Sunday, August 11, 2019

Ready



It's the last day of summer vacation. Sunday isn't my favorite day of the week to begin with, and so today just felt kind of sucky. There was a mountain of laundry to do, and I gave the kitchen and bathrooms a quick scrub. Tomorrow will be a better day if I come home to a tidy house after work.

I'm actually ready to go back to work. I like my job, which helps. Also, I'm ready for fall. We've begun another period of awful heat and humidity, and I'm just done with this weather. Sick of it. I feel trapped in the house, but when I try to go outside to get a little exercise I'm immediately wet with sweat and miserable. Cooler weather will be, as always, a welcome relief.

Yesterday I went to visit with an older lady friend of ours whose husband died a few months ago. She's very lonely and had been asking us to come visit, so yesterday I did. I had never been to her house, and what a surprise. First of all, the house is gorgeous, filled with lots of custom details and glowing wood. There are stained glass windows all over the house, because that's a former hobby of hers, and watercolor paintings she had done as well. I never knew she was such an artist! But best of all was the outside of the property: 18 acres, most of which is wooded and slopes back to a portion of a creek. There's about 5 acres of cleared and landscaped land immediately around the house, and she had the most wonderful trees and flowers. Old roses, lilies, gardenias, and spring flowering shrub, and masses of annuals that reseed themselves every year. There were oak and magnolia trees dripping with Spanish moss, crepe myrtles in bloom, and even a giant, magnificent Brown Turkey fig tree. When she found out that I plan to plant a fig tree in our back yard, she insisted on giving me some cuttings of that even though it's the wrong season to try to root them. She said that if it doesn't work out, we can try again later, and she also gave me two types of flower seeds: Rose Campion and Hummingbird Vine.

Rose  Campion

Hummingbird Vine
I found both those images on the internet. I didn't take many pictures at Carol's house, but I wish I had. It was beautiful. And she's offered me bulbs, shrubs, rose cuttings, or anything else I might like to have for our yard--how generous!

That's been my whole weekend, right there. Visiting with a friend yesterday and doing a little bit of housework (but mostly sitting around being lazy) today. Another friend invited me over to her house to swim this afternoon but I decided I needed to do the laundry and prepare for tomorrow, instead. I won't have to cook tonight; we grilled out yesterday and have leftovers: pork chops with honey chipotle bbq sauce, corn on the cob cooked in it's husk on the grill, fresh farm stand tomatoes and cucumbers, and I may make a side dish of mac and cheese. That only requires boiling water, after all. We'll eat as soon as Gregg gets home from work, probably in another half hour or so. He usually works until around 7pm at the pet store on Sunday nights.

As I type this, I'm having a "farewell, summer" gin and tonic with lime. It's been my go-to cocktail these last two months. Easy, light, and refreshing. I may have another after dinner.

Have a good night, everyone, and wish me luck tomorrow--a new school year is about to begin!

 I'm ready.

26 comments:

  1. awright! love your choice of drink tonight; I just polished off a big glass of wine.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wine makes me feel too flushed and hot this time of year! Even chilled white.

      Delete
  2. Having a martini myself!
    I would love to see the house and yard of your friend. Sounds so amazing. Did you like her art?
    Well, as I told Owen and Gibson via text today- I hope you have the best first day of school ever! It will be crazy, of course, but the day will probably pass quickly and then you'll go home to your own tidy house.
    Good luck!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I did like her paintings, and I was blown away by the stained glass she had created for dozens of windows. I'll take photos the next time I visit her.

      The students don't come back for another week, so the real craziness won't start until the 19th! We're kicking off the week tomorrow morning with a big staff breakfast provided by the APT. So that will be fun!

      Delete
  3. What a sweet visit yesterday. Your description of her lovely home made my heart sing. And, here's to a good start to a good school year, in you fresh undies and all. You know what your mother always said!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's right! Gotta have the clean undies! Hahaha.

      Delete
  4. How good you visited your older friend and saw her gorgeous home and land and now you have a source for fabulous plants. I can tell it makes her happy to share with you. It is an IPA beer for me tonight, my current favorite is called Fresh Squeezed.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh, IPAs! Is it a local beer?

      I've been thinking about you Terra. I hope you're doing well!

      Delete
  5. I can remember how I always felt the day before a new term started. I think we teachers, and our pupils, all felt the same.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The kids won't be back for another week. It's an odd transitional time--this first week with just staff.

      Delete
  6. Your friend must have been glad about your visit, too. I hope you go back often, to help easing her loneliness a bit and also to enjoy the beautiful house and garden.
    We had a few G&Ts ourselves this weekend; Friday night was really hot and humid (and ended in a thunderstorm with plenty of welcome rain), so perfect for the refreshin properties of that drink :-)
    Have a good start today!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Meike! I didn't know you liked G&Ts....if we ever meet, let's have one together!

      Delete
  7. When I could drink Gin and Tonic was mt favorite.
    Good Luck tomorrow.
    parsnip

    ReplyDelete
  8. Your friend's home sounds wonderful. How nice of her to give you plant starts. I bet it made her so happy to have you pay her a visit.

    Your gin and tonic sounded so refreshing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think she enjoyed my visit. I hope she did! And nothing is any more refreshing than a G&T. :)

      Delete
  9. Hope the first day back was a pleasure. Where you live, is it acceptable to drink gin & tonic after summer ends? It was against the rules where I grew up.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I don't know of anybody else besides my friend Marian (who's from the Northeast) who drinks G&T. And half the time she ends up with a vodka tonic! So to answer your question...I have no idea if it's acceptable or not. Once the weather cools down (probably not until October) I'll start craving other kinds of cocktails.

      Delete
  10. Best of luck as you start a new school year. You may need another G&T on the evening of the 19th. Enjoy.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I might need TWO on the evening of the 19th!!!!!

      Delete
  11. It's hard to beat a good G&T. That's my go-to cocktail as well. How great that you have some connections with a gardener willing to part with seeds and cuttings! I don't know either of those plants. Let us know how the fig cuttings do. I bet they'll be fine -- figs are tough as nails.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm having another G&T right now, at the end of my first day back at work.

      Delete
  12. As I am writing this you are back in school. Best wishes for a good school year and cooler fall temps. My school year begins on August 26. Where has the summer gone?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. When I sat down at my desk this morning, it was like the last several weeks had never even happened. Enjoy your last couple of weeks of summer freedom! :)

      Delete
  13. Rose Campion is a great flower. The gray foliage provides a nice contrast in the garden, and they reseed and spread readily. Best wishes for a wonderful new school year.

    ReplyDelete