Goodbye July

 The sun has set on this last day of July. I'm usually pretty excited about Autumn and yes I'm still a fan of that season. However, this summer has flown by and having each day to myself to do outside work or inside projects I've found that I'm enjoying summer more than I have before.  Our weather has been  wet and sometimes really warm and humid.  But we've also had nice weeks like this weekend.  Day temps in the 70's and night temps in the 50's.  That's open window time to blow the stink out as my Grandpa used to say!  July had some fun times with our visit to my sister's and celebrating July4th.  The gardens are growing and producing and soon red, ripe, juicy tomatoes will be on the menu! We've hit our Farmer's market each Saturday and scored some good produce there.  It's nice we can support the local farmers and crafts people.  Plus we've run into many of my co-workers and friends.  August will arrive tomorrow and I have a few things coming up on my to do list.  I've been working on our bedroom and getting rid of clothes, linens, towels and other things that just needed to be given away.  This past week Jack and I moved all the furniture to clean and dust and vacuum.  I washed walls and hung curtains and a new bedspread. (since I took about 5 old ones to Goodwill I felt OK about getting a new one! Ha!) I'm going to paint the master bath this week.  The master bedroom and bath are what realtors would call: Cozy.  (i.e. Small)

We took the headboard off and I'm looking for a new one.  The old one was a bit big for the room. We inherited it from Jack's parents.  His Dad had it made special for his Mom by the Amish. It is hand carved out of cherry wood and lovely but it was time for a change.  Not sure what we'll do with it now but hopefully we'll find it a good home. I took this shot after it was removed but maybe I'll get a pic of it and show it one day.  This week we were going to host my sister and then her daughter's family after they got back from Cedar Point.  The problem came with getting my sister set up with dialysis here in Ashland.  Apparently they are booked solid this week and couldn't get her in. So her kids are still going to Cedar Point but not coming here.  Midge will stay home and get things ready for her surgery coming up on the 12th.  I'll be going out there and helping where I can until she gets home and on her feet. As you can see the month of August will also fly by!  So bye bye July.  It was a pleasure to do business with you! (We had an Doc who always would say to us at the end of the day: "It's been business doing pleasure with you!" Insert head shake here!)  Take Care!

Time keeps On Slipping...

Time is slipping into the future as this month and Summer keep slipping by.  I've been busy with physical therapy for my hand and working on little projects around the yard and house. Somehow I keep busy trying to get as much done as I can.  It's frustrating when the energy level is still not where I would like it.  Oh well, enough whining for today! The weather this past week was dry and gave the area time to recover from all the rain and flooding. Plus is was so nice and cool and even into the 50's at night so windows could be open and fresh air flowing in!  However, the fires out west had some impact on our skies.  I saw this weird and amazing sunset and didn't realize until the next day that the haziness and blood red sun were from those fires so many miles away.  I grabbed my camera and snapped pics of the sun.  It wouldn't show the blood red I was seeing with my naked eye but still made for some interesting shots.

 I kept on snapping pics as the sun went down.

The closer it got to the horizon and into the trees the red finally bloomed.  I thought it was pretty cool. But I sure wish we could have sent all the rain we had out to those areas in California and Oregon and any other areas that needed it.  This past week my BFF, Donna, celebrated another birthday and I stopped over to give her one of her favorite things I make...

Baklava!  We don't get into big, fancy gifts and such but I love being able to make her smile with some things made from the heart.  Happy birthday Donna!  Finally I again looked to the skies the other evening and saw this little dot...

Can you see it?  A UFO??  Oh, no!  Let's zoom in shall we.

Yes, a hot air balloon. We're  used to seeing these fly over during balloon fest here in Ashland in June but we never saw any our way this year.  

A little blurry shot but it was fun to watch it as it glided on it's way.  This week marks the last one of July and as August slips in there will be final vacation trips for some and school readiness for others. It also represents a full year that I've been retired.  I can't say it's been a wonderful time thanks to Covid last Fall and then other events that came our way but I have enjoyed the time to slow down and appreciate the gardens and reading a ton of books and even getting a few little projects completed.  I'll hope for a better second year but I'm knocking on wood here! Have a good week everyone!

YAWN!

 Jack made a comment last night about the fact I hadn't blogged lately.  I was thinking the same thing yesterday as I realized July is half over and I've only posted once.  I guess I was thinking that not much has been blog worthy.  We've been working on the yard and I do have a list of projects I want to accomplish but I've been lacking in enthusiasm to get it all done!  I can't keep blaming everything on recouping from surgery!  I've been going to PT for my hand and tapping on the computer keys is a good way to keep them moving.  So I guess I'll just show some pics and say a big YAWN!!!  Tomorrow we have a BBQ  and maybe the Farmer's market depending on the weather.  So I hope some more pics and stories are to come.  We've had our fair share of rain and I wish I could ship some of it out West to help put out the fires and cool the temps.  With 2 of my boys now living out there...Oregon and California...it's a worry for sure!  

You can see that the front yard is nice and green from all the rain.  The bushes on the left of the house are going to be coming out.  Maybe not until next Spring when we can replant some smaller ones.  These were here when we bought the house but have grown way too big.  We already had one big plant removed earlier this season.

Can you see our newest addition?  We had the crabapple tree taken out (it was not in good shape!) and replaced it with a flowering pear.  Across the lawn is our other new tree that replaced the Ash tree that died like so many have in Ohio.  This one is an American Elm. I don't know if we'll be here to see it nice and big but it will eventually be a wonderful shade tree.

You might have to look close to see this but with all the rain a rainbow was a sweet sight.  

A friend of mine gave me this wind chime after Mom passed away. It hangs from the trellis and over my garden angel.  It has a nice saying on it about memories.  I do think of Mom each time I hear it's melody when the wind blows.  I also think of my nice friend, Carla, who was so thoughtful to gift it to me. 

I have a lot of orange daylilies but I treasure these pretty ones that brighten up a garden area on the side of the house.  I didn't notice the little critter on the yellow one enjoying dinner when I snapped the pic!

The grass isn't the only thing that's nice and green.  I think our poor rock needs a good cleaning!

 Well, the gardens are blooming and producing.  Soon tomatoes will be ready for eating and canning and although it's been a crazy year since I retired I am enjoying having the Summer time to keep up on things outdoors and enjoy the season.  I do hope that next year we will do some traveling.  Covid is still a problem here and there and frankly I don't feel quite up to a big trip.  But every day is better and I will just enjoy this time of rest. 

Usually my sunset pics are orange and reds but I thought this setting sun was just as pretty in it's muted colors.  Have a good weekend!

Let Freedom Ring!

 Happy July 4th on the 5th!  I hope everyone had a safe and fun weekend.  We went to Chicago as planned and spent the time with my sister and my niece's and nephew's families.  My sister lives in the house we grew up in. Mom and Dad built it in 1951 so it's 70 years old this year and still hosts family and friends and good times.  We sure miss my sweet Mom this year.  Last year there was no celebrating because of Covid and the year before Mom was the Queen of the parade.  Enjoy every moment because you never know what the future holds. We had a wonderful time and the weather was good.  Hot of course, but that's the nature of Summer, right?  Of course I have lots of pics so here goes!

We always had parades in our little suburb when I was growing up.  They were simple affairs..just kiddos who decorated their bikes or themselves and walked the block and then enjoyed homemade cookies and kool-aide at the end.  Not the huge parade they had yesterday.

I've posted this pic before.  It's my sister and me in 1959 dressed for the parade in our hoola outfits. It's the year Hawaii became a state. We joked about reenacting this but it might have shut down the parade! Ha! I do love my sister's not so happy face though! 

My high school's marching band. It's my 50th class reunion this year. Doesn't seem possible!

The parade went right past the house so we grabbed comfy chairs from the deck and enjoyed! Here's Midge with her pup, Hope, and of course my cutie hubby, Jack!  Hope wasn't bothered by the parade noise or the fireworks later that night. She's a really good dog!

These kiddos are representing the "blooms" of Oakbrook Terrace.  I guess that makes my siblings and myself the original blooms! Time does go by so fast.  I think we've lost a bit of our "bloom"!

My dear niece, Katie, the wonderful police officer in the family, driving her patrol car and their mascot. I don't know the mascot's official name but the person in the dog suit is Katie's daughter, Brooke! (My sister's Granddaughter and my Great Niece!

Besides the marching band there were the Bagpipes and those poor guys marched in the 90de heat for the 3 mile route! Some had to drop out because of the heat and 2 of the high school kiddos dropped out and we made them sit on our lawn while we got them water and cooled off.  Thankfully everyone was good after a bit! 

Hope sat calmly and enjoyed the parade and wasn't bothered at all by the noise. She also didn't mind the fireworks that night.  She's really a good pup!

The parade was a big hit and my niece, Amy, was the person in charge.  She did a fantastic job of putting it all together.  Last night my sister, Jack and I sat in her driveway and could see the fireworks coming from the park.  I had many memories of past July 4ths spent in that neighborhood and our home.  They are good ones that we enjoyed with Mom and Dad and my siblings and my good friends from the "hood"!  Many of them whipped through my brain like the soft breezes of this weekend.  I know my folks would be so happy to see our house still stands strong and welcoming.  It's evolved over the years and sits so beautifully as the "white house on the corner".  I'm so glad we took the time to go out there.  I hope everyone had a safe and fun time celebrating our freedoms to gather, have fun, and show love to our fabulous country...God Bless America!