Mid-Summer - July 15

The older I get, the faster time goes is cliche, but there is so much truth in that.  When the kids were younger, summer stretched out forever.  Even December seemed endless as I got out all the advent calendars and looked at 24 whole days!!  Now summer means getting "stuff" gone through and rid of.  Cleaning closets out and trying to read a few books.

July is also the month of trips and vacations, lots to look forward to, memories made.  Over the 11th and 12th, I travel to Lanesboro to spend time with my parents and youngest brother.  We have rooms right on Main St. with a porch/deck to sit out on.  This year my mother celebrated her 80th with a surprise party of her brothers and assorted relatives.  This coming weekend will be spent up north at my husbands sisters' cabin.  When I return, I have a day to clean, wash, shop, cook and pack before I head to my parents for a week.  And then it's August.  Precious time...........

July 4, 2013

So now I have already missed a day in my quest to post every day in July!  Classic. I was thinking yesterday that I would write about the near perfect weather we've had this past week.  The next few days look wonderful too, maybe some humidity creeping in this weekend.

We have a basswood growing in our front yard.  A few years ago we cut down an ash to make room for the basswood to grow properly, since they were really planted too close together.  A basswood is a very messy tree.  Any slight wind and the yard is full of sticks and twigs.  Squirrels drop endless bunches of leaves when they build nests.  The tree is fully seeded out and soon pale green slender leaves will drift to the ground attached to a seed that right now is flowering.  What a heavenly scent those flowers have.  Who would know that in a few days we will be cursing the tree for the unsightly mess the front yard will be for the rest of summer.  They take their own sweet time detaching from the tree and within minutes of mowing and picking them all up, the lawn is again littered.   Such is life.

July 2, 2013

I have this crazy idea to try and blog every day this month, and then slow down again.  I am inspired in the summer by creative pursuits.  I want to write.  I want to draw and paint.  I want to sew and knit and make all sorts of cute items.  I want to dig up and redesign my overgrown gardens.  But here's what gets in my way.........Paper.  I have piles of it all over.  Stuff to read, recipes to cook, scrapbooks to finish, it just goes on and on.  It bogs me down. 

I don't usually think of my husband as being creative.  He is an accountant and everything is pretty black and white with him.  That's why I was pleasantly surprised to see this stack of wood that he split with the log splitter.  It's the sense of order that makes it truly beautiful and pleasing to the eye.

July 1, 2013

Every year summer gets more precious.  It's the time when I have time.  The rest of the year goes by in a blur of getting up early, getting off to work, getting home from work, household chores, some reading or tv and to bed.  Weekends are catch up time, cooking and cleaning for the week to come.  I have had 3 weeks of vacation so far, and if you could see my notebook, every day was planned.  I'm ready for some unplanned time!  I am also hoping do a bit more blogging for me.  No one who I followed blogs anymore, so I don't think my little blog will pop up on anyone's radar.  This will be just for me.  My picture for the day is one I took in June on a county road in Swift Co. while visiting graveyards with my mother.

This picture has everything.  Color and content.  I couldn't resist snapping the pic.