Time Flies

Yes, it's been over two weeks since I last posted.  Time sure does fly!  As usual, our time has been filled with the mundane and the interesting....

*  Summer is definitely here.   Day after day of bright sunshine and 90 degree heat.  You know it's summer when you 
A) hope those thunderstorms they're predicting really do happen  
B) have to take a cold shower at night to clean off the stickiness before going to bed 
C) figure out who in your circle of family and friends has a pool!
D) All of the above!

*  Naturally, all our thoughts and energy have been turned toward the outdoors.  Most weekends, we spend working on our yard.   We agreed that summer is too short to think of doing any projects indoors.  Now we have:
1) no more gigantic shrubs blocking windows in the front of the house
2) Instead there is one beautiful hydrangea and an azalea we stole....er.....borrowed from the overgrown backyard of the empty house next door.
3) a stone wall instead of a fence in front.
4)  a vegetable garden that has, so far, exceeded all my expectation.

*  The vegetable garden is way in the back part of the yard.   The soil there is rich and dark.  The sun is sparse.   I wasn't sure if a vegetable garden would really grow there.   I was wrong.  Right now we have:
1) Pumpkin plants so huge, some of the leaves are twice the size of my hands.
2)  Tomato plants that are up to my shoulder (that I have had to stake twice!)
3)  Green bean plants covered with blossoms, and plenty of growing green beans.
4) Squash with brightly colored flowers just days from turning into tiny zucchini.

I wish we'd planted more - peppers, carrots, broccoli, eggplant.   I'm sure the gardeners' motto is "My garden will be bigger next year!"    I know for certain that next year, I will put six-foot stakes on the tomatoes, even if the plants are only six inches tall when we plant them!

Beyond, the yard and garden, we've been enjoying having a yard for BBQ's and picnics as well.  I cook out on the grill more often than not, and we've had several gatherings for friends or family in our beautiful, manicured backyard.   In a couple of weeks, we'll be having our first Annual Campfire Jam, at which we'll invite all our musical friends to sit around the campfire with their guitars and sing and play.

Hope your summers have been going as well as mine.  I am blessed.