10 Random Things I Love About Summer

I Love...

- my veranda - it looks so funny to see this photo, taken in June, with the vines and plants barely covering the ground. It is a RIOT of color all summer long, you can hardly see the house by August as the vines have totally taken over. The perfect place for cats to nap, me to read and as of the other night's incident, bats to hide out in the hanging basket. Yikes!! What a shock, when the cat lept from the plant stand into the hanging plant and grabbed a full grown bat in its mouth, came crashing down and ran away with the squealing bat. I am going to check out the plant much more closely from now on when I go to water it!!!

- to see the girls riding down the road in the evening. At least twice a week, Megan and Marcie come out to the farm after supper to go for an evening ride. I love to hear the sound of the horses shoes on the hard packed road, and see their swishing tails as they try to keep away the mosquitoes.

- to hear the whine of the silage machines working in the fields to the east of us. From our vantage point on the hill, we can see about 30 miles or more to the east. Beautiful fields of grain and the high pitched whine of the choppers make me so happy to live in the countryside!

- the smell of the gardens. At night, the air is thick with the fragrance of blossoms that have baked in the sun during the day and are now cooling off and taking a break from the heat. Everything has grown so well this summer with all the rain. The weeds are giving me a real run for my money, though. Thank God for Wendy, my gardener, who comes out about once a week to help me from disappearing into a jungle!

- to go for an evening walk. With the ridiculous haying season this year, we are still baling and cutting in the evenings, as long as the dew permits. After Mike goes back to the field and I clean up the supper dishes (oh, what the hell, I might as well admit that we have been eating off of paper plates since the family reunion ) I walk down to the hay field to ride around for the last few rows. The smell of ripening hay is one of my favorite smells, even though it makes me sneeze. I have been trying to get in an extra 500 steps every day and so even just that walk helps out the total for the week.

- baby beet greens and Swiss chard - Mike and I could eat them every night for supper. However, I hate washing them, so we plant the rows, weed the rows and then plow the majority of them under in the fall, after they are all tough and stringy. But, the few meals that we do enjoy - we really ENJOY!!!

- the sunflowers in my yard are one of the highlights of the summer for me. How can you be in a funk if there are sunflowers around!! I planted all different colors and varieties, in the back of every flower bed in the yard. Then I painted the front and side door of my house yellow. It caused quite a stir in the neighborhood, as no one "got" the yellow doors. "It will all make sense when the sunflowers are blooming" I told them. Trouble was, I forgot to tell Wendy (my gardener) that I had planted them and she weeded them all out when they came up. The only ones that are left are the four rows of sunflowers in the garden that I planted in rows to cut for vases in the summer. Next year, everyone will understand about the yellow doors, as Wendy and I will be on the same page!!!

- Payne Lake tops my list of summer favorites. We are going there on Monday for a few days of camping - just Mike and me and my scrapbooking supplies. Loons on the lake, calling to each other in the dusk is the most hauntingly eerie sound. I just love it!!! I am counting the minutes until Monday morning. If that damn hay is not baled - I really don't care, I am going to the lake. With or without my husband, that trailer is leaving!

- flip flops and sandals - every color of the rainbow. I have so many that I have to store them in suitcases after the summer season. If I had a buck for every time that Mike stares at my feet and says that he could not have something stuck between his toes, I'd be rich!

- my cool basement office. This year, I have not hid out there as often as I usually do. My 13 x 19 printer and computer are down there and when it gets too hot outside to weed or water, I retreat to the cool of the basement and print photos, play with Photo shop, or do some journaling for my pages. The tile floor in my office keeps it at the perfect temperature and I can waste a whole day down there (while my family is slaving away on some scorching hot roof). I don't feel guilty in the least...I am technically working, aren't I?