Farewell Summer 2021

 

               It was such a hot, humid, uncomfortable summer and I am happy to see it go! I really just didn’t enjoy most of it this year, I was too busy being cranky because it was not weather I’m comfortable in. It seems pretty silly now, but that’s probably because beautiful cooler fall weather is here.  September was another fairly busy month, we had Hillary’s birthday, (she had 3 small parties!), and in those waning days of the heat our air conditioning broke and couldn’t be repaired so we had to replace it.  This has been our year for expensive things needing repair or replacing!

               Part of the air conditioning unit is in the attic right outside the door to Hillary’s room in the dining room.  It’s a tight space, and not a big surprise that one of the workmen doing the installation slipped and sent part of the dining room ceiling crashing to the floor.  Thankfully nobody was injured and he didn’t fall through, and I had already gotten Hillary up and into the living room to wait until time to leave for her day program.  It did, however, leave a gaping hole with gross looking insulation hanging down which my brother referred to as an “attic cat”.  Ha ha! My brother can really be a smart aleck!  So for a week we had workmen in the house.  They were pleasant, and did a great job, but there’s always a mess to clean after any home improvement.  I think I’ll be finding dust for months to come in spite of wielding broom, vacuum, and mop when everything was done.  The chattiest guy was the contractor the HVAC company hired to repair the hole in the ceiling.  He looked like Shaggy from the Scooby Doo cartoons, and had lots to say about any subject that popped into his head.  I learned that his girlfriend is selling her house and moving to North Carolina, but I’m not clear on whether or not he’s moving there with her, or just helping her sell her house here and find a new one there.  He drives his 91 year old mother to lunch every day, and helped an 82 year old friend pack up and move to a senior living community.  His friend seems to be  feeling sad and isolated so he’s (Shaggy) thinking of starting a game night with friends at the 82 year old’s new apartment to keep him socially active and sharp of mind.  Shaggy’s a nice person, and he did a great job doing the repair, but I was exhausted after he left from all the conversation.  Of course, I’d rather have someone like that working in my house than a cranky, swearing under his breath, in a big hurry to leave person.  I didn’t take his picture, of course, but there is a before and after of the hole below.

               It was also Daughter’s Day, which is probably a holiday made up on social media, but it was an opportunity to share a picture of and say something nice about my girls so I figured, what the heck?  That picture is also below.  I didn’t include any pictures of the birthday parties, and by some standards they weren’t really parties, but in our little corner of the world if you send in cupcakes on someone’s birthday that’s a party.  If you buy a little cake and write “Happy Birthday” on it, add candles, have some gifts for the honoree, that’s a party too even if there’s only 3 of you besides the birthday girl.  Also, if you invite 3 more people on a different day, put out snacks, order pizzas and have an ice cream cake and sing “Happy Birthday”, that’s a party too.  So those were Hillary’s 3 parties to celebrate her.  We all deserve to be celebrated by family and friends, don’t you think?

               So I say farewell to Summer and hello to Autumn!  I love the chilly dry air and brilliant sunshine, and the cool rainy days as well.  I can’t wait for all the colors to come to the trees and see that first heavy frost coating the grass.  It’s so refreshing!

                                                             Attic Cat

                                                        Much better!

                            Fierce, brave, and each special in her own way.

Thunder Storm

 

The poem above is a fanciful way of thinking about a thunder storm.  With our recent events of torrential rain and massive, deadly flooding, I wouldn’t want anyone to think I was making light of that.  It was written during a regular old thunderstorm such as we get during the summer when the hot days are humid as well and result in storms cropping up, not during the remnants of a hurricane.  So imagine a run of the mill thunder storm on a hot hazy summer afternoon, and kids forced inside the house by the weather, and that is the context.

Growing up, it was not unusual for me and my younger brother, sometimes my older brothers as well, to be running around outside in the summer in our bathing suits in the rain, splashing in puddles and having a fun time.  I suspect it may have been my mother’s idea to get herself a few moments of peace from her 4 rambunctious kids on a rainy summer day.  We had so much fun doing that! I don’t know if any of my friends did that, but I suspect not since I’d never seen any other kids outside when we were out there playing in the rain.  (I see those memes often about learning to dance in the rain—I think that’s the way I was raised, I don’t need to learn it now.)  At the first rumble of thunder, however, we ran inside to dry off and have a snack.  I don’t know who told us this, or if one of us thought it up ourselves, but we said the thunder was the angels bowling.  I always envisioned the scene with golden haired angels with flowing white gowns and gossamer wings in a white fluffy cloud filled bowling alley having a great time rolling the balls down the alley toward the pins and strike after strike being scored.  I still like to picture that in my mind, after all, why wouldn’t there be a bowling alley in heaven?  The angels have to do something to pass the time, and a bowling party may as well be one of the things they enjoy.  We used to say the rain was their tears (I added the thought of joyful crying instead of sad crying) and in the winter we said the angels had dandruff when the snow was flying.  It’s pretty silly, but we never lacked for imagination in our house.  My brothers and I invented many games together when we were stuck inside on inclement days, everything from lining up the kitchen chairs and pretending we were on a train to one of us being the animal keeper while the remaining 3 were the animals being fed dry cereal from bowls on the floor (I’m chuckling while remembering this), to going into the basement and playing hide and seek.  The one thing we always managed to do was have fun together.

          We’ve had our share of thunderstorms lately, and I get a little pensive and nostalgic when I have a few minutes to enjoy the event.  I hope you get a chance to take a trip down memory lane when something comes along to jog your memory, whether it’s a thunder storm or a bright sunny day that reminds you of a happy time.

August Wrap Up

               I can’t believe this month is nearly over!  It turned out to be fairly eventful what with one thing and another happening. Hillary started back to her day program in the beginning of the month and she couldn’t be happier about being able to spend time with the staff, even though they are new to her and she to them and her peers for a few hours every day.  Of course, there had to be paperwork to be filled out by her doctor before she could go so I was busy with making the appointment and filling out forms and making phone calls but all was accomplished in less than 2 weeks so I thought that was good, all things considered.  For now I am her transportation which keeps me on somewhat of a schedule so that’s not a bad thing.  The down side is that if my van is out of commission she can’t go which is the case today.  Hopefully it will be repaired and we’ll have it back before Monday.  Fingers crossed!  We took a little road trip to stay with my husband’s family for a reunion weekend.  It turned out nice, but the drive up was not.  First the traffic came to a sudden stop on a highway and we were in the left most lane when I saw an 18 wheeler passing us on the median very close to all the vehicles.  My husband was driving and he said the truck had been about 6 cars back and was going too fast to stop so thank goodness the driver had the sense to use the median to avoid hitting anyone in what would surely have been a tragic accident!  Shortly after that, traffic resumed and we saw that the reason it had stopped was because someone broke down on the right shoulder and a tow truck was there with blinking lights which I suppose caused people to want to look.  I never understand why traffic comes to a screeching halt when something is happening on the shoulder but I guess that’s just the way we humans are—curious!  So a couple miles after that there was suddenly the deafening sound of 20 motorcycles except there were not motorcycles or trucks near us.  It was us!  Something to do with the muffler/exhaust system broke, and we were miles from an exit.  Frantically I googled car repair shops in the area where we were, and after asking at a rest stop and then at an information center at the end of an exit ramp we wound our way through a village or two   (sounding like a jet plane by now) to a muffler repair chain.  There we spent 6 hours, on arguably one of the hottest, most oppressive days of the year in their little waiting/office area with 2 local gentlemen who had their cars in for service, and an assortment of other locals there for inspection, and one for a flat tire.  As our van was up on the lift in a service bay, we had no access to the snacks or drinks we brought for the 4 hour drive we expected, so my husband walked to a little shop maybe ½ mile away and brought back cheese doodles and bottled water.  It was the most delicious bag of doodles and water I ever had!  We were thankful that we had an air-conditioned place to wait and a clean restroom to use. The people were very nice, the girl running the office was very nice and adept at calming people upset about not having any appointments available that day or because their service was taking too long.  The most interesting patron was a gray haired hippie and his companion, a well behaved little dog who he said belonged to his granddaughter originally.  The counter girl gave the dog a bowl of water, and the man made small talk with everyone there while he waited.  We were thankful that we had such pleasant company and not someone talking loudly on a cell phone the whole time.  Once we were back on the road, with the van patched enough to drive, the gps took us not back to the superhighway, but along roads through the countryside which was pleasant.  By the time we stopped for dinner there were thunder clouds overhead and the rain began while we were wolfing down our fish sandwiches in the car.  About an hour later we were safe in the arms of family and they helped bring in our things.  It was still stifling hot and oppressive despite it being 9:00 pm and in the mountains, but the weather broke during the night and it was more bearable the next day, which was the day the cousins were coming for a cookout. It was a sunny and breezy day marked by hugs, laughter and chatter, rides on an ATV to see the property, (the host lives on 74+ acres of forest), my husband played the bagpipes and those who didn’t leave after that stayed for a campfire and some fireworks shot off by members of the family.  It was a fun but exhausting long weekend away.  Sprinkled in among the rest of the days this month there were breakfasts and lunches out with my friends and family, a game day, and various projects I’ve kept busy with.  Yesterday the van decided it was time to have the permanent repair made and suddenly on my way home from a trip to Target I sounded like a jet plane again!  Thus the van is in the shop to be repaired and we are staying home for today.  It’s still oppressively hot and humid, but supposed to be better by the middle of next week, which is when September begins!

               If you looked at my calendar it doesn’t look like it was a busy month, but the calendar doesn’t tell the whole story.  At least it went fast—time flies when you’re busy! 

                                                            clematis

                                                            busy bee!

                                         ready for sunset and campfire!

Campfire!
  

July Days

 

                July flew by, and it was more eventful than I expected and am used to.  Last July not much was going on, no indoor or large gatherings and staying home to avoid catching the virus made for a string of lazy summer days spent blowing bubbles, reading, and keeping in touch via texts except for a few times friends or family stopped over to visit on the patio sharing coffee.  This year was different, the weather has not been as pleasant, and more days were spent inside with the air conditioning than out in the hot humid air.  With my family all being vaccinated we are able to gather inside, and we have.  Our most notable time together was my Christmas in July cookie exchange.

               It was arguably the hottest, muggiest week of the summer leading up to the big day, and it may sound crazy, but I baked 2 kinds of cookies, as did my sister in law and niece together.  It’s challenging getting my dough right in such weather conditions because even though I have the air conditioning, it affected the texture of my dough.  Lemon cookie cutouts became lemon drop cookies because in spite of refrigerating the dough for 24 hours it remained too soft and sticky to work with.  So I still decorated them with red and green sugar and they were just as tasty, unexpectedly puffy and crisper than I expected.  They were delicious with iced tea and had a very light lemony flavor.  My other batch was eggnog walnut oatmeal cookies.  They are a drop cookie but again the dough was very sticky despite refrigerating it for a few hours.  They were crispy and flat, and very tasty with a slight spicy flavor reminiscent of eggnog and delicious with iced coffee.  We also did a Christmas craft making fans with last year’s Christmas cards.  It was simple to do, (my guests dubbed it a Kindergarten craft), but fun and useful if one is too warm.  They can be hung on the Christmas tree as an ornament or be used to embellish a gift.  Then we did Christmas Mad Libs for a while before ordering pizza to munch.  While we ladies were busy tasting all the cookies and drinking iced coffee and iced tea and making our fans, my husband and brother went shopping at a new hardware store they’d been dying to check out.  We saved them some cookies, of course!  All in all it was a really fun day and we ended it by donning our Santa or elf hats for a group photo.  I think this will be my favorite memory of the summer.

               Although we’re not really back to “normal”, (whatever THAT is), we’re doing more than we did last summer with others and it feels good.  I don’t think things, at least for me, will ever be the way they were before everything shut down but it can still be good.  Maybe better in some ways, and different, which isn’t a bad thing.  It just might take some getting used to.

Of course there had to be a Christmas tree and some gifts!

                             The fans we made and the Mad Libs.  So much fun!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here are the two cookie recipes I used, in case now you feel like baking cookies!

 

Lemon Christmas Tree Cookies (5 dozen small)

1/3 cup soft butter           1 cup sugar

1 egg                                   2 cups sifted flour

½ teaspoon soda              ¼ teaspoon salt

1 Tablespoon lemon peel              3 Tablespoons lemon juice

Cream butter thoroughly.  Add sugar gradually, beating until fluffy.  Beat in egg, then add lemon peel. Sift together flour, soda, and salt. Add to creamed mixture alternately with lemon juice, mixing until smooth.  Divide dough in half and wrap in waxed paper. On lightly floured surface, roll out ½ of dough at a time to 1/8 inch thickness.  With floured cookie cutter, cut into desired shapes (I usually use a tiny Christmas tree cutter) and decorate with colored sugar, if desired. Place on lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake at 375* F for 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from pan and cool on wire rack.

**When I made them drop cookies they were bigger and took a couple minutes longer to bake.  I got only about 2 ½ dozen.**

``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````

Egg Nog Oatmeal Walnut Drop Cookies

1 cup all purpose flour          ½ teaspoon baking powder      ½ teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon           ½ teaspoon nutmeg                   ¼ cup shortening

¼ cup softened butter          ½ cup granulated sugar             1/3 cup packed brown sugar

1 egg                                        2 Tablespoons milk                    ½ teaspoon vanilla

1 cup quick cooking rolled oats                   ¼ cup chopped walnuts

Stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda, ¼ teaspoon salt and spices.  In mixer bowl beat shortening and butter for 30 seconds; add sugars and beat till fluffy.  Add egg, milk, and vanilla; beat well.  Add dry ingredients to beaten mixture, beating till well combined.  Stir in oats and walnuts.  Chill dough 2 hours; form 1 inch balls.  Dip tops of balls in additional granulated sugar or cinnamon sugar, if desired.  Place on an ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake in a  375*F oven for 10-12 minutes. Makes 36

Purple and White Clover

 

            One recent day I was out walking Hillary up and down the driveway, just to do something besides sit in the house, as our van was in for repairs so we couldn’t go anywhere.  It was a hot day, this being July, and I noticed that we have a lot of white clover growing wild all over the yard.  It reminded me of those slower paced days when my first daughter was nearly a year old and our summer days were spent with the little kiddie pool in the grass where she played and discovered the world, as toddlers do.  I remember watching the honeybees in the bright sun flying from clover to clover, collecting pollen while small white and yellow butterflies floated from flower to flower drinking the nectar they contained.  It’s a lovely memory of easier, happy days when my whole world was right there in my view, no matter what else may have been happening in the world at large. That was a serene time of life.

               When I was a kid our yard had white clover growing in it, too, and I remember making little chains from it, braiding the stems together to make bracelets and garlands to wear like a crown.  My mother said that you can eat clover, but it’s better to have the larger purple kind as it’s easier to pull the petals off and taste the sweet nectar inside them.  She was right!  They used to grow along a dirt road by our house that we always referred to (and still do) as the new road.  That road connected our street with the next one up a hill and was blocked off by phone poles lying across both ends as it wasn’t open for vehicles until the town paved it many years later.  On the sides of that road grew not just the purple clover, but Queen Anne’s lace, black eyed Susan, daisies and corn flower along with other weeds I can’t name.  We’d walk along that short stretch of road with the sun hot on our backs; gravel crunching under our feet whenever we walked to the grocery store or the post office.  Picking the Queen Anne’s lace on our way home and then putting them in little glasses with colored water was one of the best things to do, and exciting to check on them periodically all afternoon while the white flowers lined up on the kitchen windowsill changed to the color in the glass. I’m glad I had a mother who taught me about flowers and growing things.  Our yard had flower beds and a small vegetable patch where we grew radishes, carrots, scallions and leaf lettuce. It’s a nice feeling to grow some of your own food, we spent time together weeding and caring for the flowers and vegetables.  One year we planted marigold seeds in a sunny spot and that year we had monarch butterflies by the dozens, drawn there by the heady yellow blooms.

               It’s amazing how just noticing what is right in front of me can evoke so many pleasant memories.  It’s a little like time travel going back in my mind to things I have forgotten about.  I think it makes for a little bit of serenity in what is a stressful time for all.

The months of this year just seem to be flying by.  Each month brings a new beginning.

         I have no trellis for the clematis, it's just growing among the pachysandra.  Things got a little out of control this year!