The Days of High Summer

 

It has been a very hot summer here in Virginia. One big, long, stretch of heat with no nighttime dips in temperatures to give us a break. We perform the bare minimum outdoor tasks like harvesting from the garden, mowing the grass, watering flower pots, and minimal weeding. Any other yard related work we say we will do when the weather cools down...in another month or so. The one, happy, outside activity I do enjoy is the aquatics class. It begins at 9:00am in the outdoor pool at the gym and the water is always refreshing. It is a happy place where everyone is in good spirits and the exercise feels good.

Fresh vegetables abound and our meals revolve around the seasonal produce. Local corn is in season and we have been finding ways to enjoy that. We  did enjoy some corn fritters for dinner one night. They aren't the healthiest of foods but they are a treat on occasion. Another absolute favorite summer meal of ours is tomato pie. We have eaten them twice for dinner so far. Our tomato plants are scraggly and ugly this summer but they still produce tomatoes. Steve always adds some of his hot peppers to his side of the pie. : )

It turns out that summers in the south are a good time for indoor projects. I started piecing another quilt. It's an older pattern by Jo Morton called "Cut the Mustard". Getting the points to line up is a challenge for me as I am not an expert quilter. But I am going slow and ripping seams and re-piecing when need be. Four squares down, thirty-one more to go. I cannot seem to get inspired to work on my rug hooking. I know the mood will come back around at some point so I will just have to wait for that.

Other highlights of this month have been Tuesdays with Violet. She is so much fun to play with and the day always goes by quickly. She prefers movement play over quiet play so we hit the softball, target shoot with Nerf guns, swing and climb, play "Bear Hunt", a throw foam balls into the basketball net. All this occurs in the basement because it is too hot outside. She hasn't even wanted to go to the pool this summer, even though I suggest it. I will be sad when school starts and our Tuesdays together come to an end.

We went to one Salem baseball game with Tess and Blake, which ended up being rained out by a thunderstorm. It was still fun anyway. We also went to a trivia night at Big Lick Brewery with them and that was a lot of fun.We have dinners with friends and others with family. We dog sat Bok Choy,  had Claire and her family here for a weekend, gone to a couple of movies at the little Buchanan theater (two movie tickets, two bags of popcorn and a can of beverage cost $17.), played Scrabble, and sat on the porch in the evening a little bit. 

Summer is passing nicely in its simplicity.