Thursday 13: Summer musings

UMMER! It's here, it's finally here! Not just in date, but in warmth and presence and joy. Summer joys, indeed. OK, maybe I'm getting a bit carried away. But seeing sunshine and cherries right out my office window, I can't help but get a little giddy (though it could be the second shot of espresso kicking in...)

To celebrate the giddiness, my musings might be a little random, but with a summer thread. I promise.

1. Seth is proving to be a helpful helper around the house. I typed the word "finally" in that first sentence, but that felt a little unfair. He's 15. Not 35 and living in the basement and thank goodness he FINALLY learned to put the toilet seat down. Not at all. He's just being entrusted with more responsibility this summer, with both his age and need to raise a little $$, and my work schedule. My kitchen? Clean. Laundry? Done, folded and put away. Windows? Washed (and then the power washers for the paint crew kind of undid that task...). Lawn mowed? Indeed. I'm enjoying this, while I have it!

2. I ate a strawberry, basil and brie wrap yesterday for lunch, and had one hand in a bowl of blueberries while doing so. Last night I stopped for my customary snack by the cherry tree. THAT'S how I know it's summer. Fruit abounds, and I love every pound of it--as I eat pounds of fruit, and as pounds seem to stay with me. I will happily have a little summer "fruit weight," as I call it. (More accurately, it should be called fruit-ice cream weight...)

3. Husband and I have been waking far too early lately, with the sunrise. Sometimes between 4-4:30 a.m. How insane is that? I was very tired around 8 p.m. last night, but then got my second wind. I need to obey the call to bed a bit earlier... but those long summer evenings...

4. Still enjoying my breakfast smoothie, and preaching the gospel of kale wherever I go!

5. We have a broken sprinkler pipe from the juniper-ripping-out adventures, and fixing it is proving to be more time-consuming than one (me) would like. Long story, but it involves mud, digging, more mud, and more digging. Riveting, I know.

6. The garden is overflowing. With weeds, yes, but also with our first summer squash and zucchini, with kale by the bagful, potatoes, cabbage and there are even wee green tomatoes. Bonus. There will be garden work this weekend, for sure.

7. My Pinterest time is mostly repinning right now, not a lot of internet-wandering-to-pin time. But here's my favorite pinned image, this week. (I know, you're shocked about both the content AND the color. Ha.)

source

8. A group of girls from high school are gathering this weekend nearby, and I'm going to go spend a day with them. I'm looking forward to catching up; there's something significant about that time we all spent together years ago, that still threads us all together. Funny how that is. Oh, and I'm going to make a bit of food for the group, AND I have a surprise I've been wanting to fiddle with for a bit. If it works, I will definitely be back to report.

9. We have flocks of birds that hang out around our property. I am usually a bird lover--the ones around our feeders, etc.--but these are annoying (noisy) and WAY too plentiful (starlings, I think?). To describe it as a scene from The Birds is not that far off. Our cherries take a hit, and sometimes I stand outside and yell, "CAW," at the top of my lungs and watch them scatter. (Good thing we live on acreage.) Once I yelled and then came inside to find Seth talking with a school friend over Skype, and they were both a little taken aback by my caw-ing. Ha.

10. Going to take Seth to visit my Grandma in Canada next week. I look forward to this trip, always, but this time it will be extra-special as Canadian friends are getting married that weekend too. Bonus. Oh and my mom is going to meet us there. Double-bonus.

11. Been plotting with oldest BFF (I always feel like I should clarify: oldest, as in longest, not OLDest) Corinne to see each other this fall. It's been a couple of years since one or the other of us has made the trek to see each other; this time we'll BOTH be trekking and meet up. Excited but don't want to jinx it by talking about it too much (what is with that blip of superstition? Weird.). I'll keep you posted if/how it comes to fruition, of course!

12. I love our pond and our goldfish very much. Our odd fascination with fish-watching has made both husband and I wonder about expanding our pond feature into two ponds or some sort of connecting pond structure... we'll see if there's energy for that later this summer, after our other projects are more completed... September sounds like a good time for digging another pond, don't you think (says the girl who will call a guy with a backhoe this time, not dive in with a shovel)?

13. Work is going. Most days it is going well. Things always take longer, have more hiccups, challenges, etc., than some people would like and/or anticipate (me), but I am enjoying the interactions, the input, and yes, even the challenges. I am struck, almost every day, by how much I love to learn. What is that? Like a second wind on acquiring new skills and information. Savoring that part of it too.

There you have it, my 13 tidbits, somewhat summer-related. Hope your summer is off to a great start! Any special plans you want to share? I'd love to hear about it!

For more Thursday 13s, go here.