Mental Cool Down

It was hotter than hot here again today. So a little positive imagery certainly can't hurt.




Photos from Gatlinburg, Tennesse, and the Great Smokey Mountain National Park, 2006.

For a previous "Mental Cool Down," see here.

More Simple Things

It's been a couple of weeks now since Christina of Soul Aperture invited us to slow down and take note of the simple things that bring us joy. For some reason, summertime just seems to be all about simple things. Or maybe it's because summertime is steeped in so many traditions, and they remind us of simpler times. In any case, I'm continuing to be a big fan of simple things.

ironing (with a linen spray with just the slightest scent of lavender)

a plain white linen blouse

vanilla ice cream

sprinklers

whisper pink toenail polish


singing

"creating" with magazine cut outs, paper, and glue


piggy banks

a wave from a neighbor

ice cold watermelon

cartoons and cereal on Saturday mornings (no age limit!)

car trips with "slug bug" and travel games and rushing to put your shoes back on when stopping for a potty break

I hope you take the time to enjoy a few simple things today.

Peace,

5-7-5

A sprinkling of summer haiku . . .

sound of a mower

and it's eight o'clock at night

must be summertime

hear the cicadas

as they all sing the same song

but you can't see them

turf wars with the weeds

a battle i'll never win

humbly i concede

little feathered friends

finding damp spots in the shade

trying to stay cool

Garden Envy

While the calendar may not yet say so, summertime is here in my corner of the world. I'm not surprised, though; I'm a native of the desert.

But I'm a little saddened. Summertime means the end of my gardening for several months. Except for maintaining the lawn, a few heat tolerant plants, and tending the potted plants on the patio, the majority of my time will be spent indoors.

For a while, we'll still enjoy the Mexican Bird of Paradise . . .

. . . and the hummers will too.

There is still plenty of verbena and purple fountain grass, and just a few herbs. It's time to pick up the seeds from the nasturtiums so that they can be planted again next year. It's time to remove all the alyssum. It withered some time ago, but the birds love to eat the seeds off of it, so I left it for them. There are sunflowers to pull that grew when the sparrows and house finches knocked the seed from their feeders.

It's that time when the green in my thumb spreads to the rest of me and I become green with garden envy. As my gardening season comes to a close, it's just beginning in most other places across the country. Over the summer, as I read my Better Homes & Gardens and other magazines, I will ooh and aahh over the glorious cutting gardens pictured there. My mouth will water when I see the pictures of the home grown tomatoes and zucchini and basil. And I will mark pages and plan plots and day dream of the wonderful flower beds and veggie plots I'll plant next year.

In the meantime, I've spent this afternoon inside in the air conditioning, cutting up old gardening magazines and making collages. They may go up above my desk, or on the fridge, or maybe on the mirror in my bathroom. And they will help me get through the summer.

And if, in the meantime, you are so inclined, please share your garden photos with me!

Have a bountiful week!