I’m willfully gullible. When told something that either interests or tickles me, I tend to repeat it as gospel.

To wit: years ago, I was told that when more than half the cows in a field are lying down, it is likely to rain. On Tuesday midday, all four adults and two babes were down in the field at Nip ‘n’ Tuck Farm. Who needs the Weather Channel?

It’s been a pleasant week with both lower temperatures and humidity.

Most tasks in the flower beds involve dead-heading of annuals and the cutting of giant weeds. I fear that pulling them will unearth the plants around them. How do they possibly grow that large seemingly overnight?

Down-Island Cronig’s has some nice speciments right now at both the entrance and exits. There are stands of Goldtrum rudbeckia. Commonly known as Black-Eyed Susan, it blooms quite a while in late summer. On a cloudy day, it’s particularly impressive. It can be a bit problematic as it does tend to spread, so it’s better in a meadow situation.

Sadly, sometimes the deer will munch it, so spraying repellant is a good idea.

Also along the building at Cronig’s is some very tall Joe Pye Weed. Sometimes it will be enjoyed too much by Japanese beetles. A person can knock them into a container of soapy water. Take my advice — I rarely use it!

For several years, the small roadside bed at Surveyor’s Lane is direct-seeded. I’ve been waiting to see the results. It has sunflowers and small-headed zinnias. I think the variety is Cut and Come Again. The bed is very nice. There is plenty of time for rubbernecking nowadays. The traffic situation is downright laughable.

More woes in the vegetable garden. Voles or some other rodent have discovered my cucumber bed. They take bites out of every one, even those barely an inch long. These are the same culprits who polished off my beets a month ago.

The cukes are, excuse me, were, my favorite variety: Boothby Blonde. They have a creamy yellow tender skin, are rounder than most, and are simply delicious even when they are slightly overgrown. Generations of the Boothby family have grown them in Maine. I poured a container of cayenne pepper on the just-about-to-emerge flowers. Wouldn't it be great if it worked! As if!

Violet’s photo this week is a bed of salvia at Farm Neck. I wish the black and white in the print copy did it justice. The purple is a cultivar called Black and Blue. The yellow leaf is pineapple sage. It will eventually bloom red. If you rub and smell the leaves, it’s a wonderful pineapple scent.

Both plants are beloved by hummingbirds.

Violet and I took a day trip off-Island last week to visit a friend. I confess I’ve been here since the spring of last year. I broke my sunglasses on the boat so we stopped at CVS in Falmouth. Imagine my dismay — not one other person in the store, including the clerks, were wearing masks. A drugstore, for Pete’s sake.

The news keeps saying there is confusion about mask wearing. Does anyone think for themselves these days? People, please, mask up inside with the general public. Most of us have small children in our lives who cannot be vaccinated. Now they know that even those of us with both shots can spread the new variant.

I’m sick of hearing that we should respect other people’s opinions and kindly suggest they get the jab. They are just plain selfish, hiding behind individual freedom — blah, blah, blah. We live in a society of our fellows. I don’t want to kill any of them.

These people are taking away my freedom. I also hate wearing a mask.

Will there ever be a "normal" again?