back to winter routines

It's beastly hot outside. Summer sweaty hot. Muggy steamy hot. I know early on that I wont want to weed. I wont want to walk. I wont want to cavort outside. Hey, I wont even want to eat breakfast on the porch!

Of course, animals need to be fed, so I do my usual morning rounds.

 

I see the froggies are climbing up the tall lily stalks, so I don't finish snipping spent flowers. Best to leave them alone. Who cares about spent flowers anyway!

This is my attitude about many aspect of the garden -- who cares if it needs work. I'm not going to do it. It will survive. (Nothing unusual there: it's my August dog days attitude toward exertion of any kind.)

Breakfast, inside. Hey, I did bake muffins early in the morning! We have the blueberries for them and they are such a good breakfast treat.

All that indoor time gives me too much reading time. I read, for instance, about the benefits of walking, just to feel that guilt from taking to the couch. 

And I read about how I should feel free to ask my service provider (dental, hair, you name it) if they have been vaccinated. So I try that. And of course, I get a refusal to reveal. And yes, I do cancel appointments where the provider refuses to reveal.

And then I read about the cancellation policies pertaining to various aspects of my forthcoming trip. I blew past some deadlines already. Am I going to collect even more vouchers (if I'm lucky) this Fall??

So after all that reading, I decide that at the very least, I should do what I did this winter: walk the farmette property. From corner to corner. Every day. It's not a demanding hike, but it does clear my head and add steps. I have to keep my Fitbit happy!

In doing this, I get that wonderful feeling of peace that comes from taking in wisps of pine scented air and from watching the fields of goldenrod sway with the breeze. Too, I get to pause by the new orchard and take in the beauty of the meadow flowers. 

Okay, I feel ready for the arrival of this spirited girl:

It's way to sticky to do anything at all outside. An indoor day for sure... 

 

 

 

... of books and puzzles and fairies and art. Snowdrop continues to work on her Super Pig pictures, but to me she delegates other subject matter. Draw the family of five, Gaga, she'll tell me. I'll balk. I do not like drawing human types. But she'll coax and prod and eventually she will take over. Today, I did all of a handful of ovals on a piece of paper and she filled in the rest -- the family of five the snow scene, all the stuff that make these such happy pieces of art. (Oh! She'll tell you Gaga also drew the braids. She thinks I'm really good at drawing braids.)

 And toward evening we have the threat of real storms once more. A very quick farmette walk...

 

 

 

And then I drive her home, just in the nick of time. I linger only for a second.

And I return just as the first flashes and crashes fill the hot bath humid air. Many people in Madison lost power after fallen trees knocked down power lines. We are lucky to be not among them. 

 

I think we can say here that the drought is behind us!