Beautiful Summer Day

 The summers in Washington are worth waiting for.  There are people who get hot and uncomfortable, but not me.  It's just perfect.  Gray and Katherine just really don't like the summers and are always complaining about being so hot.  They haven't had to spend an August day (or childhood summer) in the South.  I guess we got used to it, but I still remember how unbearable it would get in the middle of the day.  We almost never went inside on summer days unless it was storming, and then we would usually play on the porch.  We had some window fans, but air conditioning didn't become a thing for regular people until I was a teenager. 

I get to sleep with the windows open now, and there's a nice chill every morning when I wake up.  I need long sleeves until about 10:00 and a quilt if I decide to sit on the porch.  If I want a little warmth, I have only to go behind my apartment to the garage where there is no shade.  My one tomato plant really needs watering twice a day in its pot, but it has been healthy and has a good many green tomatoes on it.  

This is a permanent pot that was here when I moved here.  I'm not sure what it had in it, but I used that for a couple of years and then decided I needed red geraniums, and they love this hot area.  I'm not sure what the ground cover is called surrounding it, but it looks like strawberries.  It's just a pretty and effortless spot to enjoy when I'm coming and going in the car.  There are some little peppers there that I never got into a bigger pot.  I think they're really hot, but I haven't tried them.

I tried to buy plants this year with shade only in mind, and the white flowers seem to be doing well.  The pretty coleus I bought early just didn't make it, so this pot is enjoying just greenery now.  It's one of my favorites.

I think this is New Guinea impatiens, and they are blooming nicely.  You just don't want to forget to water them.  Even thought it's not hot, it is dry.  I'm enjoying the sweet potato vine with it.

These next couple of pictures aren't pretty, but they show how well these almost thrown away bits of Christmas/Easter cactus have done outside.  They've both put out some delicate growth.  We'll see if they make it inside.  The rosemary is just waiting to be planted.  We're not supposed to put anything in the flower beds ourselves but leave it up to the landscapers.  I can understand that, but it's so tempting.

Katherine and I picked out these "galaxy" petunias the first time we went to Mount Si Nursery.  I put a few white ones in to see if they would perk up.  

The strawberry vanilla hydrangea looks a little sickly.  I guess they know what they're talking about with the "full sun" instructions.  Maybe I'll get some help and drag it around to the back area.  Emily's is not doing that well in the sun, so maybe it's not just me.

Nothing planted in the flower bed, but I didn't plant this hosta.  It just keeps coming back every year.  That's what I was planning to plant if I had been given permission!  Noreen and I sat there one evening and noticed a hummingbird spending a lot of time on the blooms, so I went and found my feeder and put it up.  We've seen it drinking once, but I hear them a lot in the trees outside the living room window chirping or whatever they do.  

I'm not even sure what's in these pots.  Herbs - parsley, mint, stevia, and basil in one and bacopa and a little fir tree in the other.

I just had to have this hens and chickens at the nursery, but the planting didn't work out well.  I need some more succulents.  Katherine saw it and did a double take.  She said, "Did you mean to plant it in that pot?"  I think it will spread too.

More white petunias and some lantern flowers.  I just love to see their little closed-up packets and watch them unfold.

Those petunias went a long way and are living in most of my pots.  More bacopa, red this time.

This is what the landscapers planted in my front bed instead of the beautiful hostas I wanted.  I think it's heather.

View of Noreen's porch from mine.  She has that beautiful begonia that's been putting on a show all spring and summer.  I was going to put a bird feeder there outside our bedroom windows, but I've been reading about some diseases among a lot of the birds, so I'm holding off.  I guess a birdbath would be okay.  The cats could watch from the window sills.  

My porch is my favorite spot right now, and I just wish the time for enjoying it could last longer.  I do not like cold, so I just have another couple of months, if that, to enjoy it.  It's 76 and bright but not really sunny.  We don't usually get rain in the summers, but we did have two days of nice soft rain this week.  

I'm waiting for the girls to call and let me know what they want to do today.  Gray has had soccer camp every morning this week, so I'm almost sure she wants to stay home.  After lunch, I'll probably pick them up and go somewhere with them - a park or the grocery store or the Dollar Tree.  We never remember to go in there, and it's always fun.  They have a lot of crafty things and snacks, so there's always something exciting to find.  We'll find Carly and go get a frozen yogurt from Swirl if they want to.  

I just found out they're out "gallivanting" with Ryan.  No way I can compete with that!

I forgot to come back and remember what I did with the rest of the day.  

A New Month

 It's always nice to start new things on the first day of the month, although I know this might be the last August post.  It's good to finally get to know myself and my limitations.  

Instead of feeling guilty about leaving out hunks of time this summer, I'll just remember that these girls have journals and several pictures a day plus a nighttime journal with their mom, so they're not in any danger of losing the flow of their childhood.  It's so different from the time when I was 9 or 11.  We had just a few black-and-white pictures a month, if that, but we do have some pretty good memories.  There were hardly any distractions to keep our minds occupied, just play in our yard or with the neighborhood kids and church on Sunday.  Sometimes a birthday party or cousin visits. Now everything they do is recorded with bunches of pictures and chats and Facebook posts.  What will they do with all that looking back?  Maybe nothing.  

This is not a good day for writing anything about my day since the first thing I did was miss my haircut appointment.  I got a callback last week to make the appointment, but I was in a greenhouse looking at plants and had noting to write with.  I got the date right, but unfortunately I was an hour off on the time.  I tried to call and confirm yesterday afternoon, but no one answered, and their online page said Closed.  Open at 10:00 tomorrow.  I knew it was either 9:00 or 10:00 but was unsure.  I felt like that answered my question, so I didn't bother going in an hour early.  I should have.  I was their 9:00 appointment, so I had to reschedule for next Thursday.  This time I have a card.  

I did absolutely nothing noteworthy today except a few household things.  I watered my plants, back and front, and they're looking good.  We had two days of light rain and cooler weather, so it's been very nice.

Yesterday was a little more interesting.  Ryan was out of town, and Graysen was at soccer camp, so Kate came over here to hang out with me until Carly got home from swimming.  We then went to the library.  All three girls have more books than they're going to read, but they still want to go in and look at the ones on the shelf and come home with a few more.  It was nice to sit on the little couch in the children's section and work on my crossword puzzle.  

Carly and Kate playing with the water fountain like they've just discovered them.  They bring out the silliness in one another, but they are well-behaved usually, especially in the library.

We went to the Win-Bin house so the girls could play in Kate's room instead of in my limited apartment.  The people were there working on the bathroom, and the girls went straight upstairs.  I got a warm welcome from Gus, and he made sure I didn't get up unless I just had to.  

Tuesday was my 6-month checkup at the dentist, and I was dreading to go this time since I knew something had happened to my bottom left molars.  I noticed it two days after my last cleaning in January and should have gone back to have it checked.  But I didn't, and I'm not surprised I didn't.  I usually avoid any chance of bad news, and I figured this had something to do with a wisdom tooth that was found to be attached to my jawbone 10 or so years ago.  Sure enough, I got recommended to an oral surgeon, and here's another thing for me to worry about.  Because I have osteoporosis and have taken bone-repair-type medications, there is a chance for trouble.  I'm going to just try to put it in the back of my mind until I go in for my consultation on the 26th and see what the surgeon says.

During the spring, I got cataracts removed in both eyes, and it was as pleasant an experience as I could hope for.  I'm glad it's over, and once I get new glasses, I hope I'm seeing better overall but especially driving at night.  

Some pictures from a spontaneous trip to Mount Si Nursery last week.  Emily, the girls, and I enjoyed a nice afternoon looking at and buying some plants to fill in some empty spots.  

It seemed overcast, but the clouds quickly went away, and it was a beautiful day.

We noticed the elk were out, so we parked and got out for a little closer look.  The elk pretty much ignored us.

Plastic bread ties?

I'm falling asleep.  I'll come back and correct mistakes and add a few more things.