrupt pass himself off as a successful businessman. And almost none of those he bankrupted were even regular businesses. They were casinos — where people essentially come to lose money.

Only in America could a man who offended Hispanics, Muslims, Jews and African-Americans as well as women, babies and the handicapped become the Republican nominee for president.

Only in America could a man for whom the truth is an inconvenient concept, feel comfortable referring to his opponent as “lying” and “crooked.”

Only in America, a nation built on a history of immigration, could a man who married two immigrants — one of whom it is alleged to have worked illegally when she first arrived — run on an anti-immigration platform.”

There’s more next week.