Goodbye, July 2012

S'long!

Hasta la vista!

Bon voyage.

Take a hike - and take this heat with you!

How does that happen?

I had a very busy weekend. Lots of activity, lots of friends, but very little actual (tangible) work done or progress made.

Bear in mind this is NOT a complaint. I am just amazed with (and maybe a smidge disappointed in) myself for not having gotten much done outside of having fun. And I did have fun, trust me!

Maybe I should stop feeling badly about having spent time with friends doing fun activities, and just relish the fun I had without any guilt whatsoever!

Thank you...I believe I will. So there!

Maria and I went to the Greater Ann Arbor Quilt Guild show Sunday afternoon and walked it, shopped it, examined it and commented on it - learning things about technique, about our (my) own skills, and the importance of planning, just from viewing other's offerings. I am more pleased than ever in my own skills; with the care I take in seaming perfection, matching points and seams, and generally producing a very high quality every time I sit at my machine.

And my FMQ is pretty darned good, too.

I guess I was somewhat underwhelmed with the works hanging in general, both in quantity and in quality. For as large as that guild is (purportedly), there was a small representation of quilting prowess in evidence. The gems were few and far between, and when we found one, it was worth the extra time to stop and soak it in. Sometimes we were right on top of it examining the way it went together, or the mediums used.

BUT, the main thing was that Maria and I managed to get together in one place, and have some fun catching up and sharing laughs.

Thank you for sharing your day with me, Maria - and for lunch!

Saturday was spent giggling and shopping - sort of. Brian needs new work pants, and I am searching for a few more summer tops to wear to sweat through the remainder of the hot weather to come. Karl also needed another pair of cooler bedtime pants, and maybe a short sleeved Oxford to bum around in when he goes out...but he would have none of it.

Jean, Barb and I high-jacked boy jr., but had little success all the way around.

We did a bunch of driving but really didn't land much in the way of booty. However, Karl did learn an invaluable lesson about poking mom in the head and back repeatedly.

Thank you, NCIS.

;v)

We did make it to one store Karl enjoys traipsing through - Trader Joes. (whew) Now stocked up with enough lemon and cracked pepper noodles to last a little while.

On another note, I need a haircut (and so does Karl), so that will be something to tackle this week. One of many items on the agenda.

How is your week stacking up?

Did you know?

Besides all of the familial activities of the day, did you know that it's also "Tie Your Stupid, Yappy Little Dog to a Tree and Let it Bark All Day Day?"

Neither did I!

Thanks for nothing, Hallmark calendar.

Always good for a smile

Sometimes we sing in the shower. Humans are a funny lot.

It always makes me want to grab my boom mic and hook it to the PC to record my sons when they serenade in the shower. One of these days...........

Currently, Karl is happily sudsing it up to Billy Joel's "Piano Man."

:^)

Happy birthday to.....

....my MOM!

Happy birthday, Mom, I love you very much!

Thank you, God, for her.

Days like this

I really should get rolling into more productive activities, but I just can't seem to shake this blase' feeling.

There's no reason for me to be bored, I have plenty to do, so that can't be 'it'.

Perhaps it's simply the heat - the oppressive, morbidly hot, highly unwelcome, sticky, relentless, disgusting, uncommon, inexhaustible heat.

Late last night it was still 83* - well after lights out - when it dawned on me that there was another smaller oscillating fan in storage. I quickly hustled to the garage and snagged it from the shelf; dusted it off and handed it to Karl to use in his room.

Despite two windows (and an under-sized ceiling fan), the air was as still as a corpse in his room - and that bothered me in that way in which only a mom can be bothered, you know?

Well, I think he finally managed to get comfortable at some point and drift off...with no help from that scrounged oscillating fan! That's right - it didn't work! After all of the finagling and cleaning and maneuvering, the darned thing was useless! We ended up moving the floor fan into his room and aiming it at the bed for the night. That did the trick.

And the broken oscillating junior you ask.......

C'mon......

....OCTOBER!

Phwew, it's forking hot, man.

[melting]

Endearing

I don't happen to think walruses are the most attractive creatures God produced, but goodness knows this guy is the best ambassador they have! He could change my mind, even, regarding their placement on my top 200 creatures list.

I especially love his 'smile' after whistling.

Please enjoy!

What else?

Karl just broke one of the small blue glasses, and for the first time, I think he feels worse than I do. It fell over and broke on a kitchen counter, but of course, I ended up vacuuming the entire area (counter and floor) for a five foot radius. Then, went over the area with a wet cloth; then a dry cloth; then a damp cloth; then another dry cloth.

After that, I danced all over the floor to feel if I missed anything. Next, I made a piece of buttered toast and mopped the counter with it before eating to be certain the boys wouldn't ingest a small shard or chip.

I like to be thorough.

Next!

Just a feeling

Yes, the day is beginning breezy. Sunny and breezy. However, it will become blisteringly hot once again, and the AC unit nearly melted by the end of the day yesterday, so today we'll be putting out fires I'm sure! Admittedly the temperature will be an improvement over Monday (due to less humidity), but hot is hot, darn-it-all!!!!.

At the risk of repeating myself (for those who may recall), I am a hot weather pansy - I detest it! Give me that sweet spot in the weather window of temps from the upper forties to no more than 70-72*....MAX!

Yesterday was humid and horrible. Well into the 90s and abominable; and even though it seems pleasant for the moment, for some reason....today has all the earmarks of a bad day.

I don't know why. I can't explain it, but it feels off. Wrong. Dreadful.

Oooo!! The word I want is 'foreboding.'

[insert ominous music here]

I cleaned out the filters in the unit, vacuuming and rinsing them, then vacuumed the floor to eliminate the chance for immediate re-fur-ing. Moved the unit closer to the vent in the window to reduce the source of heat dispersing in the main room.

See, it is an air conditioner - a cooling unit - but it generates A LOT of heat doing the cooling thing, and all of that heat is STILL IN THE HOUSE, just concentrated closer to the venting window and the furniture in that area, and by the end of the day the room is only cool directly in front of the AC unit, and it appears as though I am shoveling dollars out the door to the electric company to cool the AC! It's ridiculous!

So, despite the obvious report of the current temp outdoors (81*F, indoors 76*), I am opting to run the attic fan until the heat becomes a tad more oppressive. The lovely little breeze has me hopeful, and had I a screen door on the front of the house, we would be treated to a wonderful full-on, robust cooling wind right now.

"Well then, Beth" what is so dreadful? Why the doom saying?" I hear you wondering.

I dunno....I said I couldn't explain it. I can't put my finger on it. The feeling is just there.

Made the stupid mistake of not cementing up the entryway to the former chipmunk condo once the activity died down, and now....that's right....you guessed it - we have another one or two inhabitants! Caught sight of at least one of them entering the hole by s-q-u-e-e-z-i-n-g in around the 4"x4" and bricks piled up in front of the gap. CRAP!

Brian has set three rat traps all around the perimeter of the opening and we have since seen two chipmunks approach several times but not enter. But since I am not into keeping vigil every minute all day long, I don't know if they've figured out a way past the gauntlet.

I am seriously considering just cementing the hole right now -- and I would, but I am afraid to pick up or move the traps for fear of setting them off and hurting myself in the process. So, I will do the cement-y deed when Bud gets home from work.

Found a cicada skin on the front stoop. It reminded me of years ago when the boys and I would head outdoors to scour the trees and bushes to find cocoons and abandoned critter skins. They are always neat to see and examine. Nature is cool!

Noticed the Butterfly Bush I have growing in the wrong spot (not enough sun) was actually more bush-like this year, even after blossoming. So there may be hope for it once I move it. However, also noticed (with some alarm), that many of the healthy (finally upright) stems were stripped of their leaves! This has never happened before. So I looked it over but could see nothing (from inside the house).

Several moments later, as I was peering out the window to spy on the chipmunk debacle/progress, I spotted three caterpillars partying down on two branches of the bush which still had foliage. Argh!

I grabbed a canister of insect killer and went to the aid of my beautiful bush only to find nine caterpillars overall having a grand time. NINE! I thought three was bad enough.

Needless to say, I am keeping a closer watch on the plant over the coming days - with my spray in my hand!

Had two rejection responses in my inbox from employment ads I had submitted to over three weeks ago. I guess no news is better than bad news, eh? It wrecked my day completely yesterday - the weather sh*t was simply frosting on a cow dung cake.

I was hesitant to open email today; not looking forward to more of the same. But, I guess it's par for the course.

Speaking of which, I really should get back to that job-hunting grind so that I can eventually get back to the quilting. More of whatever another time.

Stay cool.

This explains some of it. Not a lot, but some.

A specialist in relationships between mothers and daughters said:

"Above and beyond any relationship, including marriage, I think the mother-daughter connection is the most complicated. Moms instill all their wishes for themselves in their daughters, and all the complications they had in their own relationships with their mothers, they dump into their relationships with their daughters."

Not having any daughters of my own, I wonder what this all means for my sons.

?

Shock and ew

I almost flicked it with my toe.

I did! I was going to test a theory.

I caught a glimpse of something sitting on the carpet, next to the packs of snacky treats we feed the girls. At first, I gave it almost no thought, believing it to be just a design in the weave of the rug. But then, it dawned on me that there seemed to be a three-dimensional 'feel' to it. Was it my imagination or a combination of the fact that I wasn't wearing my glasses and the poor lighting?

I had given thought to dropping my foot on the area and sliding it about to test the shadow/design theory, but stopped abruptly and crouched down to further inspect this curious spot instead.

So glad I did.

It was, indeed, a dooky. A butt bisquit. A Beana berry. A poop!

I suppose it's high time we invested in diapers for Hobbes; she's become quite incontinent in her kitty dotage. Poor poop-dispensing dear.

Progress

Wonderful progress!

When our children are younger - caught up in those milestone moments of learning to walk, talk, use the potty chair, feed themselves, etc., graduating from toddlers to the years called 'childhood' - we have hopes and expectations. We have dreams and goals. We have a sense of achievement for their futures.

We want for them all the things we maybe didn't have for ourselves. Or, if we had a blessed and prosperous upbringing, we desire that to continue for their sake.

While I had a decent, moral upbringing, I still wanted my sons to know something more than I had. I wanted them to not know divorce...but we don't always succeed when so many forces are beyond our control. And I wanted the boys to have friends - lots of friends. People with whom they could confide in, play with, learn from, lean on and be good friends to in return. But, we can't control how people return friendship (or not).

And then there are the factors (physical, mental, emotional, etc) that we can't foresee, we don't expect and wouldn't ask for; those things that eventually become part of our lifelong equation of life.

Karl's autism has perhaps slowed down the rate of progress toward maturation, and extinguished some milestone markers in their tracks, but he still occasionally experiences moments of shining hope for his future, and when they happen...it simply brings me to tears. This weekend saw one of those moments unfold, and I had to fight the urge to pull out my camera and immortalize it on the spot.

His circle of known flesh-and-blood friends is small, and most of them he occasionally-to-rarely sees. I would even go so far as to say there may be a couple of those he could go for most of the remainder of his life and never see again face-to-face, and he would be alright with that. Although, he has lately grown a little more comfortable leaving the house periodically to interact with life outside these four walls, I am not pushing too hard to make it happen, but accepting his moments of courage with happiness and hope.

There is another small group of folks he knows, but only in the www-ethereal way. Those online voices and personas with whom he has conversations and shares web surfing time, those folks are kindred spirits (to a degree), but they will never meet.

Do they know he is autistic? Most likely not. They may notice some strange behaviors or vocal things during games or discussions, but mostly he is just some person somewhere who sits at a computer and plays games and laughs at articles and silly memes found out in the web cosmos. Sadly, it seems as though these folks are at other ends of the country, or maybe even on different continents altogether, and the time zone differences make interactions next to impossible.

Such is life.

Excuse me. As usual, I have wandered away from the subject at hand.

This afternoon, Karl was able to assist in getting three friends and himself together in one place, and they spent nearly five hours roaming the mall and chatting, as young people do!

Dropping him at the meet-up point for the rendezvous was a high point for me, and overwhelming as his parent to notice he had combed his mop-ish hair and put on a nice, pinstriped Oxford shirt for the occasion!

I watched from a distance as the awkward gang clamored into another friend's vehicle and proceeded to the mall parking lot to embark on an afternoon of whatever, and I couldn't have been happier knowing Karl was going to blend into the crowd of neuro-typicals for a short time!

Progress in all its forms is a wonderful thing.

Really?

'We're' going to call what happened in Aurora, Colorado, "The Batman Movie Massacre"?

*Jeez.*

Posts

Emily.

Huffington.

Clayton.

Buddy.

Sign.

Goal.

Raisin Bran.

Grape Nuts.

AlphaBits.

Honey-Comb.

Haste.

Script.

Yes, I realize the last six may be a bit of a stretch (and backwards)....but I had fun. What has your brain done today?

Besides, I made ya look. ; )

Back to it

Dropped the boy off at work and returned home this morning just ahead of the rain and the garbage trucks. The girls were glad I returned home, and met me at the door! After my stints of days away they all crave one-on-one female time - and I have to admit it's nice to be wanted by someone.

This is how crazy old cat ladies come to be, I'm sure of it!

Brian received word of another bit of his blood workup from the doctor. I KNEW it wasn't all done as quick as that (baaaaaarb). Hmpph!

Office told him his D level was 15 out of 100, and therefore prescribed a month-long supplement to take once a week (to elevate the D level more quickly) along with a daily vitamin supplement. Wonder what else they have (he has) yet to hear about. ??

The temps have cooled off, at least for the next few days, but 90s are back in the forecast future for the beginning of the coming week. Yug! Currently, it's raining, and I feel like running outdoors and dancing in it! Tonight the temps will drop into the 60s and the poor old attic fan will get a run for the money!

For the rest of today: Between us, Karl and I have two meetings for the day, a bank run to make, and then I will need to run back to pick up the boy (once his workday ends) to get him back to his car. And, I need to get moving on the remainder of the border quilting on a current project, also; SO close to completion, and time is drawing short.

Have a great day, and keep your chin up - as mom always says.

Glad to be home

Could do without the entirely stuffy, humid, warm abode, but was still glad to arrive somewhere where I do not feel so....inadequate.

Thank you, Aunt Joan, for the hug, and for not judging me.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Picked up Brian at the mechanic's garage on the way home, and hopefully, after tomorrow, the last of the work on his car (body work) will be done.

Weeks ago, the car was finished, but not "finished" finished...they had the wrong under-fender piece (for the driver's side wheel well) and neglected to get that re-ordered and installed before having Bud pay the balance and drive it away. It was left hanging, and has made me nervous ever since.

[heavy sigh] It's not my car, nor my money (however, life experience has taught me SO much). Anyhow...

...the kid has had to stay on top of these schmucks to make the final bit happen, but I had to push him this afternoon to commit to taking the damn car to the garage, or it never would have gotten done ('hovering').

Yeah, it's good to be home.

A birthday riddle

What has 16 phone calls, nine visitors, 29 cards, two flower arrangements, three cakes, and 101 candles?

That's right....Grandma's 101st birthday!

The place has been rocking all day, either with phone calls or visitors.

Non-stop I tell ya! Sometimes the phone rings while there are visitors here, and then the old gal doesn't know which way to turn. When the visits include children it's impossible for her to hear the caller for all of the noise, so the conversation is almost worthless. Still, for all of her protesting, she is having fun.

I can only imagine how much more of this will carry forward to tomorrow! She'll need the next 363 days to recover for her 102nd!

Happy birthday, Gram!

Something somewhere has died

Could be my spirit, but given the smell outside, I'm fairly certain it's something else completely.

Although.......maybe I shouldn't be so quick to discount the possibility of an old, decaying spirit, eh?

Perhaps we trapped a critter in the confines of the porch slabs - entombing it and bringing about the end, but the smell really grows strongest away from the stoop, so thank you, Lord, for small favors (and I mean that most sincerely). We just can't open up the windows along the front for ventilation until WELL after dark and the heat of the day has abated almost entirely.

Woof!

I spent yesterday roaming from task to task in the house, getting the AC started much earlier in the day than usual - the humidity was atrocious, and I figured why wait and have to spend $ filtering and cooling extra heat and mugginess before the costly little AC unit can begin cooling the house off?

I also did a load of laundry and sorted through some papers.

Filed a few things (very few) and pitched several more.

Dishes; cleaned and cut veggies; made omelets for our breakfast; read most of a magazine, and; fretted over the quilting options on a current project. Today, I have things I must complete - laundry, for one, and nagging the boys into changing their sheets.

I am holding off on starting up the AC process (and it is growing stickier by the second), I want Karl good and practiced so that he can do it in my absence without the confusion and errors of last week.

Even though the temperature and humidity are swiftly rising already this morning, there is the slightest cool breeze blowing in the library window, and across my face and arms. Fleeting reprieves from the otherwise still stickiness which will grip the day. I am patiently waiting for Karl to rise and practice. Really. Very patiently.

The weather weenies have all promised uncomfortably hot, unrelenting ick for the coming three to four days, without much chance for relief at night, so we will have one heck of an enormous bill from the robber barons (AKA the electric company) for a second month! Ugh!

Time to stand up and walk away from this keyboard for a bit. More later. Stay cool, people!

Hair!

I'm tired of the recurring Wookies I find on the bar of soap in the tub (after my sons have showered)!

Menfolk! Do NOT forget to rinse the soap bar after you use it! I'm begging you.

ALL of you.

Hey, Jean!

Happy Birthday!

Here's to another wonderful new beginning! Knock 'em dead.

Whatever

Oh, wait! Somebody pointed out that today was Friday the Thirteenth!

Boo!

[insert evil Vincent Price laugh here]

Hmmmmm

Not sure what caused our power outtage last night, but we were very grateful to have the power come back on in the late night hours.

Everything except the TV and the old attic fan had been turned off. The television was an error - I had been upstairs making dinner when the power when out, and I had the set on loud enough so that I could hear the news while I was in the kitchen. I never thought to head to the lower level and hit the button to turn it off once it went silent. But I suppose I also thought the power would be back on again long before it actually happened, and so I forgot about it.

The fan I turned on on purpose before we all decided to turn in for the night. We use that fan to draw the cool night air throughout the house to cool it off on these dreadful days of summer, and I reasoned that if the power company managed to get the power up and running at some point, then we would have the benefits of the upper 60s without having to get up and interrupt our rest - any of us.

Aahhh, and it was a Godsend, too.

But here we are. A new day, another sunrise, and the promise of hot and sticky weather ahead. I wonder if the outtage was a one off, or insight to what we can expect for the remainder of the summer.

Finger's crossed and hopes are high that we will proceed through the rest of July (and the following two months) without too many more incidents.

Batten down the hatches, people

Here comes another heatwave.

Are you ready for it?

Worth the wait

I have a friend - Maria - who recently finished a Master Gardening course through Wayne State. She is now in the midst of her community service/internship-like hours, hoping to keep up a good pace throughout the summer so that she might accumulate enough 'time' for the college to award her her actual accreditation.

Hoops, hoops, hoops. There are always hoops to jump through, aren't there?

I eagerly look to her blog page every day or two, hoping for some update of her progress and her happenings. She keeps very busy, and I admire her for that.

Besides her gardening/community efforts, she also visits friends or has regular visitors herself; she works with her son at his business in the city; she has a myriad of interests and hobbies she enjoys keeping a hand in, and; she's a good friend. She fishes and enjoys free time birdwatching at the Ford residence in the Pointes, and squeezes in city events like concerts and food festivals.

A true Renaissance Metropolitanite. I guess that makes her a "Renaitropolitan."

Oh, and in the midst of all of that commotion, she is also rehabbing a house! I think the plan is to move in late this fall or before the holidays.

Oh, envy and joy!

At any rate, Maria wrote an entry today detailing her current plans and activities, and it sounds as though she has formulated some good methodologies to keep her days (and her person) moving in positive directions.

Yes, there can be more than one positive direction!

Bravo, Maria! Your blog was worth the wait today - and thanks especially for the link to the snow quilts!

If you want to know more, you'll have to go to the truenorthquilter blog to catch up.

Just a thought

If corn oil is made from corn, and vegetable oil is made from vegetables, then what is baby oil made from?

Rain, please

That's it. Just some rain for those poor farmers, and the areas suffering through horrible, horrible drought conditions....and where wildfires are raging.

That's all. Please, Lord, just rain.

Homecomings

And I don't mean high school homecomings. I'm talkin' about the type of arrival home you experience after some extended away time.

Homecomings follow vacations - usually (or trips to states a distance away for....a funeral, as an example, or a family reunion).

If you're a working person - and you travel as a part of your job - then homecomings happen as a part of your every day life. If you're not a working person (but you desperately want to be), homecomings most likely occur far less often than you may like.

And let's face it, there are those among us who never leave home. Some folks don't like to travel farther than they have to for groceries (let alone traverse more than an hour or two for a visit), and so they never go through any of the exhilaration and/or disappointment one can have upon returning home.

Well, I arrived home yesterday after a few days away (by the way, thank you Barb and Jean for dragging my sorry butt to Traverse City with you) to find a bit of cooling chaos happening in the house.

Even after writing down express directions for what order to follow in relation to the AC unit versus the attic fan....and the windows....and all of that, the two boys still couldn't get it together enough to follow through on the process - each blaming the other for the windows being closed, the AC running at full bore and the attic fan pulling what little cold air existed right out of the house! Now, couple that with the failure of the tape to hold the insulation against the top of the window (so that the hot steamy air being pulled from the house was blown right back in through the open window. We had a small collection of bugs indoors as well!) Had they periodically checked the tape and applied a little muscle to stick it firmly back in place, some measure of cooling and dehumidifying would have occurred.

Yeesh.

All I could see were the dollar signs blowing out the window and being sucked out the ceiling fan.

Happily, the place did not smell like a pee palace (meaning, there wasn't a cat box odor prevailing), so that was a huge plus. But I didn't handle the whole AC/window/fan debacle well, and I went a little crazy on Karl for not following the written (and practiced) directions or for using some common sense.

It wasn't a very good homecoming I'm afraid, and I am sorry that B&J had to be here for it.

Jeez. Guess we need a lot more practice on the day-to-day stuff before I can run away from home again (or ever).

Big news! Karl turns 23!!

My little sapling now has twenty-three rings.

Happy birthday, K-dub! Glad you're here on the planet with me.

What in the Hades?!?!?

Holy creeping steamy temps! I thought I could mentally sweat my way through this summer heat monopoly, but I was wrong.

Yup, it finally happened. I finally grew weary of the heat; to the point of having the slaves bring in the portable AC unit from the garage this morning. The severely increased humidity broke my resolve.

And since the heat (nor the humidity) was going to budge any time soon, I figured I may as well.

Brian escaped the drudgery of having to assist mommy with the taping of the foam core into place, but Karl didn't! Not only that, but the young boy was pressed into further service having to leave the house and go with me to purchase the duct tape needed to perform our taping miracle!

And I don't know why it is, but the process of getting the AC vent into place, and then taping the three Styrofoam pieces to it and around it (into the window frame) seemed to go so much faster this year. Whether that's true or the heat has simply affected my brain, I am OK with all of it simply because the job is done!

The AC unit has been running since right around eleven this morning, and so far, it is blissful in two main areas of the upper level!

Blissful, I tell ya!!!

With a little manipulation of an additional floor fan - and Karl's ceiling fan - the hallway is now much cooler, too - and so is the air in Karl's room! At least, it's not getting any warmer....and it's nowhere near as stagnant!

As a reward, I made the two of us a batch of smoothies, and now....I am going to plop myself in front of the sewing machine and start piecing the commissioned lap robe!

I don't know what in the h-e-double-hockeysticks I was thinking. Cool is so much better than not cool.

Rest in peace, Mr. Griffith

When I heard the news I was gobsmacked - how could Sheriff Taylor be gone?

Ah, well, he lived a fairly long life, did a lot of good for a lot of needful folks during his lifetime, and was a good man by-and-large. Reports are he always tried to make a difference in people's lives by showing the ideal way of life, and by paying attention to the roles he chose in films and on television over his career.

Andy Griffith will be indelibly etched into our collective conscience - especially for those who grew up in the black-and-white era of TV - when Mayberry RFD was fresh and sweet, and exactly where you wanted to grow up when you were a kid.

The world is a sadder place for having lost him, but Mr. Griffith's reruns will endure for many lifetimes to come.

Now tell me you aren't whistling the intro tune to that show. :)

In the middle

Since I am a "middle child" it seems only appropriate I should currently be in the middle of a stint staying with my grandmother.

I stay {obviously} between the shifts that my aunts and my mom occupy on the 'Grammamian calendar' (and a couple of women hired to stay, when others cannot be here).

I am in the middle of the quilting process of a large quilt project at the moment, feeling good about the progress, and hoping to have it completed within a few weeks!

Halfway through a rather large tumbler of ice water, ready to douse myself with the rest and refill it to begin again.

Half done with this blisteringly hot day, but completely over the idea of summer already.

Let me know how you're doing....where you are currently melting. In the middle of the US, or somewhere more temperate.

Stay cool and stay safe.

Turn the page

Flipping the calendar pages from June to July is. just. pointless. I feel as though my calendars should read "Same old," "Again," "Whatever," "Same ol' same ol'," "Rerun," etc, etc. The names of the months are meaningless any more, since very little in the squishy, day-to-day stuff changes. Even the weather mocks conventionality.

When I was a kid we had seasons. Winter meant cold and snow, shorter days and grey skies.

Spring arrived and brought with it rain and the greening process - and gradually warming temperatures.

Once summer errupted, spring had readied us for some warmer thermometer readings; and a heat wave knew not to overstay - like a good guest. The occasional heat wave made us grateful for spates of sudden rain and sitting in the shade.

Fall, likewise, knew when to make itself known. Summer would eventually burn itself out and melt into golds and burnt orange leaves, and the days would grow shorter and languid. Mornings were crisp and sometimes chilly, but a welcome relief and a beautiful change in palette from the green, green, green of summer. Fall is still my favorite time of year.

But over the last several years, summer has seemed to lose it's place and overextend its boundaries. Like a criminal mastermind it has overreached and insinuated itself on every other season - barging in and getting its dusty, humid, drying, mundane and contemptably greedy self all over the furniture and walls of the seasonal house!

Besides the stagnant place I find myself in the job hunting arena, I am also tired and fed up with this horrid and monotonous weather pattern.

Somebody grab a broom and head on over. It's time to sweep this dreck to the curb, but I'm gonna need a little help....or a much bigger broom!