Reverse nesting

Ken has decided that's what to call it -- reverse nesting. I just think I'm doing the usual things that a parent would do to get ready to send a child off to college. You know, buying hangers and desk lamps and shampoo and sheets and towels, and making pillows out of outgrown beloved t-shirts....

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And on to the next one

Not sure when it started to feel as though reading were a pleasure only allowed in summertime, but somehow I am willing to give myself a break to sit with a book in a way that I don't seem able to during the rest of the year. Going to fix that.


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Work ends early on Fridays

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Because chorizo

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The ceilings of porches

always blue here.

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Summer reading

This was one of the four books students at our school could choose for their summer reading, with projects going on at school all year related to the books. This book is well-written but is horribly depressing, and the content seems very adult to me -- these times when I wonder if I am the one out of touch or if the way the books get chosen isn't as thoughtful as it could be....

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And just a few more weeks

for this to be our usual evening, hanging out together after dinner. Shhhh.

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Content

(As in happy, at peace.)


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He brought me coffee

and himself. Safe, happy, full of stories and joy and wonder and a bag full of very, very dirty laundry. Hurray!

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Dean flies home today

I will spend today looking at the sky, and at the internet that does me the service of telling me when the plane leaves Nicaragua and when it lands in Panama, and then when the next plane flies from Panama to Boston. I will watch the screen, with the little plane icon making steady progress in bringing my boy home after two weeks away.


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Dinner for two

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Won't ever catch them all, but still fun

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Tis the season

Summer = iced coffee mornings. And Mickey. Mickey helps when it's a weekday morning.

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Gardening makes you differently aware

of the weather, and humbly grateful too. And I realize that this, too, is privilege -- to see rain this way and not in terms of survival.

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Hopefully not all that we'll have to show

"Jelly Bean" tomatoes, or at least the few that have started to develop.


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Buckets of water

Our reward for our own little bucket brigade to keep the hydrangeas alive.

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Wishing for rain

Everything is so desperately dry, and we can't keep up with the watering. Plenty of evergreens that are willing to hang in, but anything tender looks defeated.

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The best way

to go about making the grocery list.

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Always in style

 

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The secret

Perhaps its humble appearance would make you question -- but no. This (which can be made with all chocolate and no peanut butter, if necessary) is THE secret to having to quickly make a dessert. I needed to make something to bring to work the next day and this was all the things. Quick. Easy. Beloved by all.  If only I'd discovered this years ago when Dean was still in school and there were all those nights spent having to come up with something quickly for the next day....


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Guarding the crops

The one tomatillo plant is too precious to leave to the chipmunks, squirrels, rabbits, and groundhog to explore.

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Tapas!

In celebration of the Euro Cup final, and of Sunday.

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Glimpse

Ken helps me work in the garden. We're slowly trying to turn a dry, weedy hill into something more delightful.

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Peace

Walking through the garden at the end of the day, end of the week, I'm overwhelmed by what an intense and awful week it has been on so many fronts; incomprehensible, horrific news being reported almost daily taking the lead. My own trials and tribulations, though wearing, don't measure on that scale but contribute to the feeling of having been flattened out by all of it. Reaching for the healing power of peace.


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Little birdie

No trip through the Bird Guide is helping us put a name to this little one -- or at least not a legitimate name. It awaits the rain that we hope is coming, after all the thunder this afternoon.

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Recovering

Letting the afternoon sun, through the shade, lend its healing rays. So. much. better.

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I'd forgotten

It's not just the flowers of morning glories that I love, but those magnificent, voluptuous, heart-shaped flowers that set the stage as well.

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And we can stay all day

 We celebrated our independence, and the last day of our staycation, with a sentimental trip to the zoo. Not sure how many years it's been since we visited -- so many new exhibits and plenty of our favorites. Dean noted that even with the additions, the zoo feels a lot smaller to him now than it did when he was younger....

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Perfect evening

Our bright, sunny, not-too-hot, dry days are suddenly being capped off with gorgeous evenings; rosy skies, no bugs to speak of, last notes of bird song.

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Play time

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A long day

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