~The Parched Earth ~

Yes, here we are in the long
tired
 Dog Days of Summer

The Brown Days as I call them.

The life has been sucked out of the gardens.

The heat is relentless.

Even a breeze does no good, as it's blowing straight out of a convection oven.

Nothing to do, but find a cool spot (even a concrete step will do) and lie down.

A tall  glass of ice tea always helps.

August has nothing to recommend it.
I'm not a fan. 
Perhaps if I had a birthday or  if there was a special day to look forward to ,
 I would feel differently.

Sometimes I feel a little sad for August, but there you have it.
 For me, August is the unloved step child of the calendar year.

The parched earth

has been particularly thirsty this year
everything is dry, dusty .....and tired

The beautiful fields of corn in an earlier post
have shriveled up and all but blown away.

We are in the midst of a severe drought, and the agriculture in our area has suffered much.

Sadly, this will all be noticeable at the grocery store in the near future.

Smaller ponds have not been able to survive.

This pond is one of the most beautiful and picturesque in our area. But as you can see the draught has taken it's toll here.  The water level is usually up to the dock and there is lots of swimming and fishing going on during the summer months.
It's sad to see it like this.

A lovely creek bed, now only a walking trail.

What was fun in May;

the tending of new plants, the watering, the weeding, the nurturing tender young sprouts

has become a tedious chore in August. The plants once full of  lusty youth have become straggling and pale. They have given their all, and even if there's a tiny bit of life left in them, they still just look sad. So I become , what my son has dubbed me over the years:
 Dr. Jack Kavorkian!!!

I start pulling up plants and tossing them out and emptying pots and planters as if getting rid of the evidence will change the facts.



Not much left to my window box at the moment.
And these little guys know their days are numbered as well.  Sorry.

My Crepe Myrtles at the end of the drive-way 
are still trying to bloom their little hearts out,
 especially since they heard about my latest killing spree.

As I am set to publish this post, I can say we have blessedly had a splash of rain and the temps scaled back  just a enough in the last couple of days, to give one hope. 
A welcome reprieve.

As August thankfully begins to fade
 I turn my cool thoughts to September.

For Autumn is my muse.

~Summer Snapshots~

"Deep summer is when laziness finds respectability. " ~Sam Keen

 

                                            Victoria magazine

Here we are knee deep into Summer,

and I thought I would share a few snippets of what Summer looks like

from my point of view

This is the Midwest  and though I don't live on a farm, I do live in a rural area
so summer means;

fields of corn rolling out into the distance for as far as the eye can see.

 with their little gold tassel hats dancing in the sun

which leads us to

roadside stands and Mom and Pop farms selling

the delicious results

The meaning of making hay while the sun shines :)
  Here the dinosaur sized bales are rolled up in preparation
for winter

I live in 'small town America'.  Very small town. And I love that.
 But even with that being said,
one still doesn't expect random horses and or mules in one's front yard.

Apparently they had escaped the confines of their situation and were now on a leisurely stroll through town. Here they stopped for a moment to visit with the horse in the field behind our house to discuss their adventure, and share any latest gossip.  In case you didn't know, horses are very 'gossispy'.

Warm weather always means lot of these:

Yippee !!!

Summer days roll along,

Then before you know it, fireworks stands are springing up overnight.

When Mr. Wonderful asked what this post was about
he said he had a great contribution;
He caught this little tree frog posing for his close up
uh........thank you, Honey??
note to self: no further contributions from Mr. Wonderful

As we settle into the HEAT of Summer
what could be better than lazy afternoons spent at the pool

with a good hat and a good book?

Lizzie agrees that Summer days are meant for swimming,
but she prefers the nearby creek.

 If it's Summer, then that means lots of stops at
'Andy's'
 for the very best frozen custard

Nothing left to see here folks.....move along

Here's the lovely vegetable garden,
that Mr. Wonderful coaxes and cajoles all season long

And then comes the payoff. After the soil has warmed in the June sun
we get to enjoy the bounty from the  Good Earth.

If you could pluck the word 'Summer' out of the dictionary and place it on your tongue
it would taste like
 vine ripened yellow tomatoes and  fresh basil from the garden
drizzled with a good  olive oil and a pinch of salt.
MMMMM.....

Another pure taste of Summer is

cucumbers and  red onions in a lovely vinaigrette

These are the flavors I  happily wait for all year long.
And before you know it, it's the end of July.

I hope you have enjoyed the tour of my little corner of the world....
and enjoy the rest of your summer

~A day in the life on the porch ~

Summer days on the back porch

where the livin' is easy.

No fuss

No muss

Spills?......who cares?

And for me, early morning is always the best part of the day.

Here's the morning sun, just peeking over the trees

I love the phrase " sit a spell."

(I'm quite good at it, actually)

and to me there's

nothing like swinging on the porch swing.

Nowhere to go

No place to be

Just the creaking of the chain as the swing rocks to and fro.

Here you can enjoy the morning,

listen to the birds gossiping

and take in the beauty of the day unfolding

Ah, there's that first slice of light

I collect sheets from yard sales to use on my porch swing. Because I like the look of  their faded charm.

The cushions underneath are outdoor cushions so they're  fine in the elements. And the sheets are so easy to wash and wear.

Look what happens when you sit quietly on the porch swing.....we
caught these little fellas waiting for Mom to come home with some goodies

lush, green Ferns have a cooling effect,

and along with the bubbling fountain

make a summer morning on the porch irresistible.

But of course the animals think the fountain is their 'personal drinking fountain'.

After all it is just the perfect height.

You know Elizabeth Bennett

and this is Rocky.

Our home has served as an animal convalescant home of sorts for many years.

They show up on our doorstep; the ragged,  the road weary..... the orphaned.

They stop for awhile and they eat, they rest, they heal, and then mostly they move on.

So 'Rocky' is the latest in a long string of visitors. He showed up after an obviously
 nasty cat fight

couldn't resist the pun. ha ha   ...(hence the name, Rocky)

And so he will stay for as long as he needs.

Lizzie is a very good friend.

"Are you ok?"

If the swing is not available, don't fret

there are two other rockers to choose from as well.

This wicker rocker we've had forever.

The wooden chair, Mr. Wonderful rescued from a yard sale and worked his magic on it.

 

If you're up to it, we could have a quick game of   tic-tac-toe.

Hmmm.....looks like Mr. Wonderful is about to win.

We love to eat outside. But the late afternoon sun was making it rather uncomfortable.

We hung an outdoor blind, but then I decided I wanted something

'green'

I'm loving our solution. Soon these little 'Boston Ivy' plants will grow up to be big boys

 and  bring cool shade and beauty to the space.

Don't you just love my new flea market find?

wisps of clouds  dotting a perfect summer sky

as the afternoon is upon us.

There is always something beautiful about a horse in a field.
So, lucky me, I get to enjoy
our neighbors' horse, right outside our back door.

Before you know it  the day is done
and the sun is setting in the western sky

yes, life if pretty good here on the back porch.

Come and sit a spell, won't you?