Just a catching-up post

Last Friday was our 20th wedding anniversary! I had the day off thanks to my awesome summer schedule at work (short days and Fridays off). Gregg and I spent the long weekend at home, hiding out from the heat. It was a record-setting weekend temperature-wise and going outside for much of anything was downright miserable. We tried to think of a couple of day trips to take, but nothing appealed to me enough to venture out when the temperatures were around 100 degrees with high humidity! It was a nice (if somewhat boring) few days at home. We've found a cottage we'd like to rent in Kitty Hawk, NC this fall, and if so then that will be our belated celebration.  And we're still happy and proud of our milestone anniversary!

Besides estivating at home, not much is going on at the moment. I love my summer schedule, what with going in later, getting off early, and long weekends. It's awfully boring up there, though. Most days it's just me and the custodians, as the principal is on a leave for the month of June. What little work I have to do I've been stretching out to fill the time over the next few weeks, and I spend lots of time reading a book or listening to podcasts. I'm in no hurry for the slow-paced summer work hours to end, though. It's restful. 

In garden news, this year's garden SUCKS. Several of my tomatoes have developed some sort of weird wilt that I can only assume is a virus, and the remaining ones are struggling to flower or set fruit. I'm guessing it's the wild temperature swings we've had combined with very, very little rain. We water daily during the worst of the heat, but hose water and rain water are very different things. Gardens just don't seem to thrive without rain. The cucumbers are pretty sad, too. We've gotten a few so far, but the numbers I'd hoped for to make pickles with just aren't happening. The peppers are doing okay but they're never my main focus. I do have to say that Mary's Rattlesnake beans are great, though, just like always! We're already getting more green beans that we know what to do with. Maybe I'll try her recipe for dilly beans, since I love pickles and it would keep them from going to waste. 

Overall, the garden is turning out to be a big disappointment. I've started to think about planting a fall garden in September to make up for it. With food prices what they are I'd really like to supplement our diet with some fresh vegetables. 

The one part of the garden that hasn't sucked: the roses! I'm so pleased with them.

What else is going on this summer? Not much. We're trying to figure out what to do with extra furniture that's left after getting the new bedroom stuff. The house is cluttered with it and needs a good cleaning to boot. Gregg and I agreed to work on all that this weekend. I have a few errands to run this morning: the farm stand (I'm still buying tomatoes and other veggies, sigh), the drugstore, the eye doctor (my glasses broke and I had to order new frames for the lenses), the bank, etc. etc. Errands and housework! Fun times! :)

So off to finish my coffee and begin. Have a good weekend, everyone, and thanks for stopping by!

Matilda, Mattress, and a Monarch

This past Friday night I went downtown to our community theater to see my friend Marla's little girl perform in the kids' version of the musical Matilda. I still wasn't feeling my best, but I hated to miss it when I'd accepted the invitation weeks ago. Carsen (who looked like the smallest child on stage) was part of the "little kids" ensemble. Even though she didn't have a lead part, she was really nervous, and during the first half every time she was on stage she sort of stood behind a bigger kid. :)  I thought it was brave of her to participate, and her mom says she had fun with rehearsals and being part of the cast. I was proud of her and told her so afterwards. 

As a general rule, I dislike going to this theatre. The seats are tiny and uncomfortable, and worse, they're so close together that your arms and shoulders are inevitably pressed against the people seated to your left and right. Getting to your seat (if you're in the middle) involves squeezing past tight spaces, too. This is why, when a bad coughing fit threatened to overcome me just as the first child was singing a solo, I nearly lost my breath altogether trying to suppress it. I decided I'd rather quietly choke to death than risk causing a disturbance and squeezing past people to exit! After a couple of minutes of struggling, a big round of applause broke out and I was finally able to cough and catch my breath. I had to use my inhaler, too, but after that I was okay. Well, okay enough despite feeling like a sardine in a can in those awful seats! I won't be going back anytime soon, but I'm glad I was there to support my little friend.

Saturday Gregg and I went out furniture shopping. We'd decided that for our twentieth wedding anniversary next month we wanted a new bed and bedroom furniture. We've needed a new mattress for years anyway, and we decided to really treat ourselves with a larger (king as opposed to queen), more luxurious bed. We checked over half a dozen places, came home, looked over the website of one of the stores, and finally found something we liked. On Sunday we went back to the first store we'd shopped in to have them order the bed and furniture we'd found and to pick out a mattress. After an hour of lying on one after another, we agreed that we liked what turned out to be (surprise!) one of the most expensive ones they carry. We were a bit shocked at the price!

By the time they totaled up the bed, foundation, mattress, nightstands, etc., we found ourselves spending way over what we'd planned. But what the hell, right? You only get one 20th wedding anniversary, and a bed seems like both a practical and romantic idea. As we paid for everything, I said to Gregg (only half-jokingly), "Well, we can forget the trip we were talking about taking this fall! We'll have to stay home and pretend we're in a nice hotel!" * Even if that turns out to be true, we're making our home so much nicer with the new furniture and repairs/upgrades that we've been focused on that I don't really mind. We're pretty close to having our house exactly like we want it, and there will be time to travel afterwards, I hope. We're trying to spend money wisely while we can afford to do so.

In other news, the garden is really coming along. My cucumbers, tomatoes, and peppers have flowers. The lettuce has been a disappointment (bitter tasting for some reason), but the carrots should be ready any day now and the beans are merrily climbing the trellis. We've also planted yellow squash that seem to be taking off. Everything looks good.

I'll leave you with a picture of Marco I enhanced with Chat GPT the other day. I hope it makes you smile. It really captures his personality! 

*The expected delivery for our new bed is in 6 to 8 weeks. SIX TO EIGHT WEEKS! Our anniversary will be over by then if that's true. Sigh.