Remember that Bunting?

The bunting I showed you over and over again, in various stages of completion? It took hours for myself and several helpers to cut and sew and iron and attach until it was all done. Then it took hours and lots …

Dog Days of Summer

Today is supposed to be hot and stormy, so I took Skelly out for a run before lunch, before the heat of the afternoon. It’s important to correctly time his runs, especially in the summer. Greyhounds aren’t very good at keeping themselves cool, so if they get too hot it can be quite serious. They’re also prone to bloat, which means you must limit the amount of food and water intake they have before and after running. This is difficult for a hot, panting, post-run Skelly to understand. He just wants to chug water, but I can’t let him.

He starts with a sniff round the garden…

and then he runs…

and runs…

and runs. These pictures are really terrible, but it gives you a pretty good impression of what he actually looks like when he’s zipping around the yard. It’s impossible to take a non-blurry, non-missing leg, non-weird face picture of Skelly when he’s doing his thing. We’ll say that this next one is artistic.

And then he cools down in the new kiddie pool, which he’s is still trying to figure out. He thinks it’s a giant water bowl, but he eventually got all 4 paws in the pool and I splashed some cool water on him.

Then it’s back inside, to cool off in front of the fan.

Look at that smile!

He has a rough life, doesn’t he?

 

Slow and Steady

I don’t have much to write, but there have been some complaints about the infrequent posts (father!), so I’ll do my best. Life is moving at a wonderful place. I feel so happy plodding along, through the heat of the summer. And I do mean heat. It’s been humid and hot and sticky and rainy here, but I won’t complain because I’m sure the farmers love it. My tomatoes sure do! And yes, that is a deck gnome.

My peas have not fared so well. I think it’s much too hot for them, and the buckets of rain that have been dumped on us over the last week have washed the nutrients right out of the soil. Deck gardening is tough. I fear these two little guys are the only peas I’ll have this year, as 2 out of my 3 pea plants have already gone yellow and croaked. They were delicious.

The lettuce lives on, and frequently finds itself in my lunch pail in the form of a crisp and tasty salad. I spotted some free packets of lettuce seeds on the curb in my neighborhood yesterday, so I’m already set for this fall and next spring.

I had some glorious and long awaited girl time last week end when my best friend came to stay. Some good old nail painting, strawberry picking, wedding planning, Say Yes to The Dress watching girl time. Ad is still tramping around Idaho taking measurements and gathering rock samples, and my best friend’s other half very lovingly stayed at home so that we could do some serious female bonding. It was my first time picking strawberries, and clearly I was quite pleased with myself. The matching nail polish was no coincidence.

I now have a freezer full of strawberry jam, and mashed up strawberries for shortcake. Strawberry shortcake is a personal favorite of mine, and I have yummy memories of having strawberry shortcake for supper at my Grandma’s house. The fact that we eat strawberry shortcake and apple dumplings as a meal instead of dessert probably explains my massive sweet tooth. I called grandma to get the strawberry shortcake recipe, assuming that it was something old and handed down and tricky. I had a little giggle when she told me it’s just the shortcake recipe from the back of the Bisquick box and mashed up strawberries. Right on Grandma! Easy is always better.

And now for the obligatory wedding talk. I’ll give you a sneak preview of some bits I’ve been thrifting for the big day.

Work has been busy, but I love my job (mostly). Ad has been away, but I’m spending time with other wonderful people. Life is moving slowly, and I’m just fine with that. Summers are meant to be slow.