July seems like a hard month. 
I've been thinking about Mark a lot - missing him very much. And trying to sit in those feelings to acknowledge them, then get up and move forward. And it seems really hard to do. So most of the time I feel like I am swimming in mud with my boots on.
In the interest of finding moments of peace to begin my day, I've started sitting out in the backyard each morning for about half an hour. I sip my coffee and listen to birds before the day heats up. Its quite pleasant. While I'm sitting there, I notice things that need to be done, but I only make mental notes. I give myself permission to just sit with my thoughts.
I've been having to water the fig tree as it looks like its making figs and we haven't had any rain lately. The sprinkler system gave up the ghost and I'm not spending any more money on that. So twice a week I stand out here and water all of the things in my small yard.
This poor fig has been frozen solid twice and endured a years long drought. But she keeps bouncing back. And so can I. I'm pretty sure the birds will get to the figs first...
Once the day gets going, its pretty hot out here, but sometimes I sit in the middle of the day and enjoy the breezes on the patio. The older I get, the more the heat seems harder to handle, but I'm trying to stay acclimated to it. I never did hang those tiny white lights - by nighttime I am over being out here. Maybe in the fall.
Something (powdery mildew? fungus?) is infecting my crepe myrtle, and I think the homemade spray is not going to cut it. Time to bring out the big guns. I bought a copper fungicide spray and doused it pretty good.
I'm going to treat it pretty aggressively since this tree is smack dab in the middle of the front landscaping. Meanwhile, I'm also out here every other day watering the shrubs to keep them alive. Summer in Texas = brutal.
I'm not a huge lover of watermelon, except in the summer. A bowl of it with a sprinkle of Tajin seasoning is a fun treat. HEB also has these Dream melons called "Sugar Rush" that are about the sweetest cantaloupe I have ever eaten. Almost better than ice cream! This was our July 4th dessert.
I moved my summer basket of sunscreen and bug spray to just inside of the backdoor to encourage me to spritz a bit of protection before doing yardwork or getting sun. That didn't keep me from getting pink shoulders one day this week when I forgot. Oops.
Gina
I like to try sitting outside to eat my breakfast on the days our weather cooperates. We have been having so much rain that many of my plants are starting to mold (or maybe they're growing a fungus and I'm wrong; I'm not the best with plants). I don't do great with remembering to use sunscreen either though I was pleasantly surprised to get to the beach earlier this week and NOT come home with a sunburn.
ReplyDeleteWhere I used to live I would take my coffee out to the back porch every morning. It was very private, even though we were on a busy street. There were high hedges on either side of our acre lot and it was so pleasant. Where I currently live, just walking outside makes me feel as though I’m on display. I have decided that next spring I’m going to add a pergola to my deck, and hang a few privacy panels. I really like going outside in the morning to drink my coffee. A pergola is going to affect my ability to grow things, but I think I can work with it.
ReplyDeleteThe heat has been getting to me lately, too. I used to love hazy, hot and humid. The hotter the better, but the older I get the more difficult I find it to handle. Also, thinking of you in your grief. ❤️
ReplyDeleteI don’t remember what month Mark passed away in, but I find that November and June are really hard for me. My husband passed away in November and in June it’s his birthday, Father’s Day and our anniversary within a week. This year the whole month of June didn’t seem as bad, but I have to say the week between and our anniversary was harder than normal. Next year will be 40 years and I’ve already booked myself a vacation during that time. I think we just go through these things for the rest of our lives. November will be eight years for me.
ReplyDeleteI have pests eating away at quite a bit of my stuff this year. I'm trying all kinds of things with mediocre results. Ugh. Like you I'm having to do a lot of watering as well. July is our hottest month here.
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