Favorite Memories of Summer 2014

Today - the traditional ‘last day of summer’ - I am savoring the memories of the past 3 months. It has been cooler than usual in my area (Maryland, near Baltimore) so the outdoor activities have been especially pleasant. Here are my top 5 memories from this summer:

The Deck Garden. The plants on the deck are a daily draw to go outdoors. There is always something changing - new flowers blooming, a tiny tomato forming, sweet potato vines spilling over the edge of the pot then the deck…and blooming, and all the associated insects and birds enjoying the plants (sometimes causing some damage) and the water in the birdbath and the pot saucers. I may change some of the plants next year - but using every available pot for something is definitely something to continue from now on.

Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens. The place made my list because it was a new experience. I still enjoyed places I have been many times this summer (Brookside Gardens and the National Arboretum and the Howard County Conservancy Mt. Pleasant Farm) but the lotuses at the aquatic garden with the dragonflies that abounded were a high point of the garden visits this season.

Josey Ranch Lake. What a pleasant surprise it was to walk around the small lake near the library in Carrollton TX! It hosts such a variety of resident birds (although I did wish the nutria were not there).  It became the high point of ‘sights’ for the two weeks I spent in Texas this summer.

CSA Veggies. This was my first participation in a Community Supported Agriculture farm and I’ve enjoyed the enhanced flavor of fresh-from-the-field vegetables. I will do it again next summer!

Classes. I become more aware all the time of just how much I enjoy being a student. Whether the classes are online (Coursera and Creative Live) or ‘live’ at the Howard County Conservancy…classes have the effect of broadening my horizons and tweaking what I do. It may not be healthy to grow larger physically but growing mentally is always a good thing.

Happy end-of-summer 2014!

Complaining Robin

There is a robin that flies to the sycamore beside my deck and complains with the same style vocalizations every time I walk out onto the deck. I think its nest is underneath the deck. Why is it so alarmed? On the positive side - it is easy to get pictures of the bird while it vocally defends its turf!

Now that I’ve viewed the pictures on my larger monitor - it is easy to see that it is a female. She is quite insistent about keeping me away from her nest. I supposed she feels like there is an earthquake when I walk on the deck since her nest is on one of the support beams. But why is it that the nest is so important in August? Surely it is past the time for a new clutch of eggs and young.

And the bird seems to recognize me. It makes eye contact. If I stay out long enough it flies to the maple and continues to stare even if the vocalization stops after a few minutes.  And then I go back inside and the robin - apparently - has what it wants.

Tomatoes

The first tomatoes of the summer were from my deck garden. I enjoyed watching them ripen. The heirlooms were a new treat. I already knew that eating a tomato ripened on the vine and eaten within hours of being picked was something to savor. So I watched both the two pots - heirloom and patio with anticipation as the tiny green fruits formed and then grew until they ripened. They ripened so that I spread the eating of that first little crop over a week.

Now I am making progress on the load of tomatoes that came from the CSA during the 2 weeks I was away. I may have to freeze tomato sauce before I pick up the next share!

But I am enjoying the bounty of tomatoes two times a day and hope that I’ll be able to finish off most of them by Wednesday morning. The heirlooms go first…then the cherry tomatoes because they are so easy to cut in half and include in salads.  I’ll make homemade tomato soup tomorrow - that always uses a lot of tomatoes.

There are more tomatoes on my deck plants (a second crop) and I’m sure there will be more coming from the CSA. Tomatoes are summer food to celebrate!

Lazy in the Summer

The heat of summer brings out a particular kind of laziness in me.

Early in my life there were times when air conditioning was not available and the overarching strategy during the hottest part of the day was lassitude:

• Taking a nap (either outdoors in the breeziest place to be found or in front of a fan)
• Getting wet and then continuing some low energy activity
• Eating cold foods like popsicles or watermelon

Air conditioning changes things somewhat - mainly to plan the day to stay in air conditioned places during the hottest part of the day rather than being outside for anything. Gardening, shopping, walking…all those activities get relegated to as early in the morning as possible. That was the plan of the day yesterday. The walk was at 8:20 AM and the temperature was already in the 80s. The cool shower when I returned (reverting to the old strategy of ‘getting wet’) felt good; the rest of the day was spent indoors. I suppose I wasn’t exactly lazy - I caught up on Coursera videos, hemmed some pants, read a book, and started a drapery making project.

All those things are motivated by not being outside in the hottest part of the day. I’m not quite lazy…but not out and about either.

Clothes for Hot Days

The summer temperatures have arrived and I’ve done some slight rearranging of my closet. Most of the jeans and slacks are put away until fall as are all the long sleeved tops. The favorite items in my closet right now are skirts/tops and dresses. I am enjoying the T-shirt dresses I made last summer.

The skirts work even better for me because I can wear them for several days with different tops. And I’ve been very successful finding skirts I like at thrift stores! I like print skirts in filmy fabrics that are just below the knee or almost ankle length. It’s a plus for them to be washable too.

Sure - I still have shorts and capris. But I’m not wearing them as much as I used to since rediscovering that dresses are cooler. I do have a pair of skinny capris that end just below the knee that I wear in celebration of the weight I finally lost last year (they used to be tight….and now they are not…maybe they are even a little loose!).

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