In honor, I give you Homer Simpson buying illegal fireworks:

Ummm. Yeah. Just do the opposite of what’s in this video.

I overheard one of the people in the office I recently rented to work in talking about how they’re going to rent a houseboat on Center Hill Lake this summer and just relax and enjoy nature. So I went and looked up the site for rentals and found that this would be a really neat thing to do for the next time I go on vacation.

Let me put this to you, Shak-ers, have you rented a houseboat before? What were the good and bad points about it?

From Exploratorium.edu, here’s an amazing online exhibit about the secret lives of flowers. Think, flower sex, haha. It’s really quite amazing and the site is very well done. Enjoy!

My friend Aunt B over at Tiny Cat Pants has been posting pictures of her garden, and I’m totally enjoying them. I like how it’s kind of unruly, yet still organized in its own way.

You know you wanna see more.

Luckily, the video’s just over 4 minutes. I couldn’t imagine being on a lawnmower for 12 hours.

Worried about how much you are contributing to global warming? Here’s how to calculate your carbon footprint.

Nothing says “early summer” more than the Black Eyed Susans coming out to bloom. My daughter captured this image while we were out walking one day. Though I really do need to teach her how to use the macro settings on my camera, I like the blurred look on this photo.

Over at SFgate.com, there’s a great article about creating a lovely window box. There’s something really homey and beautiful about flower boxes. Even in the most urban settings, you can create a little green space.

Photo: Amazon

One of my favorite things to do during the summer is go to one of the greenways in our area and walk. They’re nice, cool areas of green space, lovely to look at and relaxing to boot.